Here's my quick review of the show. Opeth kicked my ass... bad! They were tight and brutally heavy! I kinda really wanted to hear Ghost of Perdition and I was hoping they'd maybe switch up the set a little. But that's only minor shit! The sound was perfect from where I was standing, which was just on the fringes of the mosh pit. I'd have gotten much closer in my younger days, but I'd have gotten my ass kicked again by the crowd in my old age.
I think in a post above I said I didn't care about the opening acts.... well I take that back! I never saw Deathmarch 'cause I was outside gettin' "primed" for Opeth. But man! Am I glad I caught 3's show! I thought they were fan-fuckin'-tastic! I'm definitely going to check out some more of their stuff real soon. Cool stuff.
I loved the venue! Maybe it's because I'm not used to bigger venues because there are none geared solely for general admission shows here in Newfoundland, but the Sound Academy blew me away. The light show was supa cool and the acoustics were spot on. Two thumbs up for the venue!
Now my only let down of the night was when I went to the merch booth and they had three T's left. Not 3 the band... not three different styles... three fucking XXXL T-shirts! Montreal shelled them out the night before so there was very little left for Toronto. They had 1 of the green printed T and 2 of the Opeth logo with the date stamp on the back. I got the second last T-shirt to be had and was pleasantly surprised to find out the T was only XXL, so there is hope that it might shrink down to an XL when I wash it. I actually wanted the Watershed album cover with the tour dates on the back. I'll most likely order one online to keep as a pseudo-souvenir.
Overall, the three days I spent in Toronto were a real blast, from the time I stepped off the plane 'til the time dragged my up all night ass back to the airport to head home. Capped off perfectly by probably my most enjoyed concert ever! If Mike or anybody else reads this, thank you for the great show! I hope you have the opportunity to make my ears bleed and my brain swell sometime in the near future. Cheers! Ed.