Just got back about 40 minutes ago. Damn I'm tired. Anyway, I thought the show was better than the London show, as well. I was the second person there, though I left to buy a camera and when I returned there were about seven or eight more people. Saw the guys leave then come walking back with McDonald's food.
Inside I was right up front, almost right in the middle. Withering Surface were alright. Their opening song is pretty much the only one I can really get into at all, though. It's kinda catchy, really. Arch Enemy...well the thoughts I had on them after London were confirmed tonight. Everything basically just sounds the same. Lee pretty much took the words out of my mouth.
Opeth, I thought, had a tighter performance than at the London show, although Mike said the version of "Advent" they played tonight was a new out-of-tune version. I didn't really notice it. Something I noticed both at London and tonight was that Mendez's bass is barely audible, especially in "Advent" where there's a major bass part. I thought maybe in London it was because I was standing really close to the speaker on the right that possibly caused it, but I noticed it tonight as well. The drums sounded better, I thought. The snare was really rattling during one of the songs (I think "Credence") whenever Lopez wasn't playing. In "Demon of the Fall" there was a bit of a feedback problem, but nothing extreme. Excellent show, overall.
After the last song, Peter and Mike got off the stage and shook hands with people towards the front in the audience. Peter must have recognised me again (he remembered me from the US tour in May 2001 and I told him I was going to try to make it to Birmingham when I spoke to him on Monday), because when they finished "Demon of the Fall" he looked right at me, and when he came down to shake hands with the audience, he came straight to me and shook my hand first. I thought that was really cool of him. After the show I had to hurry up and get back to the station to catch an 11:10PM train back to London. I think I'm all concerted out for now. Three shows in three weeks (Tool, Opeth, and Opeth)...time to rest.
Now, at 4:30AM, it's time to sleep. Great show. I'm happy.
ADDENDUM:
I still didn't meet anyone from here. Sorry I didn't see you tonight, Lee.
