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Tivoli, Utrecht, The NetherlandsDecember 4th 2005
Opeth and Burst
You can see from the mixture of people in the crowd that by now standard metalfans are not the only ones attracted to Opeths’ music anymore. This time I see a mixture of long haired, next to short haired progmetalfans and also quite a lot of older fans. I think this is where you can see a band has succefully made a name for themselves in the scene: when you see all different kinds of fans attending their shows.
Burst
But before seeing the masters at play, we had to work our way through the set of the support act for tonight: Burst. This one time I had actually done my homework and checked the site of Burst to hear an see what they are about. The thing I hate the most is working my way through an opening act, when I don’t know the first thing about what to expect if I haven’t heard the music before.
But before seeing the masters at play, we had to work our way through the set of the support act for tonight: Burst. This one time I had actually done my homework and checked the site of Burst to hear an see what they are about. The thing I hate the most is working my way through an opening act, when I don’t know the first thing about what to expect if I haven’t heard the music before.
Music
Some of the tracks I downloaded were quite promising, especially from the latest album called ‘Origo’; their music reminds me of In Flames singing& melody lines and is in general powerful, aggressive, yet very melodic. I was not surprised at all to see that these guys hail from Gothenburg. Great, I love the Gothenburg sound and so this was probably not going to be an ordeal after all. To my not so pleasant surprise the first two songs sounded almost like some kind of hardocre act was playing, oh no! Where was the melody, where was the band I expected? But by the time they played song number three, Burst had shifted to other material- you must excuse me, I have no idea from which album- which was far more pleasing to my ears. The thing I liked best was the participation of two other band members in the singing parts; one for growl and clean vocals and one for just clean vocals.
Some of the tracks I downloaded were quite promising, especially from the latest album called ‘Origo’; their music reminds me of In Flames singing& melody lines and is in general powerful, aggressive, yet very melodic. I was not surprised at all to see that these guys hail from Gothenburg. Great, I love the Gothenburg sound and so this was probably not going to be an ordeal after all. To my not so pleasant surprise the first two songs sounded almost like some kind of hardocre act was playing, oh no! Where was the melody, where was the band I expected? But by the time they played song number three, Burst had shifted to other material- you must excuse me, I have no idea from which album- which was far more pleasing to my ears. The thing I liked best was the participation of two other band members in the singing parts; one for growl and clean vocals and one for just clean vocals.
Performance
Their stage presence is good, very energetic. I read that Burst has already toured before and you can see they have quite a lot of experience already. Great support act for tonight, they put the crowd in the right mood for Opeth and played a nice show. Also good to see that this time there was some light on stage for the support act, so it was not like we got to see a second rate show. I can say that in chances to win over the crowd Burst got a fair deal. Only minus was the sound, which was a bit too loud in some places; but heyyy; you can’t have it all. The crowd response was good anyway.
I suggest you check out some of the material from their latest album ‘Origo’ at http://www.burst.nu/ or http://www.relapse.com/
Rating
Music 7
Performance 7
Light 7
Sound 7
Total 7
Opeth
A place like Tivoli is one of the best to see Opeth perform, they thrive in a smaller club, because their music has quite an intimate atmosphere about it which is best displayed in a place like this.
From the very first time I heard their debut album’Orchid’ in 1995, I knew this band was going to be special and when they released the second album ‘Morningrise’ (1996) I was hooked on their unique mixture of death metal, melody and progressive sounds. After the release of album number five (2001) ’Blackwater Park’ the rest of the scene finally recognised this bands talents and now with their latest album ‘Ghost reveries’, which was released last year, I think the whole metalscene and beyond is fan of this lot. Judging from the number of Opeth t-shirts I see at any given metalshow, I know this to be true!
Mikael was in a very talkative mood tonight; it was almost like he was doing stand up comedy as well as performing. I was quite annoyed by my fellow fans who did not give much response to his jokes or who were even screaming at him to stop talking and get on with playing. Sorry guys, learn to appreciate a good laugh and do not expect from a band to be silent musicians on stage the whole night. Jeeezz, the days when metal – bands and fans were doomed to look dead serious all the time are long gone!
A place like Tivoli is one of the best to see Opeth perform, they thrive in a smaller club, because their music has quite an intimate atmosphere about it which is best displayed in a place like this.
From the very first time I heard their debut album’Orchid’ in 1995, I knew this band was going to be special and when they released the second album ‘Morningrise’ (1996) I was hooked on their unique mixture of death metal, melody and progressive sounds. After the release of album number five (2001) ’Blackwater Park’ the rest of the scene finally recognised this bands talents and now with their latest album ‘Ghost reveries’, which was released last year, I think the whole metalscene and beyond is fan of this lot. Judging from the number of Opeth t-shirts I see at any given metalshow, I know this to be true!
Mikael was in a very talkative mood tonight; it was almost like he was doing stand up comedy as well as performing. I was quite annoyed by my fellow fans who did not give much response to his jokes or who were even screaming at him to stop talking and get on with playing. Sorry guys, learn to appreciate a good laugh and do not expect from a band to be silent musicians on stage the whole night. Jeeezz, the days when metal – bands and fans were doomed to look dead serious all the time are long gone!
Music
On with the music, that’s what it’s about anyway. Throughout the set material from all albums was played, except from ‘Morningrise’, which is a damn shame!
The fact that the songs are quite long, means that there was time for only 10 songs ( including encore), and only three tracks were played of their latest release ‘Ghost reveries’. From the very first album ‘Under the weeping moon’ was played, and the song was introduced as follows: “don’t try to headbang to this one, or you’ll fall over.”
I love the way the progressive sound has become more and more apparent in their music, but they still play the songs according to the album versions and I am hoping they will follow the example of their 70’s prog idols and become a little more adventurous onstage on the next tour.
With a band like Opeth, where the swift changes in the dynamics is essential to their music, it is very important that the sound is good. Luckily tonight the sound was very good, although the problems that Burst had with the sound being too loud, were the same for Opeth.
Performance
With Opeth onstage, you do not get a sparkling performance like with a lot of other bands. Opeth is much more about the ears than the eyes and it did not seem like the crowd minded this. I do feel that the bass player turning his back to the fans a lot of the time is a bit too much.Since there was a lot of light onstage tonight, even frontlight, we could see the whole band. Thanks; this made it possible to see the keyboard player at the back who did a great job! I think it was the first time I could clearly see the band onstage, gone was the foglike smoke I remember from the last Opeth gig in Tivoli and this time I did not need a flashlight to see the performance. Warmly coloured lights added a great atmospheric touch to the music. Now I like it when it all comes together to add that little extra to complete a show!
What they lack in performance, Mikael made up for by adressing and amusing the crowd throughout the set. By the time we had come to the encore Mikael let us know we had to do some work in order to earn some extra songs. And so he made up three questions the crowd had to answer. Since it was all about Iron Maiden, we got the correct answers and we awarded a wonderful version of the song Deliverance. To my amazement they did not play ‘Demon of the fall’as an encore! The crowd had been asking for this song from the first minute of the show, but somehow they did not play it. Guess we did not laugh hard enough from Mikaels jokes?
This was all in all a great show, Opeths’ music has been wonderful from the first time ever I saw them perform, but over time they have learned to add a little show element ( crowd contact) to their performance and this makes them an even more ejoyable act on stage. There is still room to grow for this band on stage and I am eagerly awaiting their next tour to see if they take on that creative challenge.
To read more about Opeth, check http://www.opeth.com/
Setlist
01. Ghost of Perdition
02. When
03. White Cluster
04. Closure
05. Bleak
06. The Grand Conjuration
07. Under the Weeping Moon
08. The Baying of the Hounds
09. A Fair Judgement
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10. Deliverance
Rating
Music 9
Performance 8
Light 8
Sound 8
Total 8 (8,3)
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