[QUOTE=Cain]Yeah, I loved that too. Where were you sitting?[/QUOTE]

Second to last row in the bottom middle section. I could see everything decently, and the guys in front of me were awesome...

The setlist leaves a little to be desired, true, but it's still Opeth.

Judging from your description, I can't tell if you had fun or not...I'm assuming you did. :thumb:

I leave for mine in...oh, 20 (read: 1 hour) minutes or so. My dad takes forever to get out of the house...

[QUOTE=BurningSky]Second to last row in the bottom middle section. I could see everything decently, and the guys in front of me were awesome...[/QUOTE]

I was up in the balcony, Row J. :-/ I still had a decent view, but we had few die-hards in my area. Lots of girls who, I suspect, came to see the ballet and failed to recognize the extent of how "metal" the band behind them was going to be.

What did you think of the ballet?

EDIT: Shattered, I loved it. No worries. I'm just pissed that they played White Cluster instead of Serenity Painted Death and a completely self-indulgent, unneccesarily long version of "Closure" instead of another Morningrise song! (Even though the Closure solos made up for it)

Ah, ok.

Yea, I'm kinda pissed about the setlist too...none of my favorites in there.

Well, except for The Leper Affinity. That should kick epic ***.

I'm really suprised that they played The Night and The Silent Water, what with all of them professing their dislike of their song.

[QUOTE=Cain]I was up in the balcony, Row J. :-/ I still had a decent view, but we had few die-hards in my area. Lots of girls who, I suspect, came to see the ballet and failed to recognize the extent of how "metal" the band behind them was going to be.

What did you think of the ballet?

EDIT: Shattered, I loved it. No worries. I'm just pissed that they played White Cluster instead of Serenity Painted Death and a completely self-indulgent, unneccesarily long version of "Closure" instead of another Morningrise song! (Even though the Closure solos made up for it)[/QUOTE]

The ballet was interesting. I was curious to see how they would incorporate such the seemingly innocent dancing style of ballet with such a harsh and dissonant style of music, and I think they pulled it off quite well.

Mikael's comment about them was also pretty funny...

As for Closure, I thoroughly enjoyed the extended "ambience", but I'm a sucker for lengthy space rock type stuff (hence my huge love for Porcupine Tree, especially the Sky Moves Sideways and Signify days), but I guess my tastes don't apply to all...

I was also hoping for The Moor, Godhead's Lament, or Serenity Painted Death rather than White Cluster, but I was quite happy with the song selection...

I also called them playing The Amen Corner along with the guy sitting in front of me, and when the opening riffs began, he gave me a huge high five...

[QUOTE=BurningSky]The ballet was interesting. I was curious to see how they would incorporate such the seemingly innocent dancing style of ballet with such a harsh and dissonant style of music, and I think they pulled it off quite well.

Mikael's comment about them was also pretty funny...

As for Closure, I thoroughly enjoyed the extended "ambience", but I'm a sucker for lengthy space rock type stuff (hence my huge love for Porcupine Tree, especially the Sky Moves Sideways and Signify days), but I guess my tastes don't apply to all...

I was also hoping for The Moor, Godhead's Lament, or Serenity Painted Death rather than White Cluster, but I was quite happy with the song selection...

I also called them playing The Amen Corner along with the guy sitting in front of me, and when the opening riffs began, he gave me a huge high five...[/QUOTE]

It's great having experiences like that...sadly, they seem to happen mostly near the front. My section had next to no diehards and not very many people who looked like they would welcome a chat. That, plus my appearence (I'm the least metal-looking kid to ever go to a metal show) made me a little uneasy when it came to just striking up conversation.

Ah well, when I saw Rush I had experiences like that, so hey. :)

EDIT: [QUOTE]I'm really suprised that they played The Night and The Silent Water, what with all of them professing their dislike of their song.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, they said they had never played it live before ever because of it. But they also said they were deliberately trying to find obscure numbers and said it sounded "pretty good" in rehearsals. The drummer wrote some new parts for it, as well, the whole thing sounded MUCH tighter and cohesive, plus Per had some really nice keyboard flourishes. It sounds even more epic than it does on the record.

BurningSky probably heard what Mikael had to say about NATSW better than I did. I was straining to hear. Do you remember, BurningSky?

Something along the lines of...(not the exact quote)

"That was from our first album, Orchid, so which one comes next? Morningrise I think. We were unhappy with the production of this album, but a lot of the fans seem to like it a lot. The song we are going to play...we have never played before. We were unhappy with it in the studio, but we tried it out in rehearsals and it sounded pretty good. So here it is, The Night and the Silent Water."

It was something along those lines, no where near what he said exactly...

You both are very lucky. I would love to have seen those songs live.

Yeah, so Mikael's problems were production problems. The same problems I have with Morningrise.

The song sounds MUCH better with the new vocal styles, clean vocal control, keyboards, and tighter, more virtuosic and thick drums. They should really do more Morningrise tunes.

[QUOTE=Cain]Yeah, so Mikael's problems were production problems. The same problems I have with Morningrise.

The song sounds MUCH better with the new vocal styles, clean vocal control, keyboards, and tighter, more virtuosic and thick drums. They should really do more Morningrise tunes.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, Black Rose Immortal and To Bid You Farewell should definitely make a return...

I hope there's a bootleg of it out there somewhere

To bad the show im goign to isn't goign to be an evening with... show.
But I'm still excited as hell to go seem them.

Knifeboy, some people on the Opeth board were mentioning some bootleg someone had, somewhere, of TNATSW, but I haven't seen it yet.

I thought in addition to production, Mike didn't like TNATSW because of all the emotional issues around it (it was written abotu his grandfather's death, etc)

[QUOTE=Cain]ATTN: OPETH CAREER RETROSPECTIVE CONCERT REVIEW AND SETLIST

Great show, all things considered. The experience tonight was considerably more novel and artistic than the last Opeth show in New York a few months ago. As it took place in Town Hall, a high-class venue just off of Times Square, the show was seated and built around a "sit and appreciate the artistry" motif: there was only standing in the bottom seats, there were no pits, and barely anyone could stop gazing at Opeth onstage long enough to headbang. To a degree, I really missed the unpleasentness of being crammed up against untold bodies between the barrier and the crowd at the last show, for all its discomfort I loved the rush it gave to the music.

Since I was sitting for the whole show, encore excepted, I noticed that this show took on a decidedly head-scratching, analytical air. No doubt that was Opeth's intention, but given their decision to not only play a career retrospective but to deliberately pick obscure, non-fan-favorites I confess myself a teeny bit disappointed. I wanted to get lost in the true highlights off of Morningrise and so on, given that songs off those records are never played anyway. Even so, the power of Opeth live is mind-boggling: one of the benefits to this set construction was the way we could see Opeth's evolution and the true breadth of their compositional artistry, and when confronted with the sheer gravity and volume of music Opeth have created over their twelve-year career, I am amazed. All told, this was an excellent show.

Small critiques and comments of special note: I would have easily taken Black Rose Immortal or two different songs over the twenty-five-million-minute version of "Closure" they did this time around. It was the only point during the concert where I became outright bored, although the drummer and Per had fantastic extended solos in the song. The ballerinas were a rather apathetic experience for me: I was hoping for something awesome, but I'm sorry, there was nothing to convert me to dance's brand of art in this performance set to "Deliverance." Per Wiberg's keyboards were even more well-integrated with the band's sound than at the last show: his Hammond organ sounds and E-bow simulations caused a lot of their darker numbers to increase the ambience and musical depth tenfold. I am very impressed with how well he is becoming an asset to Opeth with his keyboards: very often the notes he played sounded almost like screams, which made the majority of the heavy music INCREDIBLY eerie, and very artsy and progressive-sounding. I was a little disappointed by the setlist, but I understand that the point of the retrospective was to pick more obscure songs rather than fan favorites.

SETLIST FOR THE RETROSPECTIVE:

ORCHID: Under the Weeping Moon
MORNINGRISE: The Night and the Silent Water
MY ARMS, YOUR HEARSE: The Amen Corner
STILL LIFE: White Cluster
BLACKWATER PARK: The Leper Affinity
DELIVERANCE: A Fair Judgement, Deliverance
DAMNATION: Windowpane, Closure
GHOST REVERIES: Ghost of Perdition, Baying of the Hounds, The Grand Conjuration
ENCORE: Demon of the Fall[/QUOTE]
I was at the same show last night. MY GOD, it ruled. The band sounded fantastic (hoping Martin's alright, wherever he is...) and Mikael was hilarious in between songs.

I really liked Per's e-bow simulator as well. That worked fantastically, along with his organ sounds.

The version they played of Closure was great, I thought. The jamming really worked, and I agree, it was a great showcase for the drummer. I love that everyone was expecting the big Middle Eastern section at the end to come, but the band just kept building it up, and finally when it hit everyone went nuts.

That was also the first time I'd heard White Cluster. I loved it, I'm determined to pick up a copy of Still Life now.

It was kind of odd that they played Deliverance, seeing as how the Ballet Deviare danced to it. I wasn't crazy about the opening dance either, but I loved what Mikael said about it.
"Did you guys like the ballet?"
*Cheering.*
"Good, cause we get to party with them afterwards!"
Then some dude in the crowd yells, "What about your wife?!"
Mikael says, "Oh it's alright, she knows I don't dance."

And then some other dude asked if he could take a picture of Mikael and Peter in Swedish. A lot of great interaction between Mikael and the audience.

I was in row H. I could see pretty much everything, except for Per. The only glimpses I caught of him were if he was leaning forward.

I would have loved to see them play When, The Funeral Portrait, and Wreath, but overall the show was amazing. Oh man. So cool.

My God, I'm jealous... why do they have to play in Western PA this tour? GO TO PHILLY OR AT LEAST TRENTON!

They played in Raleigh on my birthday and I couldn't go because it was sold out. I'm still kind of mad about it. :(

Ya, I woulda been pretty upset. I still have faith they play play IMSWS..but the faith is growing thin :(

Holy ****, I would KILL to see The Night and the Silent Water live. That is so amazing, man. I think it would be cool if they re-recorded Morningrise, just to see how it would sound with clearer production and new drum and keyboard parts. Still, I think the 1996 version can't be beat but it would be interesting at least

[QUOTE=ok lateralus]Holy ****, I would KILL to see The Night and the Silent Water live. That is so amazing, man. I think it would be cool if they re-recorded Morningrise, just to see how it would sound with clearer production and new drum and keyboard parts. Still, I think the 1996 version can't be beat but it would be interesting at least[/QUOTE]
There playing up in Tempe on March 15...im going to try hard as hell to get tickets to that.

[QUOTE=azbassman]There playing up in Tempe on March 15...im going to try hard as hell to get tickets to that.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I wish I could go soo badly but I'm going to be out of town. Sucks even more because I was going to see them last October too, bought my ticket and everything, but they cancelled

Cool review, Cain. I'd love to see The Amen Corner live.. has anyone here seen them with DT yet? I'm going on the 28th.

[QUOTE=Toaster]Cool review, Cain. I'd love to see The Amen Corner live.. has anyone here seen them with DT yet? I'm going on the 28th.[/QUOTE]
Where in Canada are you ? I'm seeing them on the 7th in Saskatoon

[QUOTE=ok lateralus]Yeah, I wish I could go soo badly but I'm going to be out of town. Sucks even more because I was going to see them last October too, bought my ticket and everything, but they cancelled[/QUOTE]
Got lucky....the day there here is the one week we have school off. :thumb:

[QUOTE=^Dream~Theater^]Where in Canada are you ? I'm seeing them on the 7th in Saskatoon[/QUOTE]

Ontario.

[QUOTE=Cain]ATTN: OPETH CAREER RETROSPECTIVE CONCERT REVIEW AND SETLIST

Great show, all things considered. The experience tonight was considerably more novel and artistic than the last Opeth show in New York a few months ago. As it took place in Town Hall, a high-class venue just off of Times Square, the show was seated and built around a "sit and appreciate the artistry" motif: there was only standing in the bottom seats, there were no pits, and barely anyone could stop gazing at Opeth onstage long enough to headbang. To a degree, I really missed the unpleasentness of being crammed up against untold bodies between the barrier and the crowd at the last show, for all its discomfort I loved the rush it gave to the music.

Since I was sitting for the whole show, encore excepted, I noticed that this show took on a decidedly head-scratching, analytical air. No doubt that was Opeth's intention, but given their decision to not only play a career retrospective but to deliberately pick obscure, non-fan-favorites I confess myself a teeny bit disappointed. I wanted to get lost in the true highlights off of Morningrise and so on, given that songs off those records are never played anyway. Even so, the power of Opeth live is mind-boggling: one of the benefits to this set construction was the way we could see Opeth's evolution and the true breadth of their compositional artistry, and when confronted with the sheer gravity and volume of music Opeth have created over their twelve-year career, I am amazed. All told, this was an excellent show.

Small critiques and comments of special note: I would have easily taken Black Rose Immortal or two different songs over the twenty-five-million-minute version of "Closure" they did this time around. It was the only point during the concert where I became outright bored, although the drummer and Per had fantastic extended solos in the song. The ballerinas were a rather apathetic experience for me: I was hoping for something awesome, but I'm sorry, there was nothing to convert me to dance's brand of art in this performance set to "Deliverance." Per Wiberg's keyboards were even more well-integrated with the band's sound than at the last show: his Hammond organ sounds and E-bow simulations caused a lot of their darker numbers to increase the ambience and musical depth tenfold. I am very impressed with how well he is becoming an asset to Opeth with his keyboards: very often the notes he played sounded almost like screams, which made the majority of the heavy music INCREDIBLY eerie, and very artsy and progressive-sounding. I was a little disappointed by the setlist, but I understand that the point of the retrospective was to pick more obscure songs rather than fan favorites.

SETLIST FOR THE RETROSPECTIVE:

ORCHID: Under the Weeping Moon
MORNINGRISE: The Night and the Silent Water
MY ARMS, YOUR HEARSE: The Amen Corner
STILL LIFE: White Cluster
BLACKWATER PARK: The Leper Affinity
DELIVERANCE: A Fair Judgement, Deliverance
DAMNATION: Windowpane, Closure
GHOST REVERIES: Ghost of Perdition, Baying of the Hounds, The Grand Conjuration
ENCORE: Demon of the Fall[/QUOTE]


Yeah they pretty much did the same thing with Closure when I saw them in 2004, and admittably was the boring spot of the concert, but they didn't play anything from Orchid, Morningrise or My Arms Your Hearse at that show. It was still a good show, but it didn't have as powerful of a track list as I was expecting. The only chance I have of seeing Opeth is on March 4th, in Minneapolis. Still waiting on a few people to decide, hopefully by monday, then I'm going.

By the way, Cain, good review of the show.

[QUOTE=Flynn]Yeah they pretty much did the same thing with Closure when I saw them in 2004, and admittably was the boring spot of the concert,[/QUOTE]

I think the extended version is a live-must thing going on. I dig the Lamentations version...

:upset:

I mean... It's good right!?!?

:moreupzet:

[QUOTE=Flynn]Yeah they pretty much did the same thing with Closure when I saw them in 2004, and admittably was the boring spot of the concert, but they didn't play anything from Orchid, Morningrise or [B]My Arms Your Hearse[/B] at that show. It was still a good show, but it didn't have as powerful of a track list as I was expecting. The only chance I have of seeing Opeth is on March 4th, in Minneapolis. Still waiting on a few people to decide, hopefully by monday, then I'm going.

By the way, Cain, good review of the show.[/QUOTE]
Are you excluding Demon for obvious reasons, or didn't they play that either?

[QUOTE=Deth]Are you excluding Demon for obvious reasons, or didn't they play that either?[/QUOTE]


No. They didn't play anything from any of those albums, and they only played White Cluster from Still Life. The rest of the show was basically the Deliverance/Damnation works, and some of Blackwater Park.

That's really strange. I would be slightly disappointed.