
I've been wanting to catch Opeth, but for the longest time, I didn't know where I could ambush them. I had considered Maldives (They cancelled anyway!), but decided not to. To make it to Bangalore on 5 February meant I might as well catch them at home on 9 February, smack on my birthday, of which I had wanted to spend in Shanghai. Grrrrrrr.
For once, our tickets were filled with colors and not just that white, blue and black Sistic logo. Nice. With little promotion and fanfare, the promoters really didn't do justice to Opeth's gig at Fort Canning. They're not just a death/black metal band, unlike symphonic Emperor, thrash metal Anthrax, Slayer, or nu-metal Slipknot, and a truckload of other Scandinavian and Japanese black metal outfits. Opeth is so much more than that. It's leaning more towards progressive rock and progressive metal, heavy with folk influences. It's melodic even. Not every number equates growling. But yes, Mikael Åkerfeldt isn't just a good singer. He can growl really well.
We were a little stunned to discover that there was no beer tent or water point at the gig. Wah lau. But okay. For 2 hours, I guess we'll survive. It's just really really weird for a gig, an Opeth gig at that, not to have alcohol. Duhhhh. Never mind, we'll sort that out later. At least we came hydrated from dinner, and didn't wait around too long. Who would turn at 7.30pm like what the tickets said? Doors opened at 8pm and the band came on at 8.45pm.
Opeth opened the set with 'The Devil's Orchard'. There were 'Face of Melinda' and 'Slither'. These are dark, depressing, yet soulful and melodic songs. Mikael Åkerfeldt was an absolute charmer on stage. Witty and quick, he introduced themselves as the band from a boring Sweden. Heh. (I happen to think otherwise. Many friends in Sweden and Norway, and I'll have plenty to do there.) He continued, "We have ABBA, lots of death metal bands, and pop bands. But those pop bands are shit. Oh yes, Swedish erotica. But those films aren't of Swedish actors f'*!ing one another. Those films are made in America!" Ha. And IKEA, dude, IKEA. How could you not have said that?!
After the sweet stuff for the first half of the set, the angst and growling came on with 'Heir Apparent', and continued to 'The Drapery Falls'. They didn't play one of my favorites 'Porcelain Heart'. :( Mikael Åkerfeldt threw guitar picks out to the crowd. I wouldn't have minded one, but I wasn't near enough to the stage. Bleah. 10 songs and 1 encore which they didn't bother to do the shitty thing of going off stage and wait for us to yell for their return. Woot. The night ended with a seriously heavy 'Deliverance'. Glorious. Good show. No bells and whistles, but absolutely sexy in the way they make music. Excellent musicianship.
8 comments:
i wonder why nobody plays this (good) shit at my place. i saw the vid at their website too. wakes my soul up totally. and if only people growl like that. what i get most times are humans metamorphosing into animals kinda sounds instead. if you hear them, you might want to bring a hammer in. just saying.
-misti
misti: i totally get you. the growling i hear at jam sessions. alamak. i want to tear my hair out. poor you, can actually tahan them. well done.
http://www.norwegianwood.no/
Not quite Opeth, tho...
kachunknorge: not opeth, but a good selection! i'm interested in the non-english bands!
kachunorge: june 17, i note.
We is going. Dragging trolls along as well.
!!!!
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