Opeth back on tour. I the middle of their festival run, they added some headline shows including 013 in The Netherlands. Before I get to the good (and there was plenty of that) let me rant a bit about what was not good. Traffic jams on our way down in the middle of summer holidays season? A sold out 013 is a bit shit. Like most venues sold out means no comfortable walking around possible. When I arrived with Ton at the venue it was nice that we immediately bumped into Annemiek and André. The other people I knew would be there, we would never see around. A sold out venue is one thing, but when the affair is around prog, people in my experience tend to get even more territorial. No aggression in the air, but people defending their space like a transvestite attending last supper at a random opening ceremony. On this hot summer night it seemed that 013 was saving on Airco costs too, as occassionally you felt a breeze in order to cool us down. But it was all about the music, so let the music do the talking.
Green Lung opened the evening. I had never heard of this band and kept it that way until seeing them live. The first thing striking was the huge horned Angus Young head centre stage. Second when the band came on was that the guitarist after hitting two chords started tuning his guitar. Another two chords another tuning. When he was done, the music actually was fairly nice. Not sure how they came to support Opeth, as I heard mostly 70's hard rock, with occassional heavier moments. The vocalist needed warming up, but in the end their show was good. If 013 was not sold out I could have passed the merch stand at the break, now not a good plan. During the last song the keyboardist showed us some proper deep banging when not playing. During Opeth's last song their keyboardist did exactly the same. so that was the theme of the evening. Nice enough band. I would go and see them again if playing close to home.
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Opeth are big nowadays. Selling out 013 is no mean feat if you see that Bruce Dickinson or Kerry King stayed far from it at the same venue this summer. I know what I like about them, but they could run the risk of being too soft for death metalheads and too grunting for prog lovers. Good for them to see that the coin flipped the other way and they are embraced by many. I did complain about sold out above, but for the band of course this is nice. I got into Opeth after Still Life, before they played Progpower 2000. This was to me their best period with Still Life still my favourite album by them and Blackwater Park and Ghost Reveries following closely. I saw them pretty often those days too. When they said goodbyeto grunts I lost a bit of interest. Still getting Heritage and Pale Communion, but stepped out disappointed after that. I mean is there anyone in teh world saying I am going to play me some Opeth tonight an dpicking up Heritage? Than during a KLM flight home one day Sorceress was in the entertainment system and I liked a lot what I heard. In Cauda Venenum was to me even their best album in a long time (since Ghost Reveries or even Blackwater Park) so I am back in teh camp. I did see their November 2022 tour in Lissabon. There they played one song of all 13 albums released and it was one of the best shows of the year to me. So expectations were high tonight, but not fully met. First the setlist. After they finished I thouht they played a set very similar to what I saw in 22. I just checked and that is not true, as only 5 songs of those 13 were played. Still the songs that made it to the set this night I saw several times before. Than there is Mikael. He was more timid at the start of this century. Now he feels like needing to be a standup comedian inbetween songs. He actually is rather funny, but when people behind me start explaining a joke to each other and he never ends talking I would prefer another epic song really. The Napalm Death cover joke even went on repeat. In October Still Life turns 25 years old. Maybe I hoped fo rmore of that album.
But the music, the playing and the overall show were all pretty amazing again, saving the night. Opeth are the best in their style and they deserve full houses indeed. In October a new album shall be released The Last Will and Testament. Grunts are coming back, so curious we are. They did not play anything of that album yet, as they need to rehearse to play those difficult songs live on stage (according to Mikael) In February Opeth return to Holland. Amsterdam and inflation tells us that ticket prices increase from August till February with 15 Euros. So let me wait for the new album first and than decide. I know quality is guaranteed, but a sold out AFAS in February is even worse than a lockerbox free evening in summer. Time shall tell, now getting my Still Life CD out.
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