Progressive metal veterans Opeth, opened their Heritage World Tour on Thursday at The Town Ballroom in Buffalo, NY. With a full house in front of him. Frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt stated, “this is how you start a world tour.”
Opening with “The Devil’s Orchard,” followed by “Ghost of Perdition,” set the tone for the night of lengthy, intricate tracks. Åkerfeldt has an amazing ability of being able to demonstrate his various vocal ranges. I was impressed at how good his growling and melodic vocals sounded in a live setting.
Although they only performed eleven songs, fans of Opeth know that translates to an entire evening of music. Aside from incredible music, Åkerfeldt entertained the crowd with plenty of wity banter, most of this was at the expense of guitar player Fredrik Åkesson. Throughout the night, Åkerfeldt referred to an apparent mishap that Åkesson had in the bathroom of the bus. He also proclaimed he was a fan of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, which was met with a chorus of boos. Chuckling he stated “fuck you guys, I love Metallica, besides James is the one you gotta watch out for!”
Aside from a couple of hiccups in the first few minutes of the night, Opeth put on an amazing display of musicianship. The intricacy and length of their songs, is accentuated by the precision with which they perform together, making them a must see for any fan of metal.
Set List:
The Devil’s Orchard
Ghost of Perdition
White Cluster
Hope Leaves
Atonement
Deliverance
Hessian Peel
Häxprocess
Demon of the Fall
Harlequin Forest
Encore:
Blackwater Park
All Photos by BackstageAxxess Correspondent Michael Mietlicki.
We would like to thank Carise Yatter of Hired Gun Media for allowing BackstageAxxess to review the show.
