A night of metal and mayhem invaded the Wind Creek Events Center in Bethlehem, PA on December 14, 2023. Meshuggah was out celebrating the 25th anniversary of their lankmark album "Chaosphere". They brough along heavy hitters Whitechapel and In Flames for the celebration.
The night started off with Whitechapel. They played a short but blistering set that got the fans primed for the rest of night. The crowd had a lot of time in the air crowd surfing and raged in the circle pit that formed near the front of the stage. In Flames hit the stage with their usual brand of fire and enthusiam. I have seen them several times before and they also put on a solid perfomance. They play to the crowd and try to get everyone into it. The crowd responded with several cirlce pits during their performace and the front row got a workout tossing the surfers over the barricade. In Flames in one of the more melodic metal bands out there, the riffs from guitarists Chris Broderick and Bjorn Gelotte really set the band apart from the pack. They played an 11 song set that covered old and brand spacking new material. They left the stage ablaze for headliners, Meshuggah.
Meshuggah coverage a lot of ground musically. They played 12 songs off of 8 albums over a 90 minute set. They opened their set with Broken Cog off of their most recent album "Immutable". They each stood infront of a small screen and were backlit to produce sillouttes of themselves. The light was red, whith flashes of white light over the course of the song. This was a perfect buildup to their performace which was a hug contrast in energy. It was like shaking up a soda for 3 minutes and then popping the lid off releasing the overflow. The crowd collectivily lost their minds for the rest of the night. Meshuggah has been a staple in the community for over 2 decades and there is no end in sight. While this leg of the tour is over they are heading out in Europe in the new year. Be sure to catch a show if they are in your area.
Whitechapel
In Flames
Meshuggah
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