Harper Street in Detroit was packed with kids waiting to get into Harpos Concert Theatre over an hour after doors had already opened at six o’clock on Friday night. Concertgoers poured in heavily during the first two lackluster local openers and the venue began to crowd with the heat of excited bodies and the scent of cigarette smoke.
- Morgan Morel
- Swedish heavy-metal band In Flames played at Harpos Concert Theater this past Friday night. Go to <em>www.michigandaily.com</em> for the full story. (David Tuman/Daily)
Devildriver then took the stage to an eager crowd. Vocalist Dez Fafara has a commanding stage presence and got the crowd far more excited than any other the other bands before them. Bringing out a camera man to show the crowd that they were scouting locations to film a dvd in the future brought the anxious Harpos crowd to an all out frenzy for their set.
Taking the stage next was the up-and-coming metal-quartet Trivium. Wasting no time Trivium kicked off into their song “Like Light to Flies”. Trivium played a sped-up set which made the speed of their solos even more impressive, but took away the melodic fluidity that they strive on. Taking time out of their set to give their respects to a fallen heavy-metal idol, “Dimebag” Darryl Abbott, they played parts of the Pantera songs “Domination” and “Walk.” In an overall impressive performance it seemed like at times the band was trying too hard, by dumbing-down fill rifs so they could play their songs up-tempo; they seemed to aim for the fences, instead but fell short.
Closing out the night was the Swedish metal act In Flames. Bringing loads of extra lighting the band took the stage in a flash flood of vivid white light momentarily blinding the audience and masking their entrance to the stage. Colored spotlights swirled over the stage and crowd adding to the visual aspects of the performance.
Throughout their hour and forty minute set the band spanned their discography playing songs from earlier albums like Whoracle and their newest release Come Clarity. The packed Harpos crowd was in a vibe with the band throughout the entire set, singing at the top of their lungs and moshing along to the music.
The band took time between songs to thank the fans, and even taking a request off of a sign that someone had brought into the concert claiming that they would pay them to play their song “Jotun.” Preceding their performance of the song, Vocalist Anders Frid