Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Roncade, New Age
Concert date: 17.12.2006
Attendance: 600
Ticket price: 6000 SIT (25 euros)
The car pulled out, and the three-headed dragon made up of most of the metal half of the Rockline crew went tearing off on its latest pilgrimage to the Italian Mecca of small concert pleasures: Treviso. Well, to be precise, this time we stopped a little before Treviso. After about four hours on the road, nicely seasoned with a soundtrack blasting from the car speakers, we arrived. New Age is a club inside a business center complex on the outskirts of Treviso, in the little town of Roncade. And there were the t-shirt bootleggers you always hope to find on your concert trips to Italy, since they sell shirts for less than half price (as for quality concerns: it all depends on how well you can see what you’re buying in the half-dark, and how much you’d already had to drink before buying). This time only one seller had camped out in the parking lot in front of the club, and his stand offered nothing but t-shirts, hoodies and similar textiles with the Opeth name on them. Neither the lousy weather nor the lack of sleep, mostly a result of a “merry” December, could kill the intense feeling: tonight we’d once again be witnessing a show by the Swedish oddballs Opeth. I’d already seen them this year, at Metal Camp, and I was far from disappointed. I was more curious about the mysterious Manchester trio Amplifier, English psychedelics, sonic experimenters and shamans of modern sound. I’d have trouble saying much more, since the information is pretty obscure and contradictory, at least what you can read about them online. There’s little to go on. What’s certain is that they’re unknown in Slovenia, and you won’t exactly run into loads of young guys and girls who have ever heard of them…
The doors to the club finally opened at nine, and the bouncers let us into the building slowly and in waves. The club can hold 500 people or more in its belly. It wasn’t overly crowded, but we still wanted to wet our whistles, and then came the cold shower of unpleasantness: half a liter of invigorating hop nectar costs a whole 5 €, and a bottle of plain water ˝only˝ half of that. Somewhat disappointed and with dry throats, we marched off to the goal of our New Age pilgrimage. In the middle of the stage the PA was already looming, along with two drum kits, plenty of guitars at the sides of the stage, and on the floor a bunch of guitar effects were grabbing attention with dozens of lights in all sorts of colors. Around half past nine a stage tech shines a flashlight toward the sound guy, shrouded in darkness behind a huge mixing desk. The loud salvos of Iron Maiden and other classics gradually fade out. Meanwhile three men quietly sneak onto the stage, each grabs an instrument, and the party can begin. After a heavy wall of sound made of feedback, guitar squeals and the massive rumble of low-frequency bass, they weave together the undulating rhythm of the song ‘Motorhead’. The hypnotic repetitiveness of the rhythm and melody is closest to a mix of slightly softened stoner rock, with a bit of Deftones’ feel for building tension and a pinch of Tool-style mysticism. The trio on stage doesn’t get rattled. Singer Sel Balamir, eyes half-closed and guitar in hand, starts delivering his manifesto about a world that can be better than ordinary life, where there is emptiness, a vacuum, burnout and a sea of addiction, where you’re forever running and hiding. No matter the cost and no matter how. Still, it’s possible to hold on to a longing and yearning for something real and fulfilling that redeems. The music is the filler. Order and chaos shake hands nicely here. That’s especially obvious in the final explosion of sound that fills the vaults of New Age like a big bang. A brief thank-you and greeting in broken Italian. Still, they’re fairly confident on stage and crack jokes with a strong whiff of English cynical humor and ambiguity, where you have to read between the lines at every moment: “We are Amplifier and we are not important! Next is a song dedicated to Santa Claus! Panzer!” And right after that come the bass shots of the distorted opening bass, cutting deep and slightly livening up the rather subdued reception from the Italian Opeth fans. The decadence and rot of consumer society are put under the magnifying glass of cynicism, and the criticism is wrapped in metaphors and spirals of symbolic meaning that are anything but unambiguous. They can hit like a ten-ton hammer wrapped in soft foam or in thick, soft fur. They stir you up, but the listener has to give it time. ‘Neon’ sounds a bit less weighed down and brighter, and it cuts through a run of songs seven minutes long and more. In fact, ‘Neon’ is the only song on Tuesday’s menu that meets the criteria of brevity and concision that might get them played on the radio sometime. A song about love and condemnation, exposure, tragedy. The grand finale of the half-hour set was a gorgeous interweaving of guitar-and-bass sensuality, spiced up with softly sounding drums. The song ‘Airborne’, one of their biggest trump cards. The music is closest to nineties psychedelia, which fits the state of the new millennium, where lots of things have no meaning or proper sense. It rocks you into a daze and a state of absent, uncritical agreement with everything on offer. And right after, they can hit you and tear you apart. If you listen and manage to hear at the same time.
What’s said and what’s heard often differ. Amplifier, though, successfully bring extremes together into one complete picture and tie the threads of their story with a seeming calm, stoicism and a knack for playing in front of big crowds. The half-hour journey, mostly through their latest self-titled album, is over. Then come thanks to everyone present, and special thanks to the main attraction of the evening, Opeth, who are the reason the opening act got such a reserved and passive reception. Either way, Amplifier showed their know-how and quality. There wasn’t much visible explosiveness on stage, but the chemistry between the members was there and you could feel it. The only annoying factor might be the repetition of already-heard patterns, which are there on purpose, but with casual listening you can get your fill of them far too quickly. Other complaints simply can’t be raised and defended with any real argument. And there was simply no time for over-the-top judging, since Opeth had already taken the stage…
Author: Sandi Sadar
At half past ten in the evening, the moment the entire New Age hall had been waiting for finally arrived. To thunderous crowd support and chants of “Opeth, Opeth”, Akerfeldt and his gang of Swedish instrumental wizards took the stage. No beating around the bush: they immediately smashed into the punchy, mighty opener from the latest album Ghost Reveries, Ghost of Perdition. It was a real treat to bask in the total perfectionism of the Swedish masters. The sound was dialed in “to zero” and the songs live truly take on an even mightier shape than on record. The synchronization of the Swedish five-piece on stage is breathtaking. With Opeth there’s no room for mistakes! Akerfeldt is today surely one of the most versatile vocalists in metal, and his voice is enviable. It’s unbelievable how he can jump in an instant from singing with a deep, animalistic growl to pure, beautiful, melodic clean vocals. Another great trait of Opeth is that their songs of 10 minutes and more fly by in a flash, and Ghost of Perdition was no different. Of course the obligatory greeting to the crowd followed, and Mikael also mentioned that the New Age show was the last show of a 19 (!) month tour in support of the Ghost Reveries album. Opeth shows are always a 2-in-1 package, since on top of an excellent live performance, frontman Mikael also reveals himself as a real stand-up comedian who could truly measure up to the legends of that trade. He got the first salvos of laughter by asking whether we could imagine five men living together for 19 months… “Well it would be fun if we were gay.” 🙂
Next came two somewhat older songs, When (from the album My Arms, Your Hearse) and Bleak (Blackwater Park), which proved to be excellent live tracks, and a combined 18 minutes flew by. After the punchy opening numbers it was time to calm down, and Opeth served us a gorgeous ballad from the concept album Still Life, Face of Melinda. The perfect time to close your eyes, and the story of the album Still Life came to life in the mind without any trouble. Mikael is extremely proud of this album, and he got so attached to the character of Melinda that he even named his daughter after her. In fact, the atmosphere that filled the whole hall can be described with a single word: magic! All it took was two words and the hall was once again rocked by roaring laughter: “Eros Ramazzotti”. Something melodic followed, the kind of thing Italians simply love (Eros Ramazzotti :), and judging by Mikael’s announcement we had something punchy and melodic in the death metal vein coming, with the song The Night and the Silent Water, which, surprisingly, is the band’s least favorite song from the album Morningrise. Completely unjustified, and the band realized that too once they started playing it live, as Mikael told us. During the song Mikael apparently spotted a girl in the hall with a Santa hat jammed on her head, and a quickly improvised joke followed at the expense of bassist Mendez, who, according to Mikael, has a fetish for girls in Santa gear… “Well who doesn’t”
“This is a song about the Devil” was the announcement for The Grand Conjuration, and sure enough, the combination of Mikael’s deep guttural vocals and a very fitting light show with red lights and strobes conjured up a hellish atmosphere. I was just waiting for the ground to open up and for something out of Lovecraft’s novels to come crawling out.
The mellow Windowpane, in the style of 70s prog rock, also proved to be a live treat. It put the crowd in a perfect trance, and the band was enjoying themselves on stage too, even though they seemed slightly tired. Well, who wouldn’t be slightly worn out after 19 months on stages around the world. During a break the guitars needed tuning, and Mikael messed with us again. He played a couple of chords, “happy” and “sad” ones, and depending on the chord he played, we had to show with our facial expressions whether it was 🙂 or :(.
We were nearing the end of the setlist and Mikael announced the last song of the regular set, one of the title tracks of the same-named album. But first he demanded something from us that caused quite a bit of grumbling.
Have you ever headbanged dry? No? Pretty silly thing to do, right? Well, if we wanted to hear the final song of the regular set, we had to demonstrate this skill to Mikael too. After some painful moments of “dry” headbanging, Opeth finally took pity on us and played the excellent Blackwater Park.
When it was over, Opeth said goodbye and left the stage. Of course the obligatory shouting and demanding of an encore followed, and we got one, in the form of the title track of the album Deliverance… called Deliverance, naturally. After 13 minutes of lively, dynamic Deliverance, Opeth finally left us and sincerely thanked us for the support, which was truly excellent, as proven by, for example, the mere fact that guitarist Lindgren pretty much never lost the smile on his face for the whole show.
What to say in closing? Criticizing this show is almost impossible; I’d only pick on two small nitpicks. Opeth could have added at least one more song at the end, since the setlist itself, without the breaks and chatter, came to a good hour and a half. Demon of the Fall, The Drapery Falls or Master’s Apprentice would have been a great closer. The second small criticism is probably quite subjective. Personally it bugged me a bit that after keyboardist Per Wiberg joined the band as a permanent member, keyboard sound was added to all the songs. Like I said, a completely subjective opinion, and someone else might like it.
Indian monks know a special state of consciousness, which they most often reach by using intoxicating substances. But after attending an Opeth concert they would surely realize that this isn’t necessary. Opeth live are pure nirvana!
So after more than a year and a half of touring, Opeth have gone off for a well-earned rest. A new album is on the way in 2007, and the RockLine crew will definitely be present on the tour that follows, so go catch one of the shows yourself too. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
Author: Rok Klemše
Setlist
Amplifier:
1. Motorhead
2. Fortuna
3. Panzer
4. Neon
5. Airborne
Opeth:
1. Ghost of Perdition
2. When
3. Bleak
4. Face of Melinda
5. The Night and the Silent Water
6. The Grand Conjuration
7. Windowpane
8. Blackwater Park
– encore –
9. Deliverance
