Who is going tomorrow night in philly?!

[LakeofGhosts]

Whoa! Great show. Got to chat with the band a little afterwards - amazing guys. Very funny, very cool.

A few phone/camera Pics here...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtonyk/sets/72157607357673386/

Hey big tony were you one of the dudes that was hanging out with Portnoy and came back into the dressing room after the show ? If so, I was the dude with very short buzzed hair and a brown Bass Communion shirt on that was back in the back and when Mike was telling his story about the drum seat I asked if it gave him a hand job as well... From your pics it looks like you were one of the guys sitting up in the VIP area at stage right with Mike P.

As for the show, excellent show, great setlist... Night and Silent Water, Bleak and Serenity Painted were killer, and Hope Leaves was awesome as well. I did note Mike had a little trouble with the Steve Wilson part of the chorus in Bleak though as it was slightly out of his range. He also told us that he felt he played like "fucking shit" last night, but loved the energy of the crowd, and it was a great crowd (probably close to 1000 I am guessing).

Nachtmystium have to be a joke band right ?? They were fucking god awful and looked like a bunch of gay black metal wannabees that SHOULD have worn corpsepaint. The guitarist were about as average as it gets and the drummer flat out sucked ass. HOF, were ok for about the first 10 mins then they just started to sound soooooooo monotonous it was yawn city. Also the singer/guitarist really needs to wear a shirt on stage. A sweaty tattoed beer gut is NOT a pretty site. They tried hard and I'll give them that, but it's a weird opening set by those two...

I've gotten to hang with quite a few bands in my day, but the Opeth guys are truly some of the coolest dudes out there. No pretentions, no "lokk at me I'm a rock star" bullshit... Props !

 

[BigTony]

Hey big tony were you one of the dudes that was hanging out with Portnoy and came back into the dressing room after the show ? If so, I was the dude with very short buzzed hair and a brown Bass Communion shirt on that was back in the back and when Mike was telling his story about the drum seat I asked if it gave him a hand job as well... From your pics it looks like you were one of the guys sitting up in the VIP area at stage right with Mike P.

(snip)

I've gotten to hang with quite a few bands in my day, but the Opeth guys are truly some of the coolest dudes out there. No pretentions, no "lokk at me I'm a rock star" bullshit... Props !

Yep, I was. I had the shirt with the dragon on it (heavy-set with the full beard.) I was going to say something to you about the Bass Communion shirt! Big Steve Wilson/Porcupine Tree fan here. I've met and talked to the guys in Opeth a few times and they have always been really nice. When we went in before the show, they all got up and shook hands and introduced themselves. The second time I met Mike he remembered meeting me. Which was cool. Or he was just being nice, but he remember where, so... I agree, no "Rock Star" pretense about them.

 

[whitecluster69]

Yep, I was. I had the shirt with the dragon on it (heavy-set with the full beard.) I was going to say something to you about the Bass Communion shirt! Big Steve Wilson/Porcupine Tree fan here. I've met and talked to the guys in Opeth a few times and they have always been really nice. When we went in before the show, they all got up and shook hands and introduced themselves. The second time I met Mike he remembered meeting me. Which was cool. Or he was just being nice, but he remember where, so... I agree, no "Rock Star" pretense about them.

I think I see my head in one of your pictures. Thanks for posting.

Great show with an awesome set list. The Night and the Silent Water was the highlight of the evening along with Serenity Painted Death.

 

[NicholasDWolfwood]

Nachtmystium have to be a joke band right ?? They were fucking god awful and looked like a bunch of gay black metal wannabees that SHOULD have worn corpsepaint. The guitarist were about as average as it gets and the drummer flat out sucked ass. HOF, were ok for about the first 10 mins then they just started to sound soooooooo monotonous it was yawn city. Also the singer/guitarist really needs to wear a shirt on stage. A sweaty tattoed beer gut is NOT a pretty site. They tried hard and I'll give them that, but it's a weird opening set by those two...

I've gotten to hang with quite a few bands in my day, but the Opeth guys are truly some of the coolest dudes out there. No pretentions, no "lokk at me I'm a rock star" bullshit... Props !

nachtmystium are the shit, as are hof. blake and jeff are really down to earth and humble guys (jeff was selling their merch at one point during the hof -> opeth set change, and blake was talking to fans and taking pics etc at their table as well) from what I saw. didnt really get a chance to talk to them but they seemed like really cool dudes, not being rockstars at all (other than blake getting called back the dressing room or something).

nachtmystium are a really good band, for that style. it's something that not a lot of people like, understandibly, although i'm surprised that an opeth fan is being close-minded. the drummer is from goatwhore, he's a session guy since the great tony laureano is over in europe with dimmu right now. check out "instinct: decay" and "assassins".

hof, on the other hand, were a pretty weird choice for this tour as they're a sludge band, not really an extreme metal band. they are very good as well though.

 

[euclid]

I'm pretty sure Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater was in the VIP balcony section at the show. I say this because this guy looked and was dressed just like him and he was playing the "air drums" accurately - or as accurate as air drums can get. Can anyone else confirm? DT isn't on tour currently and considering Opeth and DT played together during Prog Nation tour it isn't that far fetched... Also, there are a bunch of vid uploads of the night on youtube. Here's The Lotus Eater: Thanks to whomever posted it.

EDIT - Okay cool I just read a couple posts above confirming Portnoy was there - cool shit!

 

[indian_metalhead]

Here's The Lotus Eater: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKc-cTPvD7I Thanks to whomever posted it.

I took that video, I actually came to this thread to post it so thanks for linking it. Sorry for the chaotic camera but yeah I was in the middle of it all and it was pretty crazy. I have a couple tidbits of other songs, I might post them but I don't have any other full ones...

 

[osmosis2259]

i dont see any mike portnoy in that video... but its a nice video. but yeah I was at the show and I didnt see MP becasue I guess I just didnt look up there. However MP was at the Symphony X show at the Troc and I saw him there and talked to him a little bit too. Very nice guy... not as funny as Akerfeldt but he is cool. DT and Opeth are the shit

 

[VictimofChanges67]

The Philly show was amazing. The crowd was generally rowdy and gave Opeth full support. However, a couple of things: Please no more shouting "Opeth is God" during the slow parts. We'd like to listen and feel the mood, not hear your attempts to sound cool. The major point: No more assholes shouting "where's Lopez" when Mike is introducing Axe. There wouldn't be an Opeth without Axe. We are very lucky to have him. He's actually a better all around drummer. The Lotus Eater is pretty much the most complex drumming ever done by Opeth. We all miss Lopez, but that's the breaks. As Mike said while staring that jerk down: "You want to know where he is? I'll tell you where he is. He's not here."

 

[osmosis2259]

yeah the quiet parts in the songs live, i enjoy it a lot and they stand out for me... Some people were being really annoying yelling and stuff... I mean w/e i guess....

 

[Noel]

As Mike said while staring that jerk down: "You want to know where he is? I'll tell you where he is. He's not here."

He should have pulled an Axl Rose and say "He's in my ass! There's where Lopez is"

 

[LakeofGhosts]

nachtmystium are a really good band, for that style. it's something that not a lot of people like, understandibly, although i'm surprised that an opeth fan is being close-minded. the drummer is from goatwhore, he's a session guy since the great tony laureano is over in europe with dimmu right now. check out "instinct: decay" and "assassins".

Sorry man, let's just agree to disagree on this... Nachtmystium were just awful in my opinion ! Every song pretty much sounded exactly the same, they are extremely average guitarists (using that term loosely btw) at best, and the drummer sounded like he was actually playing completely out of time on a number of songs. As for being close minded, trust me it's not that, I love a lot of black/extreme metal (and a lot of other genres that are fringe and non mainstream), but these guys were just hacks... HOF were what they were, a fairly straight forward stoner band for the most part. Great drummer, adequate guitarist and bassist, and most songs sounded like the song played before them, nothing special, but not horrible. I'd prefer no openers period actually...

 

[NicholasDWolfwood]

Sorry man, let's just agree to disagree on this... Nachtmystium were just awful in my opinion ! Every song pretty much sounded exactly the same, they are extremely average guitarists (using that term loosely btw) at best, and the drummer sounded like he was actually playing completely out of time on a number of songs. As for being close minded, trust me it's not that, I love a lot of black/extreme metal (and a lot of other genres that are fringe and non mainstream), but these guys were just hacks... HOF were what they were, a fairly straight forward stoner band for the most part. Great drummer, adequate guitarist and bassist, and most songs sounded like the song played before them, nothing special, but not horrible. I'd prefer no openers period actually...

tbh imoafaik a seed for suffering sounds nothing like assassins which sounds nothing like ghosts of grace or your true enemy