Opeth
Live at The End – April 3rd, 2009 – Buenos Aires, Argentina
Finally and after a long wait, formidable Swedish progressive death metallers Opeth, led by the great guitar player, singer and songwriter Mikael Akerfeldt (its sole remaining original member) and currently rounded out by longtime bassist Martín Méndez and newer guys Per Wiberg (keyboards and vocals), Martin “Axe” Axenrot (drums) and Frederik Akesson (guitar) at last made it to these far latitudes to the delight of local fans, including this very scribe – who still can’t get over at missing them at L.A.’s Key Club all those years ago...
The gig was scheduled at the unusually early showtime of 6 PM, which either meant that the band had severe matinee intentions or, most likely, that we would face the usual tradition down here of “million unannounced local support bands”, which is exactly what I found once I arrived at the venue – a club called The End in the city neighborhood of Flores – at roughly 7 PM. The – completely unannounced – bands were ok, the first one being a goth black-metal group with keyboards and both male (grunts) and female (soprano) vocals that sounded really well and ended their set with a Dimmu Borgir cover (nice to meet you). The next one wasn’t as lucky as their sound was terrible and their tech-death songs too complicated for their own sake. Finally, Logos – the long standing band led by former members of legendary local pioneers V8 – offered their classic Ozzy-stlye hard-rock, which was sadly out of place within the evening’s style code and fan demographic and so was largely ignored.
So it was that following the oh so common “sound check with a full house in front” that ensued, nearing 10 PM the lights went down and the familiar “Through Pain to Heaven” intro tape (by 70's krautrockers Popol Vuh) filled the hall announcing the arrival of Opeth, who took the stage one by one and furiously launched into “Heir Apparent” from their excellent and most recent album, Watershed. The End is a nice venue, but someone clearly forgot to install air vents of any kind so by this time the heat was intense, as Mikael itself pointed out as he first addressed the crowd.
Special mention here for Akerfelt, as while most extreme metal bands complement their music with a “scary” image and pose, Mikael instead acts in a totally goofy and pose-devoid way. After a very cheered “Hola Argentina…and I guess Hola Uruguay too…” honoring both local fans and those – like me and Méndez’s family and friends - who travelled from Uruguay (a neighbour country to Argentina) to attend the show and assorted jokes – involving the quality of local food and its apparent effect on the bass player's body size – they rapidly launched into classics like “Ghost of Perdition” (from 2005’s Ghost Reveries), “Godhead’s Lament” (from 1999’s classic Still Life) and to my great excitement, “The Lepper Affinity”, the awesome lead-off track from 2001’s fantastic Blackwater Park – that great Steven Wilson-produced album that sent them into the big leagues (well at least within the metal underground!) at the dawn of this decade.
However and despite the excellent performance and powerful sound, the absence of extraordinary former drummer Martín López (replaced just correctly enough by Axe) and the elegant Peter Lindgren (replaced by the more virtuosic and extrovert Akesson) couldn’t be ignored – not by me at least. Wiberg, on his side, placed himself hidden behind black drapes and between amps, looking more like an enthusiastic roadie than a full member to the staring audience. However, his interventions (mainly emulated Hammond, Mellotron and Piano sounds) were measured and adequate as were his excellent backing vocals and harmonies.
Back to the show, the calm arrived with My Arms, Your Hearse’s (1997) “Credence”, after which came Watershed’s epic (I mean, more than usual!) centerpiece “Hessian Peel” (complete with its brutal second section) and the psychedelically tinged “Closure” (from 2003’s Damnation) with its long 60’s Floyd styled coda. The Morningrise (1996) oldie “The Night and the Silent Water” with its harmony guitars, renaissance melodies, interwoven soft passages and brutal vocals followed and then the end of the show was reached with Watershed’s lunatic “The Lotus Eater” – a frenetic 8 minute trip resembling a stylistic mixture of Syd Barret and Morbid Angel with a surprise visit by Bootsy Collins on its middle – all performed to perfection and with which they bid the audience farewell, thanking its enthusiasm and concurrence.
Due to the audience’s cheering they soon came back onstage to gift us the amazing “Deliverance” (from 2002’s Deliverance), not only one of the band’s best songs but probably one of metal’s ultimate tracks overall. However, it was truncated right away due to problems in Akesson’s gear, which forced the band to stop and restart the track – this time to fully execute it and thus reach the end of their excellent show on a very high note and leaving everyone satisfied (except maybe those expecting a “Demon of the Fall” or similar).
In between the show there was also place for funny technical problems like the amplification picking up a local radio station when Frederik Akesson pushed down his wah-wah pedal , during which Mikael Akerfeldt greeted the audience with impromptu solo versions of The Beatles’ “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”, Deep Purple’s immortal “Soldier of Fortune” and the band’s own “Harvest” (from Blackwater Park), all perfectly sung by his beautiful melodic voice – except the latter sung by the audience itself. The was also time to introduce the band members, where Akerfeldt jokingly referred to Per as “on keyboards…Salvador Dalí” due to his strange bearded look and a very special mention to “local guy" Martín Méndez who was acclaimed by the crowd and who briefly took the microphone to thank (in Spanish) the attention.
Regarding Akerfeldt and Méndez’s performances, there's not much to add, being both excellent and measured musicians and closer to the class and subtlety of jazz musicians than the excess and superficiality of much of the extreme metal scene they are prominently part of. And even if I missed the absent half of the glorious late 90’s/early 00’s classic lineup, the newer guys covered more than well their respective roles.
Finally, a special mention to the audience, of exemplary behavior (the culture of violence at metal shows having been seemingly left behind for good) and enthusiastic response – including yours truly, who could not resist the urge to headbang and sing and at a show after years of “age retirement” 
Leaving the venue, a thousand-odd happy headbangers trailed Rivadavia Avenue looking for their safe way back home.
The End.-
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Opeth @ The End - Buenos Aires, Argentina 03.04.09
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