Although the timetable said that Wovenwar would open, While She Sleeps got to warm up the crowd first. This heavy metalcore band also plays in The Netherlands quite often and every time they do, they gain more and more fans. The reason why is obvious: this band is starting to become a very well-oiled machine. Lead vocalist Lawrence has so much energy that everyone who watches him becomes energetic as well. His vocals weren’t as amazing as they normally are, but they were still pretty good. When he asked for a circle pit, mosh pit, or wall of death, everyone seemed to obey as fast as they could. Songs like “Death Troll”, “Crows”, and “Our Courage, Our Cancer” were played and the set came to an end much too quickly. The band only played for half an hour, and they deserve much more time. Nevertheless, the crowd was warmed up and the band had shown what they’re capable of.

After this good performance it was time for Wovenwar. For those who do not know: this band exists of all the members of As I Lay Dying, who started this band after the arrest of lead vocalist Tim L. They started writing with Shane, the lead vocalist of Oh, Sleeper, and a new band was born. Although the crowd was still pumped after the set by WSS, the energy faded away during this set. Wovenwar didn’t play badly or something, but this melodic metalcore/emo band didn’t fit with this evening. The band played pretty well and got some people into it, but it’s difficult to see this band when you know that both As I Lay Dying and Oh, Sleeper are much better on their own. I’d expected it to be a little heavier, but now it didn’t suit the evening and it was a huge let down that they played for ten minutes longer than WSS. On another evening I might have been into it, but not today with all these heavier bands.

After this let down it was time to awaken the venue again. Of course, a curtain hung in front of the stage before In Flames would play their first note. For the newcomers to an In Flames show it was probably a surprise to see the curtain fall during the intro, as well as to see the band and the extra lights on stage. Another well-oiled machine, but this time from Sweden. From the first song the moshpit exploded and there was a lot of movement throughout the whole set. The band opened with songs like “In Plain View”, “Everything’s Gone”, “Fear Is The Weakness”, and “Trigger”. Lead vocalist Anders also had a good time and spoke with the public quite some times. One of these instances he said that people shouldn’t film many shows, because other people would have a hard time watching the show. If people wanted to film the whole show it was fine, but they should stay in the back of the room, also to record better sound. A perfect statement, in my opinion. A few songs later, when he saw someone filming, he invited the guy on stage to film the crowd from there, because it was boring to only see the band and not the crowd. Another perfect statement by this awesome band. The one and a half hour flew by, as did the 19 songs. They played a mix of harder and softer songs. For example, they played “The Quiet Place”, “Cloud Connected”, “Through Oblivion”, “The Mirrors Truth”, and “Ropes”. They ended with “Deliver Us” and “Take This Life”. No encore was played, but it wasn’t needed either. It was a good set, but many people did miss some songs, such as “Leeches”, “Pinball Map”, and “Sounds Of A Playground Fading”.

Nevertheless, once again it was quite a good show by a headliner that definitely deserved that spot. Why WSS and Wovenwar swapped spots, I still don’t know, but it wasn’t a good decision.