OPETH/PT - Detroit - St. Andrews Hall (July 23/03)

Alcapoth

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Apr 27, 2002
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Dammit, I'm psyched! Me and my brother have just picked up the tickets to the DETROIT show this coming Wednesday. It'll be our third time seeing Opeth (we saw the Deliverance shows "twice").


After hearing all the awesome feedback from members that have already seen the show, there was NO WAY IN HELL I was going to miss this one, especially considering another fantastic band - Porcupine Tree - is along for the ride. This is going to be a killer show...kinda goes without saying.


Anyway, I was wondering. Anyone else here going to the Detroit show? I wanted to go to the Toronto show (I mean, it's a GREAT city and I am Canadian) but still, Detroit is far closer to where I live than Toronto and the St. Andrews Hall is not a seated-type theater, which is cool.


Anyway, I'm definitely going to be there and see this damn show for myself! Can't wait. OPETH is going to kill, no doubt! And, I'm totally looking forward to seeing PT Live, this will be sweet (which is mainly why I couldn't miss this show...and the fact Opeth are playing their first-ever clean tracks live.)
 
I'll be there on Wednesday. I'm also going to Chicago on Friday night(row 1 seat 1 center, hehehe). I'd go to Cleveland on Thursday night, but I don't fancy getting back home at 4 or 5 in the morning for work Friday morning, then doing it all over again the next night. These'll be my 4th and 5th times seeing Opeth and 3rd/4th for PT :Smug:
 
Yeah, I was at Harpos for Deliverance as well....


Oh man, as I write this, the concert is ONLY 4 hours away. I'll be there right when the doors open, hoping there is SOME WAY I can finally meet the guys...? Somehow, I doubt it...I never luck in.

Anyway, this time I am SO gonna get myself an Opeth t-shirt.

Shit, the anticipation is building more and more....
 
:OMG:Holy...fucking....shit!!!! Those were the BEST 3 hours of my life, I think.....I'm speechless!


There's just too much to say, and I don't know where to start? First of all, I wish I had a digital cam or something like one dude there had. Having pics of the show would have been sweet.

But, anyway. Porcupine Tree kicked it off with Blackest Eyes - it sounded flawless! Incredible performance. Many of the songs they played were actually NOT from In Absentia so I had no idea what songs they were, but even still, I REALLY digged them and must check out some of their previous work. Heartattack in a Layby was beautiful and received its share of applause. Strip the Soul was great too (even though it is not my most fave off the album) as was Gravity Eyelids. All in all, it was just amazing too see them live. Wilson is one heck of a guitarist and performer. On one of the songs, the other guitarist sung - which was rather impressive, to say the least. All in all, too awesome! If there was ONLY one disappointment, it was that there was no encore with TRAINS. FUCK...but, we actually met up with the "other" guitarist of the band and told how great we think they are and that they had done a great show. We told him where we're from, etc. Anyway, we asked why there was no trains? He said, hehe...that Wilson got exhausted....ah, too bad I guess.


OPETH! I don't know what SOME people were thinking saying the concert was boring or lacking compared to Opeth. NOT...at...all! In fact, Opeth were ridiculously brilliant - there's just no doubt or hesitation in my mind at all when I say this. Mikael even said to the crowd (which he interacted with all so stylishly - having a blast!) "...we're a death metal band..." Crowd yelled. "We're trying something new." And, one dude I heard in the background just said, 'you're far more than just a death metal band.' Damn straight, I thought!
The crowd loved them, all though there wasn't much headbanging like there was on PT, which is kinda understandable. There were a few there that were kinda just nodding their heads slightly, as I was doing from time to time. Heh, many shouted Bleak and Drapery just because...Mikael jokingly said, laughing "you know how many times we've played that song? 200 times" (referring to Bleak) And he stated similar things about other songs......
HARVEST was VERY DEMANDED by the crowd/fans. People constantly shouted the song title (heck, even I did! Heheh.) Mikael said they played that song too many times and while they didn't play the song in full, he played beginning at "Into the orchard I walk....etc." letting the crowd do the singing - man, I just thought that was AWESOME! So, we got about 30-35 seconds of Harvest.....
THE REAL highlight of the ENTIRE night was TO BID YOU FAREWELL. My jaw hit the ground...the song was freaking beautiful and I couldn't even ask for a better perfromance of it. Shit, they headbanged to the heavy part near the end - the show was AMAZING! One of my fave Opeth songs was just awe-inspiring....
They played ALL of damnation from beginning to end in order - AWESOME! Man, it sounded so great to hear such great songs live.

Lastly, while we didn't meet the band or had a chance to talk to them, we ran into Peter near the entrance. He looked like he was in a hurry, we're like...."hey..." He kinda waved, smiled, kinda said "hey" and he was off.....and dammit, he IS damn tall like everyone had said. Not too long after, Mendez walked by as well....but then some guard was in the way so we couldn't really meet up with any of the guys....oh well.



Kinda lengthy, but I had to post about some of my experiences at this brilliant show.