Review by Andrew Bansal, photos by Robert DeAnda
December 9th 2016, The Belasco, Los Angeles CA: Swedish melodic death metal veterans In Flames and Dallas, Texas groove metal supergroup Hellyeah joined forces for the ‘Forged In Fire’ co-headline North American tour this November-December, along with opening acts From Ashes To New and Source. The tour arrived in downtown Los Angeles for a gig at the Belasco, an event that drew an excellent turnout on a Friday night, and treated the audience to a mix bag evening that entertained for reasons good and bad, as some bands underwhelmed while others exceeded expectations.
Doors opened as early as 6 PM, and the show started at 7 PM as Colorado-based progressive metal band Source began proceedings with a 25-minute set, which proved to be much too short for them to even fit in their long songs, and they played abridged versions of said songs, which may not have been the best idea as it wasn’t really an accurate representation of their musicianship. Regardless, a decent start to the show, and a band for prog fans to check out.
The next band was not only the worst of this show but by far the worst band I’ve seen all year, and brought many in this audience to the sad realization that nu metal is very much alive and well, and there are still new, upcoming bands such as this one, that are straight-up Linkin Park ripoffs. Sure, Linkin Park were great in their own right back in the day and served as a gateway to metal for a lot of people, but a new band in 2016 ripping them off is not an inviting prospect by any means, as proven by From Ashes To New. This band was stunning in a very bad way and their biggest accomplishment through his set was to compel a majority of the audience to leave the concert hall to hang out in the lobby, by the bar and on the smoking patio instead. Yes, we know that bands like In Flames and Hellyeah are trying to tap into a very mainstream market these days, but despite that, having a band like From Ashes To New as an opening act is pushing it too far. The lesser the number of people that get to see this band on the remainder of this tour, the better it will be for humankind, and in that spirit, I beg you to arrive at the venue late enough to miss their set completely.
Next were Hellyeah, who I hadn’t seen since 2010, and probably for good reason, because to say that they aren’t my cup of tea would be the biggest understatement of 2016. But having said that, the fact that they’re co-headlining venues of this size six years later indicates that they were never the mere supergroup that would do one album and tour and fade away into obscurity. They have worked actively as a full-time touring band throughout this period. To their credit, they clearly have their audience, and many in this crowd were specifically here to see Hellyeah. Their fans loved every moment of the hour-long set they played, and from the non-fans’ perspective, just watching and listening to Vinnie Paul play drums was an undeniable treat. So, not the greatest band on the planet by any means, but a respectable one nonetheless.
More Hellyeah photos:
And lastly, In Flames took the stage for a 13-song set comprising material from their 2016 full-length studio album ‘Battles’, but they also played a good number of older songs, probably more than most fans expected. Twelve albums and 26 years deep in their career, this is a band that makes you feel older than you realized you were, and also polarizes fans in a very “old stuff versus new stuff” kind of way. But on this occasion they struck a mighty fine balance between the old and the new songs and delivered both varieties in equally convincing manner. Frontman Anders Fridén was in his element, but guitarist Björn Gelotte’s on-stage exploits stood out just as much, and the two main men were well-supported by the rest of the band. This In Flames performance was certainly better than predicted.
Besides his vocal delivery on all songs, Fridén also won the crowd’s admiration and endearment with his anti-Budweiser monologue, and his golden words of wisdom, “Life is too short to drink that shit”. Granted that In Flames have undergone a bit of a change in musical direction over the past two or three albums and are in many ways a different band now, this show proved that they still maintain the essence of what they started out as. Now co-headlining with a band like Hellyeah, they’ve crossed over to the American mainstream metal market like even they wouldn’t have imagined two decades ago, and no matter what era or incarnation of the band you like most as a fan, a live In Flames show in 2016 still delivers on all fronts, even for longtime old-school fans.
All in all, a diverse four-band lineup and an entertaining evening, in more ways than one.
More In Flames photos:
In Flames set list:
01. Bullet Ride
02. Where the Dead Ships Dwell
03. Leeches
04. The End
05. Alias
06. Only for the Weak
07. Cloud Connected
08. The Truth
09. Through Oblivion
10. The Quiet Place
11. Paralyzed
12. Deliver Us
13. Take This Life
Remaining Tour Dates:
12/16/2016 – Edmonton, AB @ Union Hall
12/17/2016 – Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall
12/18/2016 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory Concert House
12/19/2016 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater