opeth-orpheum

Opeth celebrated their 25th anniversary in NYC & LA (review)

by Rob Sperry-Fromm

Opeth in LA – 10/25/15 (photo via Invisible Oranges Instagram)
Opeth

Opeth played the third of three 25th anniversary shows on October 25 at The Orpheum in Los Angeles, which followed a gig at that same venue one night earlier and a NYC show at the Beacon Theatre on October 22. We were there to catch the epic, 3 hour-plus LA show. They played two sets, the first of which found them playing 2005’s Ghost Reveries in full before coming out again to play a set that encompassed a bunch of stuff from over the course of their career.

The show highlighted a lot of the ways in which Opeth just aren’t a typical metal band. Certainly a few bands are in their airspace in terms of critical and commercial success, but I can’t think of many who would choose to have their triumphant anniversary shows in ornate, seated theaters, or to play for 3 full hours without an opener, or to prominently feature piano solos. This extends to the way they play, which is deeply formal for a metal band. Mikael Akerfeldt, with his unrivaled ability to switch between harsh and clean vocals and play ridiculously complicated guitar solos, barely seems to break a sweat while he rips through these incredibly complex prog compositions. This was almost like a metal recital, where a formidably tight and musically advanced group of players showcased their skills and vast catalogue of music with a calm focus usually reserved for classical music. This also probably gets at why a lot of metalheads have disavowed Opeth as they have moved further and further away from death metal. Seeing this show drove home a point that Akerfeldt has made many times; that Opeth only ever was this type of band, and that the progression from Still Life to Heritage isn’t as huge as it might appear, and that even at their heaviest Akerfeldt has never been interested in appealing to the Headbanger’s Ball crowd.

The show also highlighted how much Opeth means to people as a band. The crowd was absolutely rapt for all three hours, and seemed legitimately joyous to hear everything from “The Leper Affinity” to “Eternal Rains Will Come.” It honestly reminded me of being 16 and going to see The Pixies play Doolittle in its entirety. Sure, the setting was a bit formal, and the band might have been a bit past their peak (certainly more so than Opeth), but the power of those songs to move was undiminished, and that iteration of the band was able to execute them perfectly. Opeth execute these songs perfectly, and that’s obviously no easy task, and despite the lack of metal histrionics (though there were plenty of lights and fog) they absolutely own the crowd. I felt like I was in the presence of a band that, again, occupies rarified air.

Akerfeldt is an atypically engaging frontman as far as banter is concerned. He may be the most unassuming frontman in metal. He is very funny. When the first line he spoke was “thank you very much, motherfuckers,” the clipped irony of that last word was palpable. And throughout the show he had the crowd rapt. You could sense his amusement as, during the second set, he prompted the crowd to shout out song suggestions. “I’m going to say a few words. I said these words last night and it went…so-so. The words are: what would you like to hear?” As aural pandemonium erupted Akerfeldt played some classic Opeth riffs quietly on his guitar and joked quietly with his bandmates. It was a funny and illustrative moment, Akerfeldt and company inciting the crowd to chaos at the 2.5 hour-mark and just seeming bemused at all the attention. As Akerfeldt introduced the band right before the final song, someone asked him who he was. “I need to come up with a funny name for myself,” he replied. As they began the anthemic opening riff to “Master’s Apprentices” he said “and I am Don Johnson.”

And most importantly, few can play like these guys. Man, what a show. Ghost Reveries is maybe the perfect album for them to play in its entirety (even if I would’ve given up a body part or two to hear Blackwater Park) because it flows so easily between all the modes that Opeth are good at. The dual guitars are so perfectly in sync, the solos so flawlessly played, drummer Martin Axenrot so on point throughout. The blend of songs in the second set was also great, with “The Leper Affinity” being my personal high point. Once again, this type of band is rare. As Akerfeldt told Invisible Oranges last year, “when we’re playing live, I don’t care about artistic type of things, like why we write the music and things like that, I just want everyone to enjoy themselves.” That was certainly the case on Sunday night.

You can check out a couple of fan videos from the first night in LA below…

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