We get to the Glasshouse at 5 minutes to 7. 7 is the time listed on the ticket. Upon seeing the huge line winding down the street and around the corner a collective "Oh, shit!" comes out. Find a parking spot, make sure we have everything and head for the line. I realize I have forgotten the camera and have to go back for it. The line isn't moving for long periods of time. Then finally we are near the door and people are distributing bracelets. Usually one uses bracelets to tag people over 21 so they can get booze. Here they tag everyone so those over 21 can go across the street to get alcohol and then come back in. Oooookay.

We walk in around 7:20. Does not seem likely that we've missed anything. We don't think to ask. We sneak into the crowd to within 2-3 rows away from the stage. About 20 minutes later I hear the opening notes of The Cold White Light - a pre-recorded Konevitsan Kirkonkellot is playing. Seconds later Sentenced is on stage and kicks into Cross My Heart and Hope To Die. Whoa!!!!! I hand the camera to Tina (because she's taller) and she snaps some pics. I take some of my own a bit later, Tina taps me on the shoulder after the song and says: "He ain't Ville Vallo." Referring to the fact that some of the songs remind us of HIM songs. I respond "But he IS a Ville!"

Somewhere around that time we realize that Sentenced being on stage means that we have probably missed Dark Tranquility. That causes serious panic, but we reason that DT must have played for only 15 minutes for us to miss them, so we are cautiously optimistic and decide to immerse ourselves in Sentenced's stage show. The performance is great although the guys look too damn serious the whole time. About four and a quarter songs into the set Mika's guitar dies. At first they think it's merely a cable, but by the middle of Everything Is Nothing they realize it's the guitar itself... Oopsie! It's smooth sailing after that! Vesa in person bears an eerie resemblance to Petteri from the Blind Guardian board.

The setlist as far as I can remember:

- Konevitsan Kirkonkellot
- Cross My Heart and Hope To Die
- Neverlasting
- Noose
- Everything Is Nothing
- Brief Is the Light
- The Suicider
- Excuse Me While I Kill Myself
- Nepenthe!!!
Play time: Approximately 35 minutes

Ville ain't Taneli Jarva either, but he's still very, very good and Nepenthe sounds AWESOME!!!!

(Side Note: I believe there was another song from Down in there, but I can't remember right now...)

Now what? DT or KE? Please let it be DT! Please let it be DT! Oh, yeah!!! Martin H is doing the guitar soundcheck! A Dark Tranquility backdrop is going up! They've changed the order! Phew!

We sneak a spot closer. Tall people should not be allowed to stand up front! Nah, in fact it's a first come, first serve thing and I can't be mad at people for wanting to be up front even if they obstruct shortie's view due to their height and mass... Yes, there is a massive guy around. HUGE! Long blonde hair, white shirt, rather intimidating. Some people actually try to get him to move away from the front!?!?!?! Anders is drumming away, we are happily awaiting the moment when the rest of the band will take the stage.

Around 8:30 they do and all hell breaks loose! Two or three assholes decide it'll be a lot of fun if they start throwing themselves at people... I elbow one of them nicely and decide it's better for my livelihood if I were to retreat from the front - at that point I am already against the rails and I have flashbacks from a long ago concert at which I was in a similar situation and ended up with somewhat bruised ribs. Don't wanna do that again! I know the first song is from Damage Done, but cannot pinpoint it. That and the second one are fuzzy, because I was running for my life at the time with Tina (still hanging on to my camera having snapped a couple of shots) following closely. Later she tells me the assholes tried to push the big blonde guy as well; he got kinda mad and gave 'em a big swipe which unfortunately caught some bystanders as well - Tina included, but nothing bad... Now we can finally concentrate on the performance! We are blown away! The stage presence, the interaction with the audience! Dark Tranquility sure know what to do and how to do it! Exceptional! I cannot come up with enough superlatives to describe it! Definitely the best band of the night!!! I am loving every second of it and gaining more and more respect for this band. The guitars are a bit too distorted for my taste, but once I get used to it, everything is pure perfection! At the start of a song from Projector (I forgot the title - was not familiar with the song itself) Mikael thanks the audience and Century Media and dedicates the song to everyone's favorite CM person - HAROLD!

Setlist type thing:

- Something from Damage Done
- Something else...
- White Noise/Black Silence
- Haven
- Punish My Heaven (Woo-hoo!)
- Monochromatic Stains
- Zodijackyl Light (Hell, yeah!)
- A couple of songs I cannot name... *shrug*
- Something from Projector
- Final Resistance
Play time: Approximately 45 minutes

(Note: My DT knowledge is not huge, thus the iffiness of the list.)

We go out after that and miss all but three Killswitch Engage songs. No big loss there...

For In Flames we sneak back to the front but the view is obstructed... A couple of songs into the set I take my leave. Tina stays to take pics. She's a big In Flames fan. I am a bit worried for leaving her alone out there, but I am pretty sure she can take care of herself. I stroll around for a bit and settle on a spot towards the back - I can see the band a lot better from there. I am not all that familiar with In Flames. All I can say is that they play all the songs they did in Vegas last month and of course some more. There are songs from Reroute to Remain (3 or so), Clayman (2 or 3), Colony (2), Gyroscope from Whoracle, and Only for the Weak (which I know by name from the Beauty in Darkness V DVD). Their show is not as energetic as the one they put out in Vegas, but I figure they are pacing themselves, since the set in Vegas was only about 20-25 minutes long. What's more interesting to me are the people around me and one guy in particular who looks like the spitting image of Lance Bass from N'Sync, except he has long hair. I think I have a problem - I keep seeing N'Sync members when I look at people - first it was the guy from Swan Christy who looks like Chris from N'Sync on the back cover of Today Died Yesterday, now this... The aforementioned Lance look-alike continuously plays air guitar throughout the In Flames set and I am quite amused

Tina finds me later on and tells me Mikael from DT is outside in the lobby and she talked to him and he seems like a great guy. At this point In Flames finish up and the show is over. *sigh* We get shirts. On the way out Mikael is nice enough to take the time to talk to the fans and pose for pics. I drag Tina along and we take pics with him. Then back on the road we go.