In Flames & All That Remains
May 14, 2015
Stage AE- Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh was serenaded in metal bliss when the Charming America Tour came through on May 14th at Stage AE. Swedish rockers In Flames are headlining this tour in direct support with All That Remains and Periphery. Stage AE has an amazing outdoor amphitheater and indoor music hall with this show being held inside. The indoor section can hold about 2,400 people and it was probably half full with high energy screaming metal heads ready for a killer time.
The Periphery banner was already hung in the background when I walked in and I could hear many fans chanting their name in anticipation. They finally came upon the stage at 7:30 sharp and ignited our night with Icarus Lives! After five songs singer Spencer Sotelo thanked the crowd for our support and how we are the reason they can perform these shows. Sotelo said “I get to scream my heart out for amazing fans every night while wearing a pink cut off shirt with a cat on it and slippers to “work”, I love my job.” They played a few more tracks and after playing Alpha, Sotelo spotted a man wearing a shirt that said MOSH and had him start a circle pit for their closing song Graveless. Their set lasted for roughly 45 minutes and while the stage was being set for the next band, the music that was played 
over the speakers was very strange yet hilarious. Hit songs like Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb were being played, but I started to notice the lyrics were way different and it sounded like they were being sung by someone backstage. Then the same voice sang what sounded like an original they created with lyrics such as “my d**k is on your tits and your s**t is on my d**k” to a calm backing track. Hope that helps put into perspective the strange tunes that were being played. Though, finally the lights went black, a piano melody filled the speakers, and the stage was overcome with a purple haze as we awaited a great band known as All That Remains.
This band is touring in support of their newest album The Order of Things. Everyone in the crowd started cheering and building up momentum as the band swiftly came onto the stage to help reset the tone of the night with This Won’t End Well. After playing their fourth song, For We Are Many, singer Phil Labonte sported a huge smile with a real upbeat mood saying this night in particular he is having a real good time. He expressed how grateful he was to have White Chapel drummer Ben Harclerode fill in for Jason Costa, who will be out for a few shows due to a broken drum stick cracking a crown in his mouth while playing a few days before. Labonte explained how the next song they would play had a lot of criticism behind it, which makes them love it all that much more and rocked onto the ballad What if I Was Nothing. The fans cheered in much positive respect for the calmer ballad as it was ending, but the band was ready to watch bodies fly and mash together. The singer rose up the number Six with his hands and the audience erupted into surfers and fists before the all-familiar guitar rift even began to radiate through our ears. They kept the emotions running high with This Calling before ending they’re also 45 minute set with Two Weeks.
As they dispersed from the stage, people went to fuel their bodies with booze and H2O to prepare themselves for the melodic sounds of In Flames. No 
instruments but a lonely drum set waiting to produce pulsating beats sat on the stage. The foreign metal juggernauts did not make us wait long though and soon joined together to release our anticipation with some delicious rifts from Sweden by opening with Embody The Invisible. The front of the stage area was congested with screaming fans that were slammed against the barrier. A grinning front man Anders Friden said “I want to see some surfers coming over this wall Pittsburgh so lets open up this floor and have a metal party my friends.” I watched a man wearing a Swedish flag as a cape fly over the barrier as they went into their fourth tune Bullet Ride. Friden popped open a craft brew after this song and after taking a drink said he doesn’t drink s**t beer like Budweiser. A man held out his cup so Friden walked up to the barrier to pour him a full glass and said now drink up for some more metal as they rocked with Paralyzed from their newest album Silent Charms. After this he mentioned that he thinks Silent Charms is some of the band’s best work before playing some older hits like Clouds Connected, The Quite Place, and Alias. Friden was very interactive with us the entire night and even gave encouragement to chase any musical dreams we had by saying all you need is a big room, instruments, and stacks of beer! He followed that statement saying he doesn’t take the chance to play for wonderful people all over the world for granted. Then he made a James Brown scream and while laughing with the rest of his band he said “James was right, it does feel good!” The band then closed out the night with Take This Life and My Sweet Shadow. All the band members gave final waves and thankful gestures. Unfortunately they could not answer the cries for one more song and the staff ushered us all out.
In Flames has been extensively touring since last winter after cancelling a slew of summer 2014 dates to give them time to finish Silent Charms, which dropped in September 2014. They have released eleven studio albums since 1990 and their latest demonstrates how this band continues to evolve. Their North American leg still runs strong with friends Periphery and All That Remains out until May 24th before blasting through European festivals out until August. Spring is in full effect with summer right around the corner so get off your ass and go get wined and dined for a night by this charming tour if luckily they are making some last final stops even remotely near you.
Review by: Chad Johnston
All That Remains
In Flames
