Opeth Mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt Reflects On World Tour
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Opeth mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt has posted the following update:
"Just got back from the latest trip which included Sweden (well, well), Holland, Japan, China and Australia. Phew!
"First up, the Swedish gig in Malmö, down South of the country fucking RULED! It was one of my favourite gigs here, we played alright and all but the crowd were just AMAZING! I'll never talk shit about Southern Sweden again (did I ever???)!
"Holland was OK, good crowd but I don't know, seemed like a standard gig from our side. We just did it and left and now I've pretty much forgotten about it. Always love playing Holland though. What I remember most was having some childhood friends come over and party with us plus I saw the dude that used to sing with Artch there ('Hey Jimmy, glass o' whisky please...'), remember them?
"Then we had a bunch of horrible flights going to virtually the other side of the planet. Watched the new Indiana Jones on the flight to Japan (2/5, NOT more!). Japan was nothing short of SPECTACULAR! Awesome! I wanna say thanks to all our peeps over there. Everyone treated us so nice and we literally had a blast! It was our first club tour over there and I can't wait to go back. All the gigs were cool and even the travelling in between (Bullet train) was a cool experience. I even got some time for some record shopping and picked up some nice stuff indeed! We hope we can come back next year...PLEASE! The fans were real nice and respectful. Loud one second, dead silent the next! Got loads of gifts for my daughters too! Thank you all so much! In Tokyo we played 'The Lotus Eater' for the first time ever, and it went OK. I think this song is going to become a highlight of our show with a few more gigs under our collective belt.
"On the way to Australia we had a day off in Hong Kong, China! It was a pretty mind boggling experience. I mean, we didn't do much. Mendez and myself went to a German restaurant (!) and had the best sausages I've ever had in my life. But it was just strange there...very strange indeed. I can't say if I enjoyed myself or not to be honest. Have to go back I guess.
"OZ! Well, what can I say? Great experience once again! I think we're getting pretty recognized over there now. All the five shows got sold out and in Sydney we had over 3,000 people checking us out! We all love it there and I guess we're already talking about coming back next year. In Brisbane the authorities made the show into an 18plus show even though they'd advertised the gig as a all ages show. It sucked! We had lots of kids coming up to us saying they couldn't get in. I guess it was a massive disappointment to a lot of people, but I swear we'll never play that place again. We'll make it up to you folks.
"This event even got covered in the news there...as always when something shitty happens.
"The four flights back home were horrible. 26 hours in total maybe? Watched 'Casino Royale' which was a fucking 5/5 for me who's a die hard Bond fan! Can you believe it?
"Coming home was fantastic as always. Seeing my kids and wife has me thinking 'What the hell am I doing being away from them all the time??'. Yet, this is what I do, I love it plus I support my family doing it. We're going out again within days so I gotta keep this short...don't want to waste time being away from them as you can imagine. They're sleeping now as I write, but I'll take Melinda to kindergarten tomorrow morning, and quite frankly I can't wait for them to wake up so I can be with them again. Fuck, I'm tearing up now.
"OK, gotta go folks...love ya!"
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19 Comments on "Opeth Mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt Reflects On Tour"
Member
4. writes:
in my alltime most musical influences to creating metal myself is always mikael akerfeldt # 1 for his godly progressive song structures and voice, and devin townsend # 2 for his tremendous melodic abilities and for making the album "City". I really wish he'd return to the states again, never had the chance to see him ever.
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7. writes:
Totally, one of the most hyper-speedy industrial death metal albums of all time. I actually wondered if opeth played thier new stuff from watershed during the tour, i heard from various sources they stuck to older material with the exception of "the lotus eater" and "porciliean heart".
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Former Contributor
10. writes:
i loved Watershed and think its a great addition to the Opeth albums. Porcelain Heart has to be one of the most insane songs i heard all year and Crawford - omg i might be with you on the whole crapping myself when i hear Porcelain Heart heart live next sunday!!
11. writes:
Watershed was amazing just like their other works, and I say this as a fan of proggressive metal and death metal, this band creates such an atmospheric plain with a any of their albums played through front to back. watershed definately had a very delightful change of songs that was actually pleasent to hear from a band who has yet to lose a step creating original works of art. And the first time I heard "Porcelain heart" before Watershed's initial release via youtube and other sources, i had shivers when those acoustic sections rolled into searing chords and haunting melodies. I played it about 6 times in a row because it's so f***ing great, and opeth is great.
12. writes:
When i saw them in Melbourne they opened with Heir Apparent & later pulled out The Lotus Eater.
Yeah its an amazing album, as are the rest. It's has been in my cd player since i got a copy of it a couple of months back (It wakes me up in the morning =D). Also when i saw them they didnt play any songs they had videos for, Grand Conjuration or Porcelain Heart - Which i thought was a good thing, as those songs would be the recent most overplayed Opeth tracks. A good descision \m/
Reviewer
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Former Contributor
Former Contributor
18. writes:
I've actually considered going back and re-writing my review and bumping the score from 4.5 to a full perfect 5. When I first heard it was such a shock to hear their new sound and lyrical subject matter. They have definitely changed from Blackwater Park or Still Life days, but after a hundred or so listens as the nuances have come out I've realized it's still 100% Opeth in every way, they just did a little more expanding and growing in different directions. "Hessian Peel" has now taken a spot among my favorite Opeth songs, right up there with "Demon of the Fall," "White Cluster," and "The Drapery Falls."
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1. GhostOfPerdition writes:
Mikael is the man!