Following review refers to the Porto show at Hard Club on the 12th of February.
Setlist as follows:
leper affinity
advent
deliverance
godhead's lament
the drapery falls
credence
bleak
fair judgement
encore: demon of the fall
There´s something about that eerie distortion which preceeds leper affinity which will forever be lodged in a corner of my heart. I understand how pavlov's dogs felt every time they heard those chimes and started to drool in hunger... by now i had heard blackwater park so many times i always expected something mind-blowing to follow. Looking backwards...maybe i did start to drool.
And then they entered..calmly, and soothingly started a sonic assault which would last little over 90 minutes. Lepers affinity was somewhat...unchanged. It's my favourite song, and hell, they didnt skip a note or miss a beat, but i was impatient to see wether they had altered anything on it.
So it was a dodgy start...sounded great, but i was looking for something unique. They finished leper affinity and again, took their time. Akerfeldt stated laughing that Opeth where known for taking their time. Then kicked in Advent and my patience paid off.
As the set slowly unwinded, seeminglessly blending the mellower moments of credence and a fair judgement with loud crowd favourite deliverance, everything fit perfectly. I still think credence loses much of its beauty live, as it seems to lack the pace of he rest of the show. Maybe benighted or harvest would be more fitting, probably the latter as i'm sure it would definetly be a crowd pleaser.
After the typical applause, cheers, screaming and chanting (portuguese fans seem to be delighted at having finally found a band name they can all pronounce correctly) the band stepped onto the stage once more. ""You know what it means when i low tune my guitar? It means we're going to play death metal!" Akerfeldt exclaims...and the rest is history as far as im concerned.
Conclusion: yes it did rock...would you expect any less from opeth? wether it was a great concert by opeth standards or not.. well..i couldn't care less. Personally i find people arguing over concerts ultimately pathetic. What makes an experience great is a sense of belonging, and for one night opeth belonged to me.
Setlist as follows:
leper affinity
advent
deliverance
godhead's lament
the drapery falls
credence
bleak
fair judgement
encore: demon of the fall
There´s something about that eerie distortion which preceeds leper affinity which will forever be lodged in a corner of my heart. I understand how pavlov's dogs felt every time they heard those chimes and started to drool in hunger... by now i had heard blackwater park so many times i always expected something mind-blowing to follow. Looking backwards...maybe i did start to drool.
And then they entered..calmly, and soothingly started a sonic assault which would last little over 90 minutes. Lepers affinity was somewhat...unchanged. It's my favourite song, and hell, they didnt skip a note or miss a beat, but i was impatient to see wether they had altered anything on it.
So it was a dodgy start...sounded great, but i was looking for something unique. They finished leper affinity and again, took their time. Akerfeldt stated laughing that Opeth where known for taking their time. Then kicked in Advent and my patience paid off.
As the set slowly unwinded, seeminglessly blending the mellower moments of credence and a fair judgement with loud crowd favourite deliverance, everything fit perfectly. I still think credence loses much of its beauty live, as it seems to lack the pace of he rest of the show. Maybe benighted or harvest would be more fitting, probably the latter as i'm sure it would definetly be a crowd pleaser.
After the typical applause, cheers, screaming and chanting (portuguese fans seem to be delighted at having finally found a band name they can all pronounce correctly) the band stepped onto the stage once more. ""You know what it means when i low tune my guitar? It means we're going to play death metal!" Akerfeldt exclaims...and the rest is history as far as im concerned.
Conclusion: yes it did rock...would you expect any less from opeth? wether it was a great concert by opeth standards or not.. well..i couldn't care less. Personally i find people arguing over concerts ultimately pathetic. What makes an experience great is a sense of belonging, and for one night opeth belonged to me.