Live Report: Opeth, Leprous
Place: Lycabettus Theater, Athens, Greece
Date: July 3rd, 2024
Live Correspondent: Kostas Boudoukos
On the evening of Wednesday July 3rd, I enjoyed one of the few bands I’ve never seen before playing live. I am talking about the Swedes OPETH, who together with the also beloved Norwegians LEPROUS, created an extremely fitting progressive duo.
What if Wednesday is not the best day for a concert. What if the weather wasn’t the best, although Lycabettus hill guarantees a certain breeze. What if getting to the Lycabettus Municipal Theatre could be tricky. About 6,000 metalheads filled the venue, especially from the moment the sun went down and on. About 15 minutes late of schedule, Einar Solberg and his bandmates took over the stage and, even though the majority of the audience was not there for LEPROUS, the reception was warm. And how could it not be, when in front of you there is one of the most talented singers of his generation and one of the best drummers as well, Baard Kolstad. Talking about Baard, whenever I listen to him, it seems to me that he is playing something of his own, no matter what the rest of the band is playing but, in the end, it blends so harmoniously into the ensemble creating magic. The setlist was as expected, given the fact that the band is about to release a new album, “Melodies of Atonement”. We heard “Silently Walking Alone” for the first time live and also the excellent “Atonement” which accompanied the introduction of the band’s new keyboard player who gave Einar more freedom on the scene and the ability to focus on his singing. They typically opened the concert with “Have You Ever?” and closed it with “The Sky Is Red” while the hits “Illuminate”, “From The Flame”, “The Price”, the sensational “On Hold” and the amazing “Slave” were not missing from the setlist. Compared to their last time in our country, Solberg seemed to me in even better shape, which helped him on stage and vocally given also the fact that the sound was excellent. There was definitely not the excitement and audience participation as in their past concerts but they probably won the bet and left satisfied after about one hour.
Setlist
- Have You Ever?
- The Price
- Out Of Here
- Silently Walking Alone
- Illuminate
- Atonement
- The Valley
- On Hold
- From The Flame
- Below
- Slave
- The Sky Is Red
However, what everyone was waiting for was the big return after nine years, of the legendary OPETH and their leader, the musical genius and highly communicative and talkative Mikael Akerfeldt. The excitement exploded from the first seconds with the intro which was “Seven Bowls” by APHRODITE’S CHILD, which as Mikael explained to us, has nothing to do with the fact that the concert was taking place in Greece, but it was a way to show his love for Demis Roussos, Vangelis Papathanasiou and APHRODITE’S CHILD. Before we realised what was happening, the first notes of “The Grand Conjuration” made us understand that the party is on. Despite a few sound problems at the first moments, the crowd didn’t seem to be bothered at all. The arena was packed and the tier almost full.
With no new album to promote, OPETH chose to offer us a music journey through most of their discography, with 10 songs from 10 different albums. It’s hard to pick out a highlight. From the exploding “Demon Of The Fall” from the album “My Arms, Your Hearse” to the atmospheric “Face Of Melinda”, you wouldn’t know what to pick first. If I had to choose though, it would be the deafening sing along to “In My Time Of Need” at Mikael’s request (not that we needed it of course), the surprising “Black Rose Immortal”, that made everybody explode and of course the long encore with the legendary “Deliverance” which offers one of the best song (and concert) closings in the art of music. Akerfeldt was in high spirits throughout the whole show and that seemed real and genuine.
A few days ago, I read a comment on facebook from a guy saying that OPETH is one of the most uninspiring bands in metal. It’s probably the most invalid comment I’ve ever read about music. You can accuse them of many things (as any other band to be honest), but “lack of inspiration” is not one of them. We’re talking about a band with a tremendous variety in music, ranging from Death Metal in their early years to Progressive Metal or rock in recent years, with long compositions that are full of inspiration. Even though some of those songs are not live-friendly due to their length. That’s probably my only complaint. In a set lasting a little less than 2 hours, one would expect something more than the 10 songs we finally heard. Even I, who I am not their biggest fan, missed songs like “Ghost Of Perdition” or “Harvest”. Even “Universal Truth” from their latest work, “In Cauda Venenum”.
Setlist
- Seven Bowls (APHRODITE’S CHILD intro)
- The Grand Conjuration
- Demon Of The Fall
- Eternal Rains Will Come
- The Drapery Falls
- In My Time Of Need
- Face Of Melinda
- Heir Apparent
- Black Rose Immortal
- Sorceress
- Deliverance (encore)
Since it was my first time in this specific venue, I didn’ t know what to expect. In general, the experience was satisfactory, although there were some issues. For example, the fact that the time schedule of the concert was announced quite late and was not followed. Also, another issue is the location of the main Lycabettus’ bar (this is not the fault of the organizers but of the venue managers) where there were huge queues that were right next to the stands, resulting in unnecessary overcrowding at that point. Nevertheless, nothing could spoil the mood of those who attended an excellent concert with two top bands in their genre. I am sure that we will see LEPROUS again soon in our country. I hope the same for OPETH since Mikael promised it. Either way, we will be there again to put our hearts and souls on the scene.
Live Correspondent: Kostas Boudoukos
Design & Editing: Kostas Boudoukos
Photographs: Sofia Bal
Videos: Nicole Pouzbouri
External Links: OPETH- Official Page
LEPROUS – Official Page
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