Opeth/Katatonia - One of the Worst CROWD Experiences Ever

[nomisofsiman]

I think what upsets me the most is that I read an interview with Mikael in which he said that he wrote an entire Blackwater Park sounding album, preproed it, demoed it to the band and nobody liked it so they scrapped it. Okay fine, I don't think a band should necessarily be FORCED to hash out material they don't want to write just because fans will eat it up, but the fact that Heritage is the direction they chose to go in upsets me. It's a sign that Opeth may have lost its inspiration/direction if one giant plodding musical circle jerk is what excites them these days.

I wouldn't go that far. As I sort of hinted at, I think this sound and approach is more of a one-off and I expect a more traditional Opeth album the next time out. I think Mikael just wanted to do this type of album for a while, and he didn't care what the established fanbase thought.

 

[johan68]

It was the same deal in Orlando. The gig was amazing and Mikael was on top of his game. However, we had the same bunch of asswipes expecting a Slayer show or something. Truly pathetic.....
It surely took away from the whole Opeth experience.

 

[dtfanatic]

Me and the Swede went together and the whole show one guy kept yelling "Pissed!", "I'm pissed!", "Pissed!". There was other discontent and yelling as well. And after the show, "Opeth sucked!". Now I enjoyed the show and am a big Opeth fan, but was still a little disappointed even knowing they weren't going to be any of the heavy growl songs. But I would never act like some of these people did. But to be fair, lots of people bought tickets months ago not knowing what kind of set they would do, and maybe not knowing there would be no growls on the album either. So unless they had checked out the setlist ahead of time, they would've been waiting the whole show for some kind of heavy vibe and never got it.

 

[Tommy3328]

I was at the Worcester show, and people starting leaving at the 30 minute mark. I lasted 45 minutes before I bailed. Worcester has always been packed for Opeth but most fans were not ready for the rubbish on this recent night. Katatonia were outstanding.

 

[Susperia66]

"welcome to PrOgpeth"

Beautiful!!

 

[freakchylde]

I went to see Opeth the last time they were in town with Lacuna Coil. It was a decent show, but I really would have appreciated a chair to sit in at the Masq. I wasn't really expecting a jam session (metal one, but that's what it felt like). I don't recall having lasted the entire set, but that's mainly because I was a moron and showed up for the opening act (local band I like) and sat through the most annoying goose honking rendition of the Lost Boys concert scenes after them.

Based on that, they're more of a sit at home and listen to band, like Mars Volta for me.

 

[farren]

I've seen Opeth twice... Once during the Damnation/Deliverance tour, once during the Ghost Reveries tour. I've honestly never seen a more boring, unenthusiastic band live. The second show, Dark Tranquillity opened for them, and half-way through Opeth's set, about 1/3 of the initially packed crowd had left. I talked to the DT guys throughout Opeth's set for some entertainment while they lulled the audience. I insisted we stay (for some reason) and my ex-girlfriend beat the shit out of me on the way home in some sort of violent post-traumatic boredom syndrome outlash. They really are a dull band live. If the fans were there to "fuck shit up," Opeth was there to collect another paycheck going through the motions :/

 

[Pellaz]

Whew, kinda glad I didn't go to the Atlanta show, or I'd have been seriously inclined to bust some heads.
--Not that I don't understand and to some degree agree with their frustration, but I'd expect better from Opeth fans than for them to disrespect Mikael and the band that much during a show.

 

[Mardoch]

I'm sort of "this" guy. Minus the glaring. As long as you aren't a meathead who is just randomly shoving people and windmilling your arms, if I get bumped when I'm up front at a show I don't mind. But I don't jump up and down, banging my head around like crazy during an entire show, either.

Frankly, my C3-4 and C4-5 can't take that anymore - and no one wants to see a short, overweight, balding 40-something headbang, anyway.

I'm more or less this way. I've had multiple traumatic neck injuries and more than one concussion that was pretty serious, so headbanging is quite out for me. It's why I'm never up front.

I don't mind people moshing or whatever to the heavy stuff that's more or less intended for that...but when people do it for songs that don't warrant it, it really pisses me off. Stand still and pay attention to the show jackhole.

I'm kind of a grumpy old man even though I'm not even 30 yet, though, so I don't say anything because I know I'm probably just being a grumpy bastard.

 

[seh750]

Caught Katatonia and Opeth in Portland last night. Really good show with a packed crowd. The venue holds about 1400 and it had to be pretty close to full, nearly double the crowd from when Opeth toured with Enslaved in 2009.

The lighting for Katatonia was really dark, it was hard to see them on stage (although all the band members were wearing black which doesn't help). Opeth had better lighting. Sound was really good for both bands. Not sure how much of that is the venue as this place generally has good mixing.

Although there were a few calls for Blackwater Park and other heavier songs from the crowd, the clean vocal set didn't seem to cause a problem, didn't see/hear anybody upset with the selections. Several people I talked to during the show were well aware that there would be no growling.

There was a pretty big mosh pit but it never seemed too out of place, only moshing during the heavier bits and calming down during the softer passages.

Gotta say, I love Mikael's banter with the audience. He threatened to play Britney Spears music if we weren't enthusiastic enough at one point, did a bit of "name that tune" with classic metal songs, and some other fun stuff.

As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, there was a drum solo in the middle of Porcelain Heart (my fav Opeth tune, by the way, glad to get to hear that). After seeing Mangini's drum solo with Dream Theater a couple of weeks ago, this just paled in comparison.

One thing really struck me about Katatonia during this performance. I saw them once before about a year ago touring with Orphaned Land. For one, they sounded better this time. Many bands I like because one or more members stand out as outstanding, but no one person really stands out for me in Katatonia. Actually their music almost seems pretty simple to play. But they have a unique sound and interesting songs, even without complex riffs or crazy speed or wailing solos or a vocalist with a huge range.

 

[Nidstang]

I'm looking foward to the show on the 29th.
I just hope they'll put on a good show.

 

[PPLurker]

If, after someone had read the original post, and then stepped in off the streets into St. Andrews Hall, they would have been shocked to see a vibrant metal crowd that was so accepting and enthusiastic. Hell, there were fans singing along to a lot of the tunes, old and obscure and also new and mellow. Not to mention, it's a damn rare occassion that a metal venue in Detroit is sold out. Yes, they moshed in the heavier parts of Hex Omega - but they ceased between heavy passages. I'm sure they would have loved the chance to mosh more, but Mikael's expressed appreciation for the audience's patience with them brought a hellacious cheer. Yes there were calls for Baying of the Hounds, but they enthusiastically cheered every tune. At the end of the set, the chanting for encore was thunderous, and the hall was just as packed as when we walked in on Katatonia - and I was watching to see if folks were going to bail when they started playing some of the chill tunes of Heritage. If every metal show was like this, there'd be no threads pining about low metal show turnouts. Both Katatonia and Opeth were on top of their game, and the sound mix was excellent. Sure we all want to hear Bleak when we see Opeth but it was cool to see a crowd so willing to give an artist the creative license they wanted to take. Yea it was a galaxy away from Blackwater Park but still probably one of the best metal concerts I've been to in ten years - both on the part of the bands and the audience. The only lack of love in this crowd was for Chicago, heh.

 

[Nidstang]

I was at the same show!!
Did you have the VIP Pass?

 

[El-Shoggoth]

The Atlanta Opeth/Katatonia show started out the way you described, William (although Deliverance is the song our crowd repeatedly demanded). Mikael actually played a few bars on Deliverance on his acoustic guitar and made a joke about how if your metal band is facing writer's block, just bash away on a diminished fifth chord like the intro to Deliverance, and you have a riff. All the heckling and shouts of "Worst show ever!" died down after 4 or 5 songs, and the band won the crowd over. Either that, or the bad crowd members left. The second half of the set actually had a really intense response, and there was even crowd surfing.

That being said, I also witnessed one of the worst assholes I've ever seen at a show. A middle aged guy passed out between songs, and the fans around him yelled for security and tried to back everyone away to help the guy. Mikael saw it and said "Somebody passed out? We'll wait." while security came to help the man away. During this, some jerk a few feet away from me yelled "Fuck him! Play!". Not sure what's wrong with people.

 

[PPLurker]

I was at the same show!!
Did you have the VIP Pass?

No, I had the N(ot)VIP pass . . . was up on the balcony about 10 feet from the stage. I did have a birdseye view of the crowd however - a great spot in fact.

Did you get to do the Meet and Greet and all that??

 

[Nidstang]

No, I had the N(ot)VIP pass . . . was up on the balcony about 10 feet from the stage. I did have a birdseye view of the crowd however - a great spot in fact.

Did you get to do the Meet and Greet and all that??

Yes I did! they are all great guys.
Me and Mikeal talked about prog rock, mostly rush for awhile XD
Got my picture taken with them, it was all really cool.
I was in the front of the crowd, and in the middle, You probably noticed a dude with long-ish blonde hair head banging to most of the songs.

 

[dcowboys311]

I read that for the encore last night, Mikael was joined by the Katatonia fellows and proceeded to play two Bloodbath tracks. Quite jealous.

 

[TychoCelchu]

I read that for the encore last night, Mikael was joined by the Katatonia fellows and proceeded to play two Bloodbath tracks. Quite jealous.

GYAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

What city??

 

[dcowboys311]

Baltimore

 

[TychoCelchu]

That must have been amazing, both in and of itself, and doubly so because of how unexpected it was by this point. I checked it out on setlist.fm and Eaten is my favorite Bloodbath song.

THE LONGER I LIVE THE MORE I'M DYING TO FEEL THE PAIN!!!