I’ve always been a big fan of Opeth. More so of their older work, but their recent more prog rock music has stayed very enjoyable. Never having caught them live before, I was looking forward to get to see them at Rockfest 2018. Sadly, their music and energy didn’t come across well in the middle of the day in the blistering Summer sun. Hoping to get rid of my disappointment of back then, when their European club tour announced to have a Helsinki stop, I knew I had to give them another chance!

The Vintage Caravan (****)

To warm up the crowd, Opeth took along the Icelandic psychedelic blues rock outfit The Vintage Caravan. Having seem them live before about a year ago, I knew I was in for a high octane energy show by passionate musicians. Being able to see how they held themselves on a much bigger stage than I saw them last, was simply a pleasure. Now they had the room to move around more and they eagerly used that space. This is a band you simply need to see live, because that’s when their music truly comes alive and works. I can’t get enough of them, good vibes!

Setlist:
Reflections
Set Your Sights
Innerverse
Babylon
Expand Your Mind
On the Run
Midnight Meditation

Opeth (****1/2)

When the lights were shut down for the show to start, ‘Livets Trädgard (Garden of Earthly Delights)’ from their latest release ‘In Cauda Venenum‘ played as intro and mood setter combined with lovely animations and lights coming from the led screens on stage. Opeth really had a gorgeous setup on stage with those screens, classic light bulbs at the front for some atmospheric lights and extra stages for the keyboards, drums and bassist. The intro was soon followed by the second track of ‘In Cauda Venenum‘, ‘Svekets Prins‘, which was none too surprising since that’s why they were touring. The song came across really well live and the addition of starlight in the background and other stage elements really brought an atmosphere that easily swept us away to a dreamy prog land.

They then really surprised me by already playing one of their older tracks from the time they still were to be found in the progressive death metal realms with ‘The Leper Affinity‘. And that was sort of a returning thing for the whole show: 1 or a couple of more recent prog rock tracks with an older more heavy track after it. Mikael was in the best mood, charmingly joking around with his band and the crowd creating a chill vibe. Some of the song choices were also not the obvious ones, in the mid section playing a couple of tracks just because they wanted to. In any case I was happy to hear them play old favorites of mine like ‘Reverie/Harlequin Forest‘, ‘Bleak‘ and closing the night in a damn epic way with my all-time favorite ‘Deliverance‘. Opeth more than redeemed themselves in my eyes and now I know for sure: I only want to see them on their own tour with their full stage production and preferably inside where the much needed atmosphere can be created.

Setlist:
Livets trädgard (intro)
Svekets prins
The Leper Affinity
Hjärtat vet vad handen gör
Reverie/Harlequin Forest
Nepenthe
Moon Above, Sun Below
Hope Leaves
Bleak (jam)
The Lotus Eater
Allting tar slut

Encore:
Sorceress
Deliverance

For more pics go here.