Opeth – Powerstation February 2, 2017

 

More than a decade after their last visit to Auckland, Sweden’s Opeth played to a sold-out crowd at The Powerstation, making the hundreds of black-T-shirted fans very happy indeed.

Initially known as a death metal band when they formed back in 1989, Opeth have evolved into a much different beast over the years. Yes, at heart they are a metal band, but they brandish the precious of a jazz band while taking on the attitude of a classic 70s prog-rock act. The end result is consistently surprising.

The show began at 9:30 as drummer Martin “Axe” Axenrot, keyboard player Joakim Svalberg and bass player Martin Mendez took the stage and began a low drone that became the into to Sorceress, the title track from the band’s most recent album.

After a few minutes, and the vibe became more jazz-like, guitarist Fredrik Akesson and frontman Mikael Akerfedt made their entrance to appreciative applause and they flexed their metal muscle with a chugging heavy riff.

With that we were off and running.

Over the course of the nearly two-hour set, the band played 11 songs from 10 different albums, cherry picking tunes from throughout the 25+ year career.

Mikael proved to be an amiable host, joking that Fredrik thought that they were playing in Oakland and warning us that, because the band had been off the road for a couple of months, their performance “might be a bit ropey”

It wasn’t.

The band deftly made its way through changing time signatures and forays into folk, jazz and prog, but always finding their way back to their hard rocking metal hearts.

The crowd, a good mix of male and female fans, were right with the band, clapping along to Demon Of The Fall and singing In My Time Of Need.

While the entire band was staller, for me, the highpoints were when Fred did shred…ripping through solos during The Wilde Flowers and Heir Apparent.

After a brief interlude of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five, the band finished the regular set with The Drapery Falls from 2001’s Blackwater Park, then returned for an epic…15minute version…of Deliverance.

When it was all over, the crowd spilled out onto Mt Eden Road , buzzing. My only complaint was that it could have been louder.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Ivan Karczewski:

Opeth set list:

1. Sorceress
2. Ghost Of Perdition
3. Demon Of The Fall
4. The Wilde Flowers
5. Face Of Miranda
6. In My Time Of Need
7. Devil’s Orchard
8. Cusp Of Eternity
9. Heir Apparent
10. The Drapery Falls
11. Deliverence