- Apr 23, 2002
- 1,246
- 3
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Ok here is the review:
Well I woke up at 7 AM and was in front of the aptly called Venue at 8:30 AM, hoping to meet Opeth before the show. There only were 10 or 20 people waiting already. Half of them were already drunk(how stupid can people get?). The gates were supposed to be opened on 1 PM, so I had time to sit on my ass for several hours(oh, the delight!). Anyway I stood up with every coming minivan(ok, I know I am miserable), but no luck Opeth didn't come. When it was 12:00 PM people started to get in line, of course I was one them. The damn bastards opened the gates at 3:45 or so, the fuckers! Anyway I already ran to the stage, although there were 4 other bands playing before Opeth.(Local bands: Almora - folk/power metal band, Antisilence - Hardcore band, Radical Noise - Hardcore band and the infamous Rotting Christ) hen Rotting Christ left the stage, people already started to chant for Opeth. Peter came frst for soundcheck, he was cool, smiling to the crowd and waving. Before he left the stage, he threw his pick to the crowd. Next came Mike, but he seemed kind of nervous because of obvious equipment problems. When the soundcheck was over, Martins joined them and I think with that the crowd went to another dimension. People didnt stop chanting:"O-peth! O-peth!" before they started to play "Godhead's Lament". All I can say is despite all the sound problems Opeth sounds awesome live. Actually I cant judge the sound so much because I was in the front line just left of Mike. When they finished Godhead, Mike and the band already seemed to forget all the problems and they were pleased by the positive reaction of the crowd. Mike told us, that it was an honour for them
to open for Dio and that he will be watching him with us, singing along to Holy Diver. Next was my favourite Opeth song "The Drapery Falls". It was flawless, too and as I especially love the drums and bass lines of this song I again fall in love with Martins' technical skills. The crowd gone crazy with this song and again started to chant: "O-peth! O-peth! O-peth!" The band remained silent for a short time and Mike stood there his arms crossed. They were looking to eachother and smiling...
You could guess that they had a great time on the stage. I guess they thought we would stop chanting when they stood silent for a minute but we didnt, so Martin L. started to give a beat to the Opeth chant first with his kick and then his snare drum. It was really an orgasmic experience, as I could feel the drums, especially the bass ones just under my heart. Mike said that this was their first time in Turkey, they really enjoyed it so far and will definitely come back for the European Damnation Tour. Third song of the set was "Deliverance" which is again one of my favourite Opeth songs with its hypnotizing outro. I dont know if it had something to do with their short set, but as far as I can remember they didnt cut it in 4 mins as they usually do.(You can trust me I was sober. But I was high on Opeth. Bah!) I enjoyed the live version of Deliverance even more than the studio one. The outro riff is über-headbangable. After this was another song from Deliverance, which I again enjoy very much, "A Fair Judgement". Mike announced it as a kind of mellow song and again I watched them in awe as I still couldn't believe that every song could sound so good live. After the fair judgement to our disbelief Mikael announced that they are going to
play one more.(The organizators told us and them that they will have 1,5 hours on stage. But just before they started, they told Opeth to finish in an hour. Bastards!) But Mike wasn't sure, if this song was fitting to their setlist, because it was a different one. He said that it was a death metal song. ;D People familiar with their stage show including me, already understood that it is Demon of the Fall and we started to scream:"Demon of the Fall!" He asked, if Istanbul liked death metal. It seemed that a yes coming from the crowd was not enough. We had to prove that to him by growling. After he got all the crowd
growling, he said that Opeth's favourite artist was King Diamond and asked us if we knew, why he did ask this. He wanted us to
do an high-pitched King Diamond scream. After the scream, he told us that he wanted everybody go crazy headbanging and announced
"DEMON OF THE FALL" During this conversation they played a kind of chugging intro, but I really didnt hear what it sounded like.
Before the show Demon of the Fall was just another great Opeth song for me, but after hearing it live, it is now tied with "The
Drapery Falls" for the first place. I think it is THE live song of Opeth, as its both brutal and has a great clean bit. After hearing it live,
now I enjoy the studio version a 1000x more. I still thought they were going to play at least one more song after Demon of the Fall, but
they waved goodbye and left the stage. With that I quickly left the crowd and ran to backstage to get autographs from them. After
waiting for 10 mins, I started to lose my hope, but just at that moment I saw Mike coming outside, not many people saw him as it
was pitch dark, I asked for an autograph, but the organizator told me that he will give autographs there, showing a white building
in the other side of the concert venue. Well I ran to the windows of that building and climbed a bit to see who was inside. In one of the rooms was Martin Mendez with Rotting Christ members, so I got his autograph. In front of another window, which was obviously Opeth's
room were Martin Lopez and Peter, I got their autographs, too. I asked Peter for a pick, he said he threw all of them on stage, but checked his pockets for a last time, but no luck. Then I asked Martin about Mike, but he said he didnt know. I started waiting in front of the window after a short time I caught a glimpse of Mike and I got his autograph, too. But I wouldnt settle with those autographs and I continued to wait in front of the window providing pen to other people who wanted autographs. During Dio's set I got what I deserved because all Opeth members came out from the backstage and started watching Dio behind the soundboard. I went there to ask Mike some questions during the breaks between the songs. Martin Mendez invited me to sit with him, I had a good conversation with him, until they left after Dio. I still can't believe that this kind of musicians are so down to earth and are so nice to their fans. Kudos to Opeth!
Well I woke up at 7 AM and was in front of the aptly called Venue at 8:30 AM, hoping to meet Opeth before the show. There only were 10 or 20 people waiting already. Half of them were already drunk(how stupid can people get?). The gates were supposed to be opened on 1 PM, so I had time to sit on my ass for several hours(oh, the delight!). Anyway I stood up with every coming minivan(ok, I know I am miserable), but no luck Opeth didn't come. When it was 12:00 PM people started to get in line, of course I was one them. The damn bastards opened the gates at 3:45 or so, the fuckers! Anyway I already ran to the stage, although there were 4 other bands playing before Opeth.(Local bands: Almora - folk/power metal band, Antisilence - Hardcore band, Radical Noise - Hardcore band and the infamous Rotting Christ) hen Rotting Christ left the stage, people already started to chant for Opeth. Peter came frst for soundcheck, he was cool, smiling to the crowd and waving. Before he left the stage, he threw his pick to the crowd. Next came Mike, but he seemed kind of nervous because of obvious equipment problems. When the soundcheck was over, Martins joined them and I think with that the crowd went to another dimension. People didnt stop chanting:"O-peth! O-peth!" before they started to play "Godhead's Lament". All I can say is despite all the sound problems Opeth sounds awesome live. Actually I cant judge the sound so much because I was in the front line just left of Mike. When they finished Godhead, Mike and the band already seemed to forget all the problems and they were pleased by the positive reaction of the crowd. Mike told us, that it was an honour for them
to open for Dio and that he will be watching him with us, singing along to Holy Diver. Next was my favourite Opeth song "The Drapery Falls". It was flawless, too and as I especially love the drums and bass lines of this song I again fall in love with Martins' technical skills. The crowd gone crazy with this song and again started to chant: "O-peth! O-peth! O-peth!" The band remained silent for a short time and Mike stood there his arms crossed. They were looking to eachother and smiling...
You could guess that they had a great time on the stage. I guess they thought we would stop chanting when they stood silent for a minute but we didnt, so Martin L. started to give a beat to the Opeth chant first with his kick and then his snare drum. It was really an orgasmic experience, as I could feel the drums, especially the bass ones just under my heart. Mike said that this was their first time in Turkey, they really enjoyed it so far and will definitely come back for the European Damnation Tour. Third song of the set was "Deliverance" which is again one of my favourite Opeth songs with its hypnotizing outro. I dont know if it had something to do with their short set, but as far as I can remember they didnt cut it in 4 mins as they usually do.(You can trust me I was sober. But I was high on Opeth. Bah!) I enjoyed the live version of Deliverance even more than the studio one. The outro riff is über-headbangable. After this was another song from Deliverance, which I again enjoy very much, "A Fair Judgement". Mike announced it as a kind of mellow song and again I watched them in awe as I still couldn't believe that every song could sound so good live. After the fair judgement to our disbelief Mikael announced that they are going to
play one more.(The organizators told us and them that they will have 1,5 hours on stage. But just before they started, they told Opeth to finish in an hour. Bastards!) But Mike wasn't sure, if this song was fitting to their setlist, because it was a different one. He said that it was a death metal song. ;D People familiar with their stage show including me, already understood that it is Demon of the Fall and we started to scream:"Demon of the Fall!" He asked, if Istanbul liked death metal. It seemed that a yes coming from the crowd was not enough. We had to prove that to him by growling. After he got all the crowd
growling, he said that Opeth's favourite artist was King Diamond and asked us if we knew, why he did ask this. He wanted us to
do an high-pitched King Diamond scream. After the scream, he told us that he wanted everybody go crazy headbanging and announced
"DEMON OF THE FALL" During this conversation they played a kind of chugging intro, but I really didnt hear what it sounded like.
Before the show Demon of the Fall was just another great Opeth song for me, but after hearing it live, it is now tied with "The
Drapery Falls" for the first place. I think it is THE live song of Opeth, as its both brutal and has a great clean bit. After hearing it live,
now I enjoy the studio version a 1000x more. I still thought they were going to play at least one more song after Demon of the Fall, but
they waved goodbye and left the stage. With that I quickly left the crowd and ran to backstage to get autographs from them. After
waiting for 10 mins, I started to lose my hope, but just at that moment I saw Mike coming outside, not many people saw him as it
was pitch dark, I asked for an autograph, but the organizator told me that he will give autographs there, showing a white building
in the other side of the concert venue. Well I ran to the windows of that building and climbed a bit to see who was inside. In one of the rooms was Martin Mendez with Rotting Christ members, so I got his autograph. In front of another window, which was obviously Opeth's
room were Martin Lopez and Peter, I got their autographs, too. I asked Peter for a pick, he said he threw all of them on stage, but checked his pockets for a last time, but no luck. Then I asked Martin about Mike, but he said he didnt know. I started waiting in front of the window after a short time I caught a glimpse of Mike and I got his autograph, too. But I wouldnt settle with those autographs and I continued to wait in front of the window providing pen to other people who wanted autographs. During Dio's set I got what I deserved because all Opeth members came out from the backstage and started watching Dio behind the soundboard. I went there to ask Mike some questions during the breaks between the songs. Martin Mendez invited me to sit with him, I had a good conversation with him, until they left after Dio. I still can't believe that this kind of musicians are so down to earth and are so nice to their fans. Kudos to Opeth!