Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Vocalist Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquillity spoke with Marcus Schleutermann of Rock Hard magazine at last month’s Rock Hard Festival 2026 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, regarding the forthcoming concerts in Gothenburg, Sweden, where the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra will perform songs by In Flames, At The Gates, and Dark Tranquillity, as per Blabbermouth. In specially composed pieces by Johan Lindström and composer John Metcalfe, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Josef Rhedin, will tackle the melodic death metal that has made Gothenburg a rock icon. Metcalfe is well-known for his collaborations with musicians including Peter Gabriel, U2, and Coldplay. “The Gothenburg Sound” will be performed three times by the 109-piece orchestra at Göteborgs Konserthus on December 3, 4, and 5.
It’s a super-cool event. They contacted us through Tompa, actually, a year and a half ago or something like that, or two years ago almost. Because that’s what the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra does — they will do rare events like that, celebrating a genre or a certain artist or something like that. And they are considered — rightly so — one of the best symphony orchestras in all of Scandinavia and the north of Europe. And they’re incredible. And I’ve seen when they did a show celebrating ‘Krautrock’, and it was — wow — one of the best things I’ve ever seen. That kind of stuff. So it’s super cool.
When they asked us, [it was] kind of, like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna do this. Do you wanna be part of it or help out? Do you have any suggestions what we should do?’ And then we had some suggestions, but they were, like, ‘Nah, we’re gonna figure it out. We wanna listen to the songs, see what fits.’ And the guy who’s written the actual orchestration and stuff like that, he’s an incredible guy who worked with U2 and Peter Gabriel and that kind of stuff. So he’s written the orchestration for a 104-piece orchestra with choir. So, we’re not gonna be part of it other than we’re gonna be dressed up in the concert hall. And we’re just gonna enjoy it. So it’s gonna be 30 minutes of At The Gates, 30 minutes of In Flames, 30 minutes of Dark Tranquillity, kind of in sections. It’s three nights only, and it’s already sold out, way, way, way, way in advance, obviously. But it’s so cool. It’s one of the greatest honors that, I think, we can get. It’s something to play at a fantastic festival that you look forward to, but this is another kind of level of culture where we don’t normally fit into. And so it’s gonna be super cool. And Jonas [Björler] from At The Gates has written one piece that is just gonna be like a tribute to Tompa, and so I think it’s gonna be absolutely beautiful. And I can’t wait.
The location is also important.
Doing it at home in a place that I used to go with my parents, my grandparents, to see classical stuff or operas and stuff like that when I was a kid, having our music be performed there, [it’s] incredible. So, it’s gonna be one hell of a couple of nights. But it’s a cool thing. And we’re gonna hopefully do things around it to make sure that… Because I know a lot of people who are gonna travel to see it. So we’re gonna try to make some kind of event, just to celebrate it. And for us, I cannot wait. And I don’t wanna know. I know what kind of songs they’re gonna play, but I don’t wanna know more. I just wanna be there, sit there and experience it for the first time on the first night. That’s what I look forward to.
Will it be recorded and released?
We were talking about that. It’s not finalized yet, but I really hope so because, yeah, it needs to be at least immortalized somehow.
