_Opeth @ The Palace, Melbourne (18/12/2011)
_
After the release of the
mellower Heritage this year, Opeth
have made the somewhat controversial decision to drop the heavier songs from
their set list, and singer/guitarist Mikael has stopped performing the death metal vocals that
the band is known for. This resulted in most of the bands more well-played
songs being dropped from the set list, and being replaced by mellower tracks
that they don’t usually get a chance to play. Even though they were a band I have been listening to on and
off since I was about 13, this was the first time I had seen them live, and
even lacking the songs I grew up loving, I was still looking forward to seeing
them.
At the start of the set, Mikael told the crowd that this would be a different show than Opeth usually perform, and it would be a lot more mellow, but this didn’t stop some of the drunker patrons yelling at the band to “play some fucking metal,” and stop playing “that pussy acoustic shit’” throughout the entire set. I just don’t understand paying $70 to see a band, and spending the entire set hurling drunken abuse at them. At least it didn’t seem to affect the band, Mikael told a few of the more vocal crowd members to fuck off, and kept talking.
Opening with The Devil’s Orchard, from Heritage, Opeth took to the stage to rapturous applause. This was one of the best sounding gigs I have ever been too, with each instrument sounding perfect, and the band just sounding heavy, even without Mikael’s death metal vocals. People were worried that cutting out the death metal from their set meant that it would be cutting the heaviness out too, but they couldn’t have been further from the truth. Porcelain Heart and Hex Omega from Watershed both sounded ridiculously heavy live.
Opeth are made up of incredibly talented musicians, and while it’s impressive listening to their recorded music, it’s much more impressive seeing them pull off such complex music live, without a fault. As a fan of technical music, I don’t know why prog bands continue to put lengthy drum solos into their live shows. If you have it as part of a live song, sure, but when it’s just the drummer by himself for upwards of 5 minutes, you’ll start to lose the crowd’s attention. Martin Axenrot is an impressive drummer, and he does some incredible fills during some of Opeth’s songs, but really, a five minute drum solo when the rest of the band walks offstage is just pretentious and gimmicky. They would have been much better off playing another song in that time, and it would have preserved the flow of the evening better.
About halfway through their set, Mikael sat down with an acoustic guitar, and this signified the start of the mellower portion of the show. The next song was The Throat of Winter, a song that had been recorded for the God of War 3 soundtrack. When Mikael said that the next song they were playing was a song off the album My Arms, Your Hearse, everyone around me cheered, and it was clear that there were a lot of older Opeth fans in the crowd. Possibly one of the most annoying things that can happen at a gig is when people talk through the acoustic songs, and it seemed like a large part of the crowd were bored and talking during these quieter songs.
While the majority of the set list comprised of songs off Heritage, there were a few older songs thrown into the set list, such as Still Life’s Face of Melinda, and this was incredibly well received by the crowd. From where I was standing, a large portion of the crowd seemed to be bored with the Heritage tracks, but I think that was more due to them expecting a metal show, and being disappointed with the mellower tracks on offer.
Opeth are one of those bands that are technically flawless live, and sound so. While this tour may have been mellower and laid back than previous tours, it was done to showcase Opeth’s prog rock influences. Regardless of whether you liked the new album, or prefer their older, heavier songs, Opeth are definitely a band that are worth seeing live. I’m sure they’ll be back to our shores in a year or two, and you should all do yourselves a favour and go see them next time, they won’t disappoint.
Josh Mitrou
At the start of the set, Mikael told the crowd that this would be a different show than Opeth usually perform, and it would be a lot more mellow, but this didn’t stop some of the drunker patrons yelling at the band to “play some fucking metal,” and stop playing “that pussy acoustic shit’” throughout the entire set. I just don’t understand paying $70 to see a band, and spending the entire set hurling drunken abuse at them. At least it didn’t seem to affect the band, Mikael told a few of the more vocal crowd members to fuck off, and kept talking.
Opening with The Devil’s Orchard, from Heritage, Opeth took to the stage to rapturous applause. This was one of the best sounding gigs I have ever been too, with each instrument sounding perfect, and the band just sounding heavy, even without Mikael’s death metal vocals. People were worried that cutting out the death metal from their set meant that it would be cutting the heaviness out too, but they couldn’t have been further from the truth. Porcelain Heart and Hex Omega from Watershed both sounded ridiculously heavy live.
Opeth are made up of incredibly talented musicians, and while it’s impressive listening to their recorded music, it’s much more impressive seeing them pull off such complex music live, without a fault. As a fan of technical music, I don’t know why prog bands continue to put lengthy drum solos into their live shows. If you have it as part of a live song, sure, but when it’s just the drummer by himself for upwards of 5 minutes, you’ll start to lose the crowd’s attention. Martin Axenrot is an impressive drummer, and he does some incredible fills during some of Opeth’s songs, but really, a five minute drum solo when the rest of the band walks offstage is just pretentious and gimmicky. They would have been much better off playing another song in that time, and it would have preserved the flow of the evening better.
About halfway through their set, Mikael sat down with an acoustic guitar, and this signified the start of the mellower portion of the show. The next song was The Throat of Winter, a song that had been recorded for the God of War 3 soundtrack. When Mikael said that the next song they were playing was a song off the album My Arms, Your Hearse, everyone around me cheered, and it was clear that there were a lot of older Opeth fans in the crowd. Possibly one of the most annoying things that can happen at a gig is when people talk through the acoustic songs, and it seemed like a large part of the crowd were bored and talking during these quieter songs.
While the majority of the set list comprised of songs off Heritage, there were a few older songs thrown into the set list, such as Still Life’s Face of Melinda, and this was incredibly well received by the crowd. From where I was standing, a large portion of the crowd seemed to be bored with the Heritage tracks, but I think that was more due to them expecting a metal show, and being disappointed with the mellower tracks on offer.
Opeth are one of those bands that are technically flawless live, and sound so. While this tour may have been mellower and laid back than previous tours, it was done to showcase Opeth’s prog rock influences. Regardless of whether you liked the new album, or prefer their older, heavier songs, Opeth are definitely a band that are worth seeing live. I’m sure they’ll be back to our shores in a year or two, and you should all do yourselves a favour and go see them next time, they won’t disappoint.
Josh Mitrou