Portland, OR Opeth + Porcupine Tree + interview!!!

[Geyzer60]

WOW guys I finally got back home after the concert. That was freaking amazing. I came an hour and a half early and got right up at the tip front next to the microphone. Porcupine Tree was fantastic, they played a song they havent released yet called Futile or something that was my favorite. They also had cool videos playing in the background in their songs.

Anyway you want Opeth. They were freaking awesome, great sound, great everything. The Portland fans were crazed about them and Opeth even played a peice of Harvest and Still Day Beneath the Sun for us because we were yelling it out. They also played the rest of their stuff.

This was their 100th concert. A milestone....

Now for the cool part. My friend and I waited outside the tour bus. We met Peter Lindgren first he was outside and asked us how we liked it. We said it was great and hoped they come back soon. They said it was a great audiance. He then brought out Martin Mendez and he talked with us. My friend gave him a big bag of weed and Martin told him he loved him.

Afterwards we waited for about 15 minutes and Mike showed up. He asked which concert was better, the one he did today or the one in May. We told him the one today was great and we were glad he played a piece of harvest. I asked him how does it feel to be engaged to be married, he said it was great and they will be getting married the first week they get back to Sweden. I asked if they would be back and he said yeah but not for awhile, they will be taking a break for about a year. I told him to tell Dan Swano to get up here and he said he will, since Dan is coming to his wedding.

<part 2>

 

[Geyzer60]

About 7 of us waited outside and 3 guys were taken inside the tour bus to talk with Opeth for some reason. What was really bad was they smoked my friends weed without inviting us in. GRRR.

Anyway they got all their stuff signed and there were 4 of us left. We tried running inside the tour bus, but the tour guy was like what the fuck? What the fuck is going on? Get the fuck out of here. So we did.

We then waited for an hour and a half outside the bus because we wanted to get Martin Lopez's autograph because that was the last one left. We screamed out Opeth and Martin Lopez! for about a half hour. Eventually the tour guy came out and had pity on us and took all our stuff inside to get signed.

We were so happy and I will never forget that. As we left we screamed out OPETH! and we saw Peter Lingren waving to us outside the window as we walked by.

I now have the Deliverance booklet signed on the front, as well as in the inside cover with all their pictures and all their autographs. I will never forget.

This was one hell of a tour.

THE END.


(Oh a girl asked a stage hand to give her a guitar pick left on stage by Stephen Wilson. Damn I should have done that, but instead I said Hey! Give me that water bottle cap! And I got the cap of a water bottle Stephen Wilson drank. Cool beans...)

Another thing you might find interesting is that Opeth was watching the country music channel on their tour bus! Can you say sinful?

Whoops, and another thing. Mike saw that my friend and a few others on my side were rocking out to his music the whole time so he walked over to our side and played right in front of me and smiled at us. That was freaking great. He was like 3 inches away from me with his guitar.

Martin smoked our weed with others doh! LOL

 

[Scourge of Malice]

"Opeth even played a peice of Harvest and another song "

oh god, orgasm

"they will be taking a break for about a year. "
oh well it will be worth the wait

 

[Geyzer60]

One more thing. There is someone who got the entire concert on a minidisc. So we do know a copy exists out there. There were also people with cameras and such. There should be alot of content up soon.

You might see me in it. I was at the very tip front :-D

 

[FredMc]

martin loves me and my weed, i lit his ciggarette too!!

 

[Geyzer60]

martin loves me and my weed, i lit his ciggarette too!!

Yeah you did man, that was awesome.

 

[MindInsane]

Right on guys! That's way cool!! Last time they were here and played at the Roseland I got to meet Mikael after the show, but no one else came out Mikael is a helluva nice guy, very personable and polite! My brother and I got our pics taken with him...when I figure out how I'll post them.

During Porcupine Tree we looked to our right and the Martins were standing right next to us! But we were all...is that them? It was dark and there was some uncertainty..then when Opeth took the stage we were looking at each other saying SHIT that was them!!!

Now for my review...


Porcupine Tree was AWESOME!! I loved their entire set! They played a new song that hasn't been released "commercially" and it was KILLER! I hope it's on their next cd! They were sooooo tight! Stephen is a great front man, he had so many things going, pedals, guitar switches..GREAT voice. The rest of the band were some of the best musicians I've seen. Their drummer's style reminded me of Neil Pert..which coming from me is a huge compliment..because Neil IS the best! I REALLY enjoyed them thoroughly...and theirs is a very hard act to follow...but I knew my boys would have no problem matching it!

Now for Opeth, they were flawless! Mikael's voice is just mesmorizing! He's such a kick ass front man! He was joking around with people who were yelling out requests and laughing. All of the songs from Damnation came off really well live. To Bid You Fairwell was a great surprise, and Face of Melinda was a perfect closer...all in all....perfect night!

Not too sure who I enjoyed the most...I think it's a tie...and I'm definitely going to complete my Porcupine Tree collection!

Did you guys see the autographed drumhead signed by all the Opeth guys? They only wanted $30 for it!! I had bought a shirt before I saw it so I didn't have any $$$ left for it...(oh yea and I had spent $4 on two waters for my bro and I) That place was soooo friggin hot! Not too sure what I think of that venue..it was sorta cool I guess, but hard to find and in a very strange location...I just have one question....how the hell did they find the damn thing and think...hey...this would make a great concert venue??? Hmmm...

 

[Geyzer60]

Hey MindInsane, where were you standing? I was trying to find you and Swanoholic.

 

[Swanöholic]

Yeah...the venue definately was in a strange spot...and the fact that there was really no indicator outside saying that it was the spot...but otherwise, it wasn't that hard at all to find. Yeah, it was VERY hot and pretty packed...I tried to work my way to the front but only got about halfway...ah well. One thing this venue had going for it was the sound, especially with Porcupine Tree playing, they sounded AMAZING...far too often at live shows (even somewhat the last time Opeth played) the sound is so high and distorted it's difficult to even pick out varying notes, but this time everything was loud and crystal clear, VERY NICE.

I've gotta say, as much as I love Opeth, seeing Porcupine Tree play live was definately the highlight for me. That was just an amazing set and something I'll never forget. Opeth however was terrific and I think they had a really good setlist and mixed it up quite a bit rather than just playing material purely from the Damnation album...and Mikael playing Benighted by himself on stage, forget about it, that was fuckin' great.

One thing that sucked was right where I was standing there was this guy holding a urinal cake (not used) but still, it was very aromatic and gave where I was a standing some men's room ambiance, he was inhaling it pretty hard, I don't know if you can get high off those but it sure seemed like he thought you could...he was also asking everyone around them to smell it...I was like, "No thanks dude, I think you need to take that where it belongs."

It was also interesting to see how different the crowd was compared to the last Opeth show...where the last show was definately purely metal heads, this show there were quite a few people that looked like they could have been my parents, and I even saw a few families around with their kids...maybe that was the Porcupine Tree draw, but it was pretty cool to see.

All in all, a utterly kick ass nite of music.

 

[Geyzer60]

No shit, that place was located inside of a wall. I actually drove past it twice Friday and couldnt find it. We only saw it yesterday because there were Opeth guys standing outside.

 

[Supermoi]

Hey that's really mean from Mendez to smoke your own weed with some other guys... yeah that's mean, he could have at least invited you... I'm disappointed...

Btw you guys are true Opeth fans, you rock

 

[Geyzer60]

If you want to see what my booklet looks like now, here are some pics:

 

[Swanöholic]

Damn...that's pretty sweet looking alright. A nice collector's item for a fan, that's for sure.

 

[MindInsane]

Hey MindInsane, where were you standing? I was trying to find you and Swanoholic.

For Porcupine Tree I was standing to the left of the stage on the top step right by the post, and then for Opeth we went back to that last section of steps in front of the doorway...I was looking for you guys too...I had on my Fates Warning shirt and blue jeans..my brother had on a Gorilla Biscuits shirt and blue jeans.

Oh well...maybe the next show we can find each other...

 

[MindInsane]

Geyzer...that's killer!!! I wish I had waited and met them..I have Mike's autograph on my Damnation digipak but it'd be awesome to have everyone! I even brought it with me to complete the autographs and didn't feel like waiting...too many concerts in a row I think! As it was I almost fell asleep on the way home..had to stop at Jack in the box and eat!