The Opeth show at the Orpheum was a very cool show despite the second half being interrupted a bit by some technical difficulties. Joakim Svalberg's keys lost power three or four times during the last quarter of the show and Fredrik Åkesson's guitar had at least one short or broken string that had him signaling furiously for a guitar swap during Master's Apprentice right before they cut for the finale.
"Most bands these days sound just like they do on the record. That's because they are playing the fucking record," says Åkerfeld, with typical understated charm at some point during the technical glitches.
Other than the equipment malfunctions, though, it was a lovely night. The band had their sound dialed in for the theater, meaning that we could hear all of the instruments and vocals for a change, which is a good thing when the band is playing something as subtle and full of nuance as the Ghost Reveries album. The first half of the show, playing through that album in its entirety, was beautiful and near flawlessly executed, and the music carried the show despite the all-seated venue. For once the crowd seemed in-tune with Opeth's prettier, mellow side, cheering their appreciation for the delicate keyboard parts as loudly as for the more brutal moments. It flipped the standard for the usual Opeth show -- not surprising since the show had sold out early and at least half of the crowd was wearing Opeth shirts from the Ghost Reveries era or later. Not a lot of casual fans to be found there.
Although...during the brief section where Mikael was asking for requests from the crowd and playing the snippets that he (and sometimes the rest of the band) remembered, it seemed that the crowd did not know all the words to Harvest or to some of the other classic Opeth sing-along tunes. It's not that the crowd was shy -- L.A. crowds are never shy -- they were happy to banter and yell, they just seemed unprepared to do anything *as a group* or to know the lyrics to the clean passages. It struck me as odd, considering how into the show they were otherwise.
The second half was heavy on songs from the more recent albums, which is to be expected when only two of the band members on stage were in the band during the recording of Ghost Reveries. The more recent songs all sounded great, though, and you could see and hear the way that they all worked together on them, listening for subtle shifts in delivery and responding to each other's input. What they have lost in sheer power they have made up for in becoming more tasteful and playing with greater musicality. You could hear the connection with the newer stuff and it carried over to the crowd.
Not quite the best Opeth show I have ever seen -- hard to top the sweltering hot show I went to during the Watershed tour when they were on the road with Enslaved -- but a very special and beautiful show nonetheless. Three solid hours of Opeth. Fuck yeah, I'll take it.
