On Saturday 19th September OPETH will be performing at an exclusive show in the magnificent Roman Theatre in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. For the one off event the band will be joined by the renowned Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra founded nearly 70 years ago and made up of over 100 highly qualified musicians. The orchestra has its roots in the hundred year old orchestral tradition in Plovdiv and over the years has launched the careers of many world-famous conductors.
Tracks played with the orchestra (among others) are 'Eternal Rains Will Come', 'The Drapery Falls', 'Demon of the Fall' and 'The Grand Conjuration'.
Opeth will also play a 2nd set that includes tracks from their entire catalogue.
Shit, if they can do Demon of the Fall as an acoustic song and still make it sound menacing, I can only imagine what it might sound like with some cellos...
Nice! I'd love to hear Demon of the Fall live but it wasn't on the setlist when I saw them this year. Can't complain too much though, we did have the mightiness that is The Moor.
And this is just the first set, more awesomeness awaits in the 2nd one Hope they'll record it for a DVD too, might get closer to Lamentations than last two DVD's.
Their newer stuff definitely lends itself to orchestration more so than the classics; it's hard to imagine "Deliverance" with a symphony! However, "Voice of Treason" is a must.
I really hope they play "Faith in Others." Oh, and film it all, of course.
Just noticed Voice Of Treason was never played live before, so this is gonna be its premiere
My wishes for the second set: nothing from Heritage, nothing from first two albums, no Ghost Of Perdition, Heir Apparent or The Lotus Eater, yes Blackwater Park.
'Deliverance & Damnation', a double album almost 15 years in the making. Originally released separately in 2002 and 2003 respectively, these sessions were written and recorded together and it’s time for Music For Nations to present the album as a complete piece. PRE ORDER YOUR COPY NOW!
4 Disc (2CD/2DVD) Book Set:
- New Stereo and 5.1 mixes by Steven Wilson (Damnation) and Bruce Soord (Deliverance)
- Liner notes by Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth and Jerry Ewing of Prog Magazine
- New unseen photos
- Redesigned artwork from original designer, Travis Smith
- Loving presented in a beautiful book set
3LP 180g Black Vinyl:
- New Stereo mixes by Steven Wilson (Damnation) and Bruce Soord (Deliverance)
- 180g Black vinyl
- Mastered for vinyl by Jaime Gomez
- Redesigned artwork from original designer, Travis Smith
Mikael comments. ”Myself and Martin Mendez are very excited to see the re-release(s) of ”Deliverance” and ”Damnation” coming out. The 5.1 surround mix for ”Damnation” was done a while ago by my buddy and co-producer for both albums, Steven Wilson, and I’ve been itching to have it released as it’s simply stunning! My new-ish friend, Bruce Soord, has done a fantastic remix for ”Deliverance”, literally giving new life to the record and making me start loving it. Finally! It was with pure excitement I went through the tracks, discovering them again. I’m especially impressed with the sound of Martin Lopez drums but also baffled by how wicked and strange this album is. I’m scratching my head wondering how the hell we came up with these songs. On top of everything, our old-time head of ART, Travis Smith, has touched up on the artwork having it looking great (bleak) too! Enjoy!”.
Also, from FB comments:
The band was never a 100% happy with the original mixes and neither was SW with his mix for Damnation. He only just started producing for other musicians back then and felt that he could do a better job with his current knowledge of production. Plus they're 5.1 now which is always a good thing, no? - JS
So the trip to Plovdiv took way longer than expected due to 3 road bottlenecks we've encountered that took like 3 hours to pass Combine that with the scorching heat and me sitting in the front seat (wasn't kicking in the back seat)... not good. The delay meant we didn't have time to explore the city so apart from the centre near the venue I didn't seen anything else. Passed through Sofia (didn't stop there), it's cool.
We decided to wait in front of the venue to get the good seats first. So because of that we also heard most of the soundcheck, which was kinda spoilerish, but it was only the songs that were already announced as part of the setlist, so no big deal.
Here's Mikael having a photo session near the entrance
Bought this shirt:
Anyway, got the good seats! Venue looks great, but it's not so convenient. Steps are really steep and slippery, could've died like 10 seconds after getting inside. Here are few pics from my POV in the venue:
I was kinda sceptical about the all-seats arrangement but it turned out great! I was really close to the stage so it didn't really matter. Usually my main problem is the lack of jumping/singing/excitement in the stands but it wasn't missing here. People shut up during the orchestra part and were sitting most of the time so that was pleasing as well.
Now on to the performance! Sound was absolutely perfect. Might even say it was the best sound of all the concerts I've ever seen. As expected, orchestra was most noticeable during the mellower songs. They mostly stuck to the keyboard arrangements / guitar riffs & melodies, so not much new ground there. However, they added a new layer & depth to the songs, so they served their purpose. Eternal Rains Will Come and Cusp Of Eternity sounded monumental with the orchestra. Too bad they didn't record the show for a DVD (no cameras anywhere), but I'm still holding out hope for at least an audio bonus CD or something. YouTube recordings really don't do the sound justice. The Drapery Falls and Demon Of The Fall didn't have much new in terms of the orchestra, but choir did add a nice dramatic effect. Voice Of Treason was probably orchestra's shining moment (had most space on it) and The Devil's Orchard pretty much killed its studio version. The Grand Conjuration was also fucking awesome with the light show and the smoke adding to the atmosphere. Deliverance... holy fuck. At least Top 5 live song I've heard. Mikael said he was sceptical of how it's gonna work out but it worked out perfectly. Pretty much everyone stood up and started headbanging when the outro riff kicked in... so epic. Top moment of the concert.
Then there was a 15 minute break for them to dismantle the orchestra and then they came back. Mikael said it's kind of an anti-climax part of the show and that they had no fucking idea what to play so it was a random choice of obscure and regular stuff. Could've been better choices, but I won't complain
Could've done without the Heritage and Watershed songs Speaking of, Mikael said he knows Heritage is their least acclaimed album by the fans but he loves it and is gonna play a song from it anyway
More song notes: Heir Apparent - wish they played Porcelain Heart instead of it or The Lotus Eater... better and more obscure choice. Godhead's Lament - also quite obscure, would've loved other songs but this one had an awesome solo section so can't complain. Advent - best choice from its album, however... drummer and the rest of the band parted ways somewhere around the 10th minute they all stopped and looked at him, then they decided to go back a bit and resume the song... Mikael said "at least you know we're not playing from a tape" Elysian Woes - poor choice... boring song. To Rid The Disease - obscure choice, awesome song though... epic keyboards. The Lines In My Hand - as good of a 2nd choice from Heritage as I can get... sounded 100x better live. The Leper Affinity - great song but have to admit I was disappointed it wasn't Blackwater Park next time hopefully. The Lotus Eater - was already prepared for another disappointment with Ghost Of Perdition but thank fuck they didn't play that... again, could've done with Porcelain Heart or maybe Harlequin Forest... according to Mikael, this is their most complex song.
All in all, both sets lasted about 1h 20min each, with a 15 minute break in between. Now on to band member reviews: Mikael - never noticed that he doesn't really play that many solos, at least not on these songs. Cleans were faultless, growls better than expected. The death metallish grunts were weaker like in the past few years but the deeper shrieks were top notch. Åkesson - played a solo on almost every song and also sang a lot of backing vocals and some lines on To Rid The Disease. I think it's a new development, don't think I've heard him singing before, it was usually the keyboardist who did that. His voice is quite similar to Mikael's Méndez - he bassed the hell out of that bass. Svalberg - not really that noticeable. Cool piano solo at the end of The Leper Affinity. Axenrot - killed it on the songs he performed on originally, overperformed on the older stuff. He tries to cram in as many fills as possible pretty much everywhere, which works on Heritage and Pale Communion songs but not so much on stuff like Advent which is complex enough... no wonder he fucked it up
Overall: 10/10 show, was worth spending the money (trip + concert ticket + drinks/food/t-shirt cost me 120€ altogether) and not sleeping for 43 hours
Also Mikael had a metal quiz before the encore:
*plays Smoke On The Water riff* "Which song is this?"
*audience yells*
"Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple? Incorrect! I wrote this song, it's called Smoke In My Room"
*plays Paranoid riff" "I wrote this song in 1969, it's about Star Wars... it's called Paradroid"
*plays some Led Zeppelin riff* "I wrote this song in the 50's"
Then introduced everyone in the band and said he had his name changed to Dat Bitch Audience was yelling something at him in Bulgarian every time between the songs, he just said "I'm sure that's funny" in a sarcastic tone
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I agree that their vocals are not close in quality to Opeth, but they work with this music.
Combine that with the scorching heat and me sitting in the front seat (wasn't kicking in the back seat)... not good. The delay meant we didn't have time to explore the city so apart from the centre near the venue I didn't seen anything else. Passed through Sofia (didn't stop there), it's cool.
Speaking of, Mikael said he knows Heritage is their least acclaimed album by the fans but he loves it and is gonna play a song from it anyway 
