Dark Tranquillity at Club Quattro
Gothenburg’s melodic death metal pioneers Dark Tranquillity returned to Japan a decade after their last shows here.
Dark Tranquillity at Club Quattro, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan on 10th March 2025
I have been attending many shows at Club Quattro in Shibuya over the years. Most of those gigs have had great audiences. But it has been a long time since I experienced such an enthusiastic crowd in this venue as the Swedish melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity had. The audience had waited since 2015 for the band to play in Japan again. It showed. The crowd erupted into a boiling euphoria as soon as the band walked onto the stage. The band opened with the song “The Last Imagination” and continued with “Nothing to No One”.
A few songs into the show, lead vocalist Mikael Stanne was visibly emotional as the crowd kept screaming. What a triumphant return this was! The tickets for this gig sold out immediately when the tour was announced. The band’s long absence from Japan and last year’s terrific new album “Endtime Signals” resulted in an overexcited Japanese audience.
Dark Tranquillity was formed in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1989. They were part of what became the influential Gothenburg death metal scene. This triumphant evening in Tokyo they played songs from eight of their 13 studio albums, including five from the latest album. It was a fabulous gig with many favourite tracks performed, such as “Atoma”, “Hours Passed in Exile”, “Wayward Eyes” and the absolute highlight, “Final Resistance”.
As discussed with Mikael Stanne in my backstage interview, the band has seen many people coming in and out of the line-up. The current line-up includes Stanne on vocals, Martin Brändström on keyboards, Johan Reinholdz and Peter Lyse Karmark on guitars, Joakim Strandberg-Nilsson on drums and fill-in bassist Jonathan Thorpenberg. It is an eclectic but solid bunch of musicians. Somehow, Stanne manages to keep things together no matter who is on stage with him that day.
The encore was a victory lap consisting of “The Wonders at Your Feet”, “Lost to Apathy” and “Misery’s Crown”. Oh, my! This was such a great Japanese comeback for Dark Tranquillity!
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