By Jase Walker
I’m nowhere near done yet, this week’s escapades continue and put me back in Utrecht at TivoliVredenburg but this time in the much more grown-up venue stage of their Grote Zaal. The difference being is that this is a proper amphitheatre hall for the intellectual gig goer and for big prog bands such as Opeth, the ideal venue for the discerning listener.
Along for the ride tonight and a few other dates are Hällas who are entirely new to me but never an issue, new music is always welcome. I’ve made it in just before doors to find myself in the middle of the standing area directly in front of the stage and this show evidently has attracted every tall gentleman in the Netherlands too.
Anyway, Hällas get things started and I’m actually a bit surprised by them sounding a lot more closer to more recognisable prog that sounds like it’s been raised on a diet of Rainbow, Rush, Deep Purple and King Crimson. That being said, there’s a unique tinge of disco in there that suggests influences of Earth Wind and Fire and Tower Of Power.
Their outfits remind me a bit of Zspor of HENGE, each member with sequins under their eyes and sparkly outfits adorned with tassels and the like. I think for myself personally it’s not quite the sort of prog that I would genuinely reach for myself, I tend to lean a bit more on the side of prog that sounds like it’s been written under the cocktail of various narcotics but Hällas are still plenty entertaining.
Overall, the sound volume is a little bit polite but it’s fairly well balanced and the ever-problematic levels of the keyboard and synth aren’t really an issue here. This sort of thing would be perfect music for a DnD campaign though, which isn’t a bad thing at all. There’s a great feeling of whimsy in the music, it’s got a great pace and none of the component parts of the band feel intrusive at any point, there’s a nice bit of floaty Rick Wright worship in the keys dotted around the set and overall it’s straight up pretty entertaining prog.
Hällas aren’t afraid of leaning a bit into the prog cheese and honestly that’s what has made this set so bloody enjoyable. I feel like a lot of prog seems so massively dead set on trying to avoid typical tropes that it ends up becoming pretentious in its own right but Hällas doesn’t shy away from that at all and the end result is prog that feels reasonably familiar but unique in its own right.
And now to the main event, the prog titans of Opeth here to blast our faces off with tasty riffs and extended stories for the next two hours.
I won’t lie, the newest material for Opeth stands out as a true return to form and while it’s not outright as heavy as the earlier stuff, the variance is arguably even better. I’d say the volume for this show is still somewhat polite as far as my previous flings with Opeth go but it’s not particularly lacking in power considering the drums are still pounding my chest and guts.
What’s standing out to me for this show compared to previous times though is just how much more engrossed I am. I’ve seen Opeth a pretty fair number of times since the Lotus Eater era and until now and generally I found I fell out with them for a while, but this newer mix of the heavier feel and dark proggy stuff is grabbing me a lot more than I thought it would.
I loved the most recent album, ‘The Last Will And Testament’ and hearing it brought to life after becoming much more familiar with it over the last couple of years has gone from a slow burn to a full-on fire.
For ‘§ 7’ they include a mix of pre-recorded voice overs, singing and calling in a bit of help to seal with the rather complicated drumming required for this song. Anyone who’s seen Opeth before will probably know that Mikael is a bit of a witty man but he’s having to deftly deal with a small number of hammered people in the audience tonight and shows a fair bit of wit.
As another injection of a bit of humour, they opt to play a cover of Napalm Death’s ‘You Suffer’, all two seconds of it, several times, with audience participation. What I don’t think people were expecting was this bit of shenanigans leading into ‘The Drapery Falls’ but going off the swaying of the crowd and arms in the air, people are glad to hear it.
And to finish the main bulk of this pretty bloody long set, ‘Hex Omega’ due to, as Mikael puts it, “It’s our most popular song according to, uh, the internet”. Although I couldn’t quite stick around to catch the encore because of needing to travel home and these shows often not extending to 11pm normally, this has been a show that’s let me feel like I’ve reconnected with Opeth finally.
Genuinely a proper quality show and a venue that suits it to boot, top marks.
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