After a short intro I didn't recognise (it was decidedly not Garden of Earthly Delights) they started with Dignity and Heart in Hand. It took me a while to realise they are singing in Swedish (and yes, I mean "they" - I never noticed the vocal tag Mikael has with Fredrik there before). Sure, I know the Swedish version is supposed to be the "official" one and it was therefore probably a given, but I still didn't expect it. Don't know, I guess I have Opeth connected with English too much - I mean, you want to hear "THE SUN SETS FOREVER OVER BLACKWATER PARK!" in growls and not something like "Solen går ner för alltid över den svarta vattenparken!" or whatever.
Kidding. (And sorry for my butchering of the beautiful Swedish language via Google Translate).
The opening two songs were pretty decent - I personally love
In Gouda, Venison and I think these two opening tracks are among the best stuff the Newpeth ever did, so I was definitely happy. It had a punch, it was well done with the rhythmic lights on stage, overall a very good performance, with great dichotomy between the heavier and the softer parts, good groove, everything.
Mikael then greeted Prague, saying that while he hates travelling personally, all the cities he has to tour, and he is therefore tired of all the "famous" destinations, he loves Prague and that he actually went on a holiday here with his kid(s?) and girlfriend. A nice thing to say.
Then he asked us if we recalled this little album called
Blackwater Park and they went right into The Leper Affinity, which was drowned in the blue lights on stage. You see, that is my "dark horse" of that album - probably not the track I'd pick for my #1, but still one I return to possibly most often from the whole album. I love the relentless push it has, I love the subdued parts... and most of all, I love, love, LOVE that weird epic riff that Mikael plays right before the end (before it switches to piano), it's just undescribably beautiful, a great culmination of the most subtly endearing song of the Blackwater Park album.
That was it for BP, would have loved to see the title track - and it's possibly my biggest complaint, but with these three and the following track, the concert has already won me over anyway, so I don't mind that much.
Then they played Harlequin Forest, an excellent representation of possibly my favourite Opeth album (not so sure about that, there are several contenders for that position, but at least I
used to think so). Not much to say about it, except maybe that the flow of the track feels even more natural and enticing when you hear it live. The second half, leading to the culmination in that Deliverance-lite outro, it just packs a certain punch that other bands do not have. At least for me.
Mikael was being funny then again, saying that it must be snowing... either that or that it's the dandruff, so he announced a cut off
Heritage, which he recalled people really hated at the time, but at least in the audience there was enough of "wooo"s and not much "booo"s, if you know what I mean.
With that, they performed Nepenthe ... and if they didn't convince at least one naysayer right there and then, I'd eat my hat. I mean, as a "subdued" section of the concert, the kinda-cooldown after 4 mostly energetic (and two ten-minute Oldpeth) tracks, it worked really well. It was mainly a spotlight for Akesson and Svalberg, and they really didn't disappoint. With the pulsating groove, the weird-ass solos and the blinking bright blue and red strobes, it felt really hypnotic, otherworldly. I think it expressed well what the song was supposed to say when they thought it up.
Definitely no complaints from me, a perpetual
Heritage apologist.
Hope Leaves was next, it was fine but I guess it didn't add anything to the album version - which was already stellar - for me. Maybe I like some of the
Damnation tracks a bit more, though it seems to me Mikael really likes this one. It was probably well placed in the setlist, but it really flew by for me.
Now, I said before that I'm not that big of a fan of
Pale Communion. Yes, I know. I'm sorry. The opening cut feels really underbaked because the intro promises much more than the extra-short almost-Eagles vocal track that follows, Cusp of Eternity was really easy to overplay for me (and I'm not all that crazy about Mikael's inflections in the verses - he reminds me of a certain Czech pop-singer there and I don't like that), Gobling is fine, but feels much more pointless to me than all of those weird
Heritage tracks... and so on. I still like those tracks, it's just the sum is even less than its parts, at least for me. There's no weird jazziness of
Heritage, no catchiness and nostalgia of
Sorceress, no autumnal Sabbathy feel of ICV. But there is one 10/10 track there. You know which one. Yes, Moon Above, Sun Below is a beautiful journey, from the subtle pulsations of the opening, to those killer riffs, the foreshadowing of some of the ICV vocal lines (at least my ears tell me that, maybe they're off), all to the beautiful and gentle "circles in the water" at the end. And honestly, I really loved hearing it live. It felt really natural, all those changes that at first sounded a bit hodge-podge on the album (kinda going back to the very first two albums, honestly) felt ... good. Natural, even. Loved it.
Now, just as Affinity is my dark horse of BP,
Watershed is my dark horse Opeth album in general. I never got around to participate in the Survivor I so wanted (sorry about that - a lot of shit I was going through at the time, I had neither the mind nor the opportunity, I apologise in earnest), but I have a whole write-up prepared for that one. I like every track off that album, even the bonus Derelict Herds (a criminally underrated song, in my book!). But maybe if I had the option, I'd
not pick The Lotus Eater in particular. I mean, it's a great song and it must be a rush and a great feel of accomplishment to pull it off live, really, a no mean feat, but I'm not sure if the live version is really worth it. Again, it's a nitpick, I was grooving to it like a maniac, but maybe - especially as a
In Cauda Venenum Tour, I can't help but wonder if for example Burden or Porcelain Heart (yeah, I know, I know - I'm fanatical, no-one else like the track as much) wouldn't be a better fit. Even with the overall mood. But maybe they didn't want those particular songs to compete with the next one - see below. But then again, I must admit that as someone who takes Opeth as a "musical experience" of sorts, this one was overall kinda worth it, but I can't shake off the feeling - even as I re-watch it on the audience recordings on YouTube - that this felt like the most
pro-forma of the bunch, that they felt the most tired, just kinda going through the motions. I watch both the Akesson and the Akerfeldt solos and I... don't feel much. Solid, no contest, but... kinda underwhelming?
The main set was closed off with All Things Will Pass. I won't lie, I love that track and it's a really emotional and epic closer for both the album and the concert as well. It kinda felt as the opposite of the previous cut - instead of complex, but slightly bored (?) song you get this much more simplistic, but heartfelt rendition, it really felt fitting.
They didn't even let us demand an encore much and went almost straightaway into Sorceress. I might have overplayed that song in the past a bit, but I admit that live it kicks some supreme ass. The acid, jazzy intro, the heavy, "brontosauric" main riff... it was also the only song in the setlist that was performed to mostly red hues in the stagelights and it honestly helped it being distinctive.
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Then there was the "fake" Face of Melinda first part - I'm not sure, but they do this often, don't they? - before the ultimate closer Deliverance. I was maybe kinda disappointed that I didn't get to hear the sick Melinda riff live, but it was all abated by that monster of a song.
Now, I know what you're probably going to say.
Is Deliverance overplayed?
Maybe?
Does the outro feel a bit weaker
after its spiritual successor Harlequin Forest being played earlier in the setlist?
I guess?
Does it still rule supreme?
You bet!
I mean, sometimes I feel like I overplayed this track as well when I listen to the album. But not having it on an Opeth concert would be a travesty. It's like Lemmy didn't play Ace of Spades - you know they keep using it, because it works... but it fucking
wooooorks. I was so hypnotised I actually remember very little, it just flew by, like the moment of the perpetual "now". The outro was still drumming in my brain when I was walking back to the hotel room, though.
So, there it is. Yep, a lot of praise, not much of restrained criticism. Well, that's what you get. That was my possibly favourite band of all time giving me an experience I loved, loved, loved. Mikael is such a cool bloke.
