Review by Andrew Bansal, photos & videos by Carsten Steinhausen
October 24th 2015, The Orpheum, Los Angeles CA: Swedish progressive metal masters Opeth celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2010 in grand style with a handful of exclusive ‘evening with’ shows around the world, performing their monumental 2001 album ‘Blackwater Park’ in its entirety and a set of selections from every other album. That tour also included an unforgettable gig at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. Only Opeth themselves could attempt matching the magnitude, class and quality of such an endeavor, and sure enough, five years later, they embarked on a similar quest, this time to celebrate their 25th anniversary as a band. After a run of 12 shows in Europe and one on the US East Coast, Opeth arrived in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday October 24th 2015 for a weekend takeover of the Orpheum Theatre with two back-to-back shows, the first having sold out well and truly in advance and the second added due to unprecedented demand. Metal Assault was in attendance on night #1, to witness Opeth’s play the 2005 album ‘Ghost Reveries’ front to back, and a bit of everything else from their revered, prolific and eclectic career.
Doors opened at 7 PM, and ticket holders trickled in to find their seats. While some bought the VIP package and were able to meet the band backstage before doors, those with regular tickets considered themselves fortunate enough to merely be in attendance, and for the fact that Los Angeles was one of the destinations chosen for the presentation of this show. The lights dimmed promptly at 8, and the five members of Opeth appeared on stage to start proceedings. For the next 90 minutes, they played the ‘Ghost Reveries’ album, and even though this was an all-seated event, not a single attendee was seen sitting at any given moment during the show. While albums like ‘Blackwater Park’ and ‘Damnation’, which have been played in their entirety in the past, always carried that unexplainable quality that deemed them obvious candidates for it, longtime Opeth fans perhaps may not have anticipated the same ever happening with ‘Ghost Reveries’, and clearly, the same sentiment was carried by Opeth frontman Mikael Akerfeldt. He remarked on more than one occasion during this set that the band had not played some of these songs since they were recorded. In addition, he also mentioned something about facing technical difficulties on stage (it was later discovered that they were using rented backline), and Akerfeldt said his in-ear monitors were failing him. Despite that, the renditions of all eight ‘Ghost Reveries’ tracks were absolutely flawless, and the fantastic sound quality at the Orpheum along with an array of stellar lighting patterns altogether made it a treat for all in attendance. But, as Akerfeldt rightly said before the band disappeared for a 15-minute intermission following the conclusion of the album, the party was yet to begin.
At 9:45, Opeth reappeared for the second part of the event, to put forth another 90 minutes of their own unique brand of progressive heavy music. They started with two of the best songs from their latest full-length ‘Pale Communion’ (2014) to ease the audience into what was to follow, as it was very much like the calm before the storm. ‘The Leper Affinity’ off of ‘Blackwater Park’ got the heads banging and the death metal screams going in the audience, the atmosphere inside the Orpheum attaining its peak and staying there for the rest of the evening. The temperature of the stage lights was also appropriately raised to fit the intensified nature of this second set. Selections from the ‘Damnation’ and ‘Heritage’ albums followed, and the set came to a monstrously epic conclusion with ‘Master’s Apprentices’ and an encore of ‘The Lotus Eater’. Opeth timed and compiled this set to perfection, and playing a show Akerfeldt described as ‘challenging’, the band gave Los Angeles their best. Such was the splendidness of the performance that it was worth standing through Akerfeldt’s often excessive and overly long stage banter between songs, because it was predictable that the banter would be followed by a spellbinding rendition of a great song.
The sound at the Orpheum was beyond amazing, far better than Opeth’s past few Los Angeles area shows at the Palladium, Roxy, Gibson, Mayan, Wiltern and Avalon, and this venue proved to the perfect setting for this event, which certainly needed a good-sounding room to do it full justice. There was no such thing as a bad seat in the house, as the mix was completely balanced and equally reached every nook and corner of this lovely theatre. Fans were treated to a show that was more than worth the top dollar they paid for these tickets, and they turned up in full voice to reciprocate the band’s efforts on stage, as every song was followed by deafening applause.
In 2010, attendees of Opeth’s 20th anniversary tour were convinced that the band would never outdo that show, and in all honesty, the 2010 show stayed at the top even after the ‘Heritage’ and ‘Pale Communion’ tours came through town in the five years since, but Opeth exceeded the expectations of their most diehard fans with this 25th anniversary show, and by orchestrating this truly magical evening, proved yet again that despite divided opinions on their recent material and shifts in musical styles, there are no boundaries to their genius. Los Angeles was indeed privileged to witness the show of a lifetime, and fans are already waiting to see what Opeth does for their 30th anniversary in 2020.
Photos:
Set List:
Set 1
01. Ghost Of Perdition
02. The Baying Of The Hounds
03. Beneath The Mire
04. Atonement
05. Reverie/Harlequin Forest
06. Hours Of Wealth
07. The Grand Conjuration
08. Isolation Years
Set 2
01. Eternal Rains Will Come
02. Cusp Of Eternity
03. The Leper Affinity
04. To Rid The Disease
05. I Feel the Dark
06. Voice Of Treason
07. Master’s Apprentices
08. The Lotus Eater
For pro-shot HD videos of ‘Voice Of Treason’, ‘I Feel The Dark’ and ‘To Ride The Disease’, visit our YouTube channel.
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