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Events and Reports - Opeth - Live at Voxhall, Aarhus - October 23rd, 2003
Opeth is a band that has grown to become one of my absolute favorite bands throughout the last couple of years. To readers who don't know this excellent band (shame on you), let me sum up. Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band, they blend traditional progressive music with elements from death metal. The songs are long and most of them are quite melancholic and very moody. Clean vocals intertwine with growls; these are all performed by Mikael Åkerfeldt. And we are not talking "semi-growls" (if there is such a thing) or something like that here. No, Åkerfeldt has the meanest, deepest, hell spawned growls in the business. Opeth shocked their fans with the latest album Damnation; on this album Åkerfeldt solely used clean vocals, and the album has little to do with a metal album in my ears. Don't get me wrong here; the album is great even so.
Anyway, remembering that this was Opeth's Damnation tour, I was excited to see how much of the old material they would play. The old stuff is undoubtedly better fit for live performances than the new. Reason: "But I can't headbang to Damnation!" I have read in an Opeth interview that the new album should not be interpreted as being Opeth's new style from now on; they might go back to a more traditional Opeth sound later in their career.
The concert must have been almost sold out; Voxhall was packed with people and it oozed with good atmosphere. I missed the warm up act Extol, but from what I have heard, they should have made a pretty good performance.
Opeth blew me away! This didn't turn out to be the quiet concert with all Damnation tracks as one could have feared. They did play 2 songs from Damnation, Windowpane and In my Time of Need but they were placed in the middle of the set, and they seemed appropriate and enjoyable rather than annoying. It was sort of a natural break in the concert. Mikael Åkerfeldt proved that his powerful vocals are for real, and that they are not created with some effect in the studio. The rest of the band also delivered a powerful performance, but it was Åkerfeldt who stole the picture. The songs were all played very similar to the album versions, but this didn't make them dull at all. Actually it was quite impressive how well the songs were preformed. There was also nothing to complain about concerning the sound, so everything was pretty much perfect.
Opeth appeared really down to earth, and seemed very honest about what they were doing. They played some well picked songs, and my personal favorites were Bleak and Deliverance. The complex songs were magically unfolded in all their beauty, and I noticed people in the crowd smiling and banging (well more like nodding) their heads to the rhythm. I honestly believe that the majority of the crowd found this concert absolutely breathtaking.
At the end of the concert while Opeth were playing A Fair Judgment, some bloke fell of the scene to great amusement of both crowd and band. Opeth stopped playing and laughed a bit about him. Poor guy, I'm just glad it wasn't me - mental note: "don't drink and (stage)dive"
There is not much more I could have wished for with this concert. If they had played The Moor from the Still Life album this evening would have been perfect, but I guess you just can't have it all. This is particularly true with a band as Opeth, where the average song is 8-9 minutes long.
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The afterparty...
All pictures taken by Marisol Domingo | Written by Anders
Thursday, October 30, 2003 |
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RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by Yoni-Staff (Anonymous) - Saturday, November 1, 2003 | godDAMMIT!!!
*composes himself*
Highly jealous! ... they just postponed their aus tour.. :(
But yeah, looks like fun - cannot wait :)
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| Comment by Mads (Anonymous) - Saturday, November 1, 2003 | Man I really wanted to go... I really like their music, just got Black Water Park man what a great album...
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| Comment by Morten (Anonymous) - Saturday, November 1, 2003 | Wanted to go but could'nt - shame!
And for god's sake, shoot some pictures of the bassist next time, you never do so on this here great www-zine! :-)
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| Comment by Todd Brownfield (Anonymous) - Tuesday, November 11, 2003 | I live in Iowa and discovered Opeth in 2000. The first CD I bought was Orchid. I listened to in in my CD player in my car for 4 Straight months and couldn't belive some of the stuff I was writing was the SAME STYLE! I love Opeth ever since and Hopefully their next LP Will sound like Morningrise and Orchid. Don't get me wrong All Opeth is great and they, In my Opinion, Put other Bands to shame...\m/
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| Comment by Rune (Anonymous) - Sunday, November 23, 2003 | This was the greatest concert ever! It was divine! Great pics as well! Hope to see you guys at Dream Theaters concert in Copenhagen?
Greetings from the guy, who stood next to the photographer ;o)
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| Comment by Rad_Opeth_dude (Anonymous) - Saturday, November 20, 2004 | OPETH!! the name of the greatst band ever!! OPETH rulez as fuckin hell..Peter lindgren is THE MAN
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| Comment by Esben (Anonymous) - Sunday, December 12, 2004 | Hi.....I was there, and DAMN I love that band..know it's a long time ago, but I remember the show as if it was yesterday...:-) It was AWESOME!!!
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| Comment by Leithdr45zt5zb yh6t (Anonymous) - Friday, September 9, 2005 | Bell end
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| Comment by leith ujdskhui32ty79hjbcksj (Anonymous) - Friday, September 9, 2005 | Bell end
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| Comment by Leith njksioqoldskl299w (Anonymous) - Friday, September 9, 2005 | Bell end
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| Comment by nebularus (Anonymous) - Friday, September 9, 2005 | lindas fotos xD...
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| Comment by Brodie Wood (Anonymous) - Sunday, April 1, 2007 | best band out there, only thing i listen to.
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| Comment by karametal (Anonymous) - Sunday, April 8, 2007 | hi opeth i love you so much but i have one questin are you satanik? answer me in my emial kalifornia_d12@hotmail.com
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| Comment by pliskin (Anonymous) - Thursday, April 12, 2007 | i love opeth ilove opeth nothing more thy r my best band ever
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| Comment by pliskin (Anonymous) - Thursday, April 12, 2007 | i love opeth \m/\m/\m/\m/
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| Comment by darklady91 (Anonymous) - Sunday, May 20, 2007 | I LOVE OPETH!
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| Comment by ROSES_MACKER18@HOTMAIL.COM (Anonymous) - Friday, July 6, 2007 | IN DAMED BLACK PARK IF U GO TO THERE U WILL SE THE OPETH BAND SING IN DARKNESS ITS MY BEST BAND AND NOT ALLOW ANY ONE TALLK IN THIS BAND K DEAAAAAAAAAAAL
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