OPETH

Only Opeth could stop a show dead in its tracks to tell a ridiculous Sebastian Bach story and somehow make it feel perfectly normal.

I’ll admit, I was on the fence about making the almost two‑hour trek for me to the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Arena for Opeth’s return with Katatonia. Their 2022 show at the same venue felt like a band drifting deeper into the calmer, prog‑rock side of their identity, far from the ferocity that defined their earlier years. Heritage in 2011 was the turning point that left many fans—myself included—wondering if the death‑metal Opeth was gone for good.

But I cheated. I peeked at the setlist for this tour and instantly caved. A handful of my all‑time favorites were back in rotation, and with a new 2024 album, The Last Will and Testament, I needed to hear how the new material translated live.

Since their last Vancouver stop, the lineup has shifted with Waltteri Väyrynen taking over drums in 2022. He joins Joakim Svalberg on keys, Fredrik Åkesson on guitar, Martín Méndez on bass, and of course Mikael Åkerfeldt—voice, guitar, mastermind.

They opened with “§1” (paragraph 1) one of the new symbol‑named tracks. Short by Opeth standards, but a perfect warm‑up for the clean‑vs‑growl vocal battle we’d hear all night.   Mikael is wearing some sort of wide-brimmed black fedora hat, looking like Chris Christopherson which is an interesting fashion statement.

Then came “Master’s Apprentices,” one of the songs that convinced me to come. Heavy as hell. “Godhead’s Lament” (from the album Still Life) followed—Vancouver has never heard that one live before, so that alone was worth the trip.

“§7” showed off how good Mikael still sounds. For 51, on the last night of the tour, he was flipping between clean and growl like it was nothing. The whole band sounded tight and dialed in.

The stage production—multiple screens, pulsing lights—has become standard arena fare, but it worked especially well during “The Devil’s Orchard,” where Joakim’s psychedelic keys wrapped the stage in a 1960s- like imagery. Attendance looked around 3,000, not a sellout, but loud and proud for a Wednesday evening.

Song 6 is another of my favorites from the Damnation album with “To Rid the Disease”, a hauntingly, mostly acoustic number that really highlights Mikael’s singing ability.  Hey, did you attend the Sounds of the Underground tour at the PNE Forum in 2005?  That was one of 4 the four songs, and the last time you heard this one in Vancouver.  In fact, you can call this ‘Sounds of the Underground revisited’ because they played all those songs here this night.

Before “§3” Mikael joked that the song never gets a mosh pit. Vancouver tried anyway. It didn’t work. But then he told the crowd to start headbanging because “it’s just so fun to look at,” and they launched into “Demon of the Fall.” My favorite Opeth song. His growls were way better than I expected..

Mikael’s dry humor remains undefeated. His story about hanging out with Sebastian Bach at a Guns N’ Roses show had the arena cracking up. He’s been this funny since the 90s, a rare front man who can be both terrifying and hilarious.

Easily the biggest crowd reaction came at song 9 with “The Grand Conjuration” from 2005’s Ghost Reveries album, which in my opinion was at the peak of Opeth’s golden years.  Ending the set with “The Drapery Falls” from Opeth’s  This is CLASSIC Opeth in my eyes and ears.  Mikael reflects back: “I didn’t change socks for 2 months, eating pizza, playing ping pong, drinking beer while recording this album, in the anus of Sweden, Gothenburg, the record is called Blackwater Park”.  To defend Gothenburg, a lot of good shit has come out of that City so maybe that is why he calls it that?

The encore was “Deliverance.” A great closer, though I’ll admit I was hoping for a deep‑cut surprise from Blackwater Park, Orchid, or Morningrise. We heard “Deliverance” in 2022, so a curveball would’ve been the cherry on top.

Still, this was the Opeth show Vancouver has been waiting for: 11 songs from 8 albums, nearly two hours, and a setlist that finally embraced their heavier past while honoring their evolution. I left feeling like the ship has been righted—at least for now. Whether this tour influences their next album remains to be seen, but tonight felt like a band reconnecting with every era of their fanbase. It’s early in the year, but this one will be hard to beat.

Setlist:

1. §1
2. Master’s Apprentices
3. Godhead’s Lament
4. §7
5. The Devil’s Orchard
6. To Rid the Disease
7. §3
8. Demon of the Fall
9. The Grand Conjuration
10.The Drapery Falls
11.Deliverance