Firstly, lets deal with the bad. The venue is extremely difficult to find, atleast when you've never been there and there aren't a host of people waiting outside and waving in the confused drivers. I was also not too thrilled with the stage, other than the fact that it allowed for you to stand extremely close to the bands.
Porcupine Tree came out first, to a particularly older, more mature crowd. They played their setlist for over an hour, with Steven Wilson giving thanks to Opeth fans who may otherwise not know of Porcupine Tree. They played better than I expected, but I'm still not entirely into their sound. Blackest Eyes was the leadoff, but it was slowly, then quickly downhill. All in all, they fit the bill well.
On to Opeth, who came to the stage around 11pm. Without introduction, they played Windowpane. The typical "We are Opeth from Stockholm, Sweden." before playing In My Time of Need. He also made mention that this was Opeth's "100th performance", so I think we'll have to take his word for it. Before playing Death Whispered A Lullaby, he talked about his connection to Steven Wilson. All the while, between songs, shouts for Demon of the Fall, The Moor, Harvest and other favorites were being acknowledged by Mikael, but with him finally saying "Do we look like a band that takes requests?". He giggled and carried on with Closure. This was the first song that really let them exaggerate the heavy parts. And did they ever. Parts were altered, elongated, repeated and the like. The band then played Hope Leaves, To Rid The Disease, and Ending Credits. With just Mike and the keyboardist left on stage, he performed Weakness. Then Mike too left the stage and had a few minute break.
He returned alone to play Benighted, with Peter and the Martins joining in at the appropriate time. It was a really nice rendition. Possibly the highlight of the night came next, with To Bid You Farewell. I would've paid the price of admission if I only got to hear this song. I would've paid twice as much if I knew it was going to be as good as it was. An absolutely fantastic song live. Next up was the cover of Soldier of Fortune, which was good if not a short song. The only other rival for highlight of the night would be when, after brushing off all requests, Mikael started playing first Still Day Beneath The Sun(without a capo, which he joked about afterwards) and then a short verse and chorus of Harvest. They seemed to be having a good time, and the crowd was loving it. Face of Melinda closed out the set, but the energy they put into the song closed out the night. They were tremendous for being limited in what they could play. The set length was around one hour fourty five minutes.
I was stationed immediately in front of Mr. Lindgren, for those wondering.
Porcupine Tree came out first, to a particularly older, more mature crowd. They played their setlist for over an hour, with Steven Wilson giving thanks to Opeth fans who may otherwise not know of Porcupine Tree. They played better than I expected, but I'm still not entirely into their sound. Blackest Eyes was the leadoff, but it was slowly, then quickly downhill. All in all, they fit the bill well.
On to Opeth, who came to the stage around 11pm. Without introduction, they played Windowpane. The typical "We are Opeth from Stockholm, Sweden." before playing In My Time of Need. He also made mention that this was Opeth's "100th performance", so I think we'll have to take his word for it. Before playing Death Whispered A Lullaby, he talked about his connection to Steven Wilson. All the while, between songs, shouts for Demon of the Fall, The Moor, Harvest and other favorites were being acknowledged by Mikael, but with him finally saying "Do we look like a band that takes requests?". He giggled and carried on with Closure. This was the first song that really let them exaggerate the heavy parts. And did they ever. Parts were altered, elongated, repeated and the like. The band then played Hope Leaves, To Rid The Disease, and Ending Credits. With just Mike and the keyboardist left on stage, he performed Weakness. Then Mike too left the stage and had a few minute break.
He returned alone to play Benighted, with Peter and the Martins joining in at the appropriate time. It was a really nice rendition. Possibly the highlight of the night came next, with To Bid You Farewell. I would've paid the price of admission if I only got to hear this song. I would've paid twice as much if I knew it was going to be as good as it was. An absolutely fantastic song live. Next up was the cover of Soldier of Fortune, which was good if not a short song. The only other rival for highlight of the night would be when, after brushing off all requests, Mikael started playing first Still Day Beneath The Sun(without a capo, which he joked about afterwards) and then a short verse and chorus of Harvest. They seemed to be having a good time, and the crowd was loving it. Face of Melinda closed out the set, but the energy they put into the song closed out the night. They were tremendous for being limited in what they could play. The set length was around one hour fourty five minutes.
I was stationed immediately in front of Mr. Lindgren, for those wondering.
