Guitarist's Rob Laing attends filming for a guest lessons and a gig from Swedish progressive metal lords Opeth…


I’ll freely admit it; I’m an Opeth fanboy. So when they they decided to play the town where I live for the first time ever I was hardly going to pass up the opportunity to see the most talented prog band on the planet.

Luckily, before the gig I got to sit in on the filming of a video lesson guitarist/vlcalist/songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson were doing for MusicRadar.com in their cramped dressing room at the Bristol Academy.

I knew from interviewing them in the past that both are easy going and refreshingly modest people to meet in person, but they also seem to be naturals at the video guest lesson format – despite the distractions of a noisy soundcheck going on downstairs from one of the support bands.

Mikael and Fredrik went through the song Heir Apparent from their current album Watershed while I nodded my head approvingly – and anyone who’s heard this song will know it’s full of superb riffs. It was great to get some insight from the horse’s mouth on how to play them so look out for the footage on MusicRadar.com soon.

Fredrik joined Opeth for their current album Watershed and every time I see him play guitar he blows me away with his talent - none more so than when I saw him play Heir Apparent's solo up close during the filming. Some may pigeonhole him as an accomplished shredder but he’s so much more than that – as he would prove later during the gig.



Opeth 2009 are clearly a different band to what they were a few years ago – Keyboardist Per Wiberg is now a full time member, Martin Axenrot replaced Martin Lopez on drums during the tour for previous album Ghost Reveries and of course there’s Fredrik.

This Bristol gig showed the current line-up is really coming into its own.

Firstly, the negatives – Opeth’s sound is so rich, dynamic and textured that it needs a good sound mix to do it justice. Mikael’s vocals simply weren’t loud enough – especially on the heavier sections. Conversely the drums sounded too high in the mix. I wasn’t the only person who thought this judging by the calls from fans around me.

Secondly, the frustrating Bristol curfew meant Opeth went on at 8.15 and had to finish at 9.40pm – forcing them to drop Bleak from the setlist. Mikael told me during the filming that some of the strict curfews on this UK tour had been frustrating as he wanted to give the support bands a decent set length as well as Opeth fans. Such an early curfew is always the case with the Academy on a Friday (an indie disco follows gigs on this night) but it’s still rather absurd if you're paying to see a band - although an issue that the venue needs to address rather than artists playing there (who are hit with huge fines if they break curfews).

But such issues weren’t enough to spoil an Opeth show. The setlist was strong – although there’s always going to be fans wanting something rarely played. Understandable, even I would like to see the mainstay Demon Of The Fall replaced with something else for a change but the band have to keep everyone happy and they even give Godhead’s Lament an airing (from 1999’s Still Life) to keep the hardcore happy.

Opeth played two songs from Watershed – as well as a snippet of Hessian Peel – tonight and to be honest they sounded so good I’d be happy to hear the whole record live. Heir Apparent is a crushing opener and they pull off the complexities of the The Lotus Eater in tremendous style. That bizarre funky break in the song even gets a few in the crowd vaguely boogying, before they come to their self conscious senses.

It’s always a pleasure to hear material from 2003's mellow Damnation album and tonight we got Hope Leaves – a personal favourite of mine. Fredrik added a new dimension to the song with a very tasteful and soulful solo towards the end – this man is clearly a Gilmour fan and much, much more than just a metal shredder. Combine this with the vocal harmonies he and Per brought to Godhead’s Lament and the potential for the future is very promising. Fredrik clearly knows when it’s right to bring his own distinct flair though – wisely he played his predecessor Peter Lindgren’s solo on the epic Deliverance straight. But I wonder what he can add to other songs from the back catalogue that haven’t been played live in a while.



Special mention must also be given to Axenrot – he received a lot of unfairly harsh criticism from elitist Lopez devotees when he first joined Opeth. It goes without saying that Axe brings something different to the table but the groove and aggression he played with tonight puts his place in the band beyond any question.

Closing with the Drapery Falls from the – indisputable – classic album Blackwater Park left a crowd begging for more. And it’s a crowd populated from everyone from death metallers to middle aged women. Any band who are capable of doing that are clearly something special that should be savoured – even when they have to clear the stage to make way for an indie disco.

Setlist:

Heir Apparent
Grand Conjuration
Godhead's Lament
Lotus Eater
Hope Leaves
Deliverance
Demon of the Fall
-----------------
Drapery Falls