Dark Tranquility / Equilibrium / Black Therapy / Miracle Flair @ Garage, Saarbrücken, 29 April 2018
Garage, Saarbrücken – the perfect place to have been on a Sunday evening, (re)enjoying a live show of one of my favourite bands. As part of the Atoma tour, the pioneering band of the Gothenburg metal scene, Dark Tranquility, has returned to Germany having, Miracle Flair, Black Theraphy and Equilibrium as special guests.
The evening was opened by Miracle Flair, a Swiss band which approaches a melodic / gothic metal genre. Their performance is pretty linear and melodic. The choruses remain somehow in your mind and Nicole Hartmann, the frontwoman, has managed quite flawlessly to keep the public connected.
A big surprise (and discovery) for me was the following act, the Italians from Black Therapy. A melodic death metal band, they have all that it takes to engage an audience which is there for this sort of music. The energy levels were lifted instantly in the room as soon as the set started. They offered an excellent live performance, despite the small technical issues that came up shortly. Their latest album In The Embrace Of Sorrow, I Smile (2016) is definitely a must-listen for every melodic death metal enthusiast.
Next, the Germans from Equilibrium hit the stage. They also didn’t lack the “fun” of technical issues and after the first song they left the stage for few minutes. However, they also put up quite an energetic show, to which the public responded very well judging by all the sing-alongs. The setlist focused more on the fifth studio album Armageddon and during “Born To Be Epic” the crowd literally started the biggest pit of the evening. The band ended their performance with the “Blut im Auge” encore.
Finally, the peak of the evening was there. Charismatic as always, Dark Tranquillity entered the stage on the accompanying riffs of “Encircled” (Atoma, 2016). Even though the setlist mainly contained songs from Atoma, to the great joy of the fans they decided to play songs from older albums that they have not included in the setlist for a long time. Fans were able to hear a song like “Inside the Particle Storm” (Fiction, 2007) or “The Wonders at Your Feet” (Haven, 2000). However, none of The Gallery (1995), one of the classic albums of band, made it into the set. (DT, if you see this, please bring back “Lethe” to your setlists!)
Famous for his close relationship to the public, Mikael Stanne offered a remarkable performance, and this was a full, emotional, energetic show, just as I am used to seeing from them live.
