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Live Reviews : Opeth & sleepmakeswaves @ Enmore Theatre, Sydney 03/05/2015

By on May 4, 2015

Images and Words: Martin Michea

I have never witnessed Opeth live on Australian soil before. I’ve heard for many years though that it is something truly special, and when I asked Mikael Åkerfeldt in a recent interview about his feelings towards this country, it was quite clear that, despite him trying to be modest, there is a special bond between the two. With this in mind I was very excited to see what my fellow countrymen had to offer on this Sunday evening in an almost completely packed Enmore Theatre.

But let’s start from the beginning. The doors opened at seven, 45 minutes later it was time for the sole supporting act for the evening, sleepmakeswaves, to take the stage. This Sydney based post rock band is truly quite amazing to witness live. The Enmore Theatre is almost filled already, and it is clear that the band is truly honoured to be standing on this stage on this very night. Alex Wilson (bass) mention a couple times that playing the Enmore Theatre has been on their bucket list and how honoured they are to open for a band that they’ve all grown up listening to.

I usually have a hard time getting into bands that has no vocals at all. However, sleepmakeswaves make it work brilliantly without. They are a bunch of very talented musicians and they somehow feel like the perfect opener for a band like Opeth. Watching guitarists Jonathan and Otto pretty much destroying their instruments is a joy, and the clever use of effect pedals feels quite unique and refreshing. It feels like sleepmakeswaves have created a fair bit of buzz lately, and their future looks very bright.

In this day and age where most international touring acts have at least two (sometimes even three or four) supporting acts, it was quite refreshing to know that Opeth would be on stage not too long after sleepmakeswaves had finished their set.

The intro song Through Pain to Heaven (by Popol Vuh) greets the Sydney audience and the roar that follows is deafening. First up is some new songs, Eternal Rains Will Come and Cusp of Eternity. They work even better live than I had expected. The only other song Opeth played from Pale Communion was the slower Elysian Woes.

I have always found setlist dynamics very interesting, especially when it comes to Opeth in 2015. I haven’t been a massive fan of the band in the past, but you still pick up on things people say online. A lot of people seemed to be quite unhappy with the amount of Heritage songs Opeth performed on their last world tour. They have learned from this “mistake”. This time around they have one of the most diverse setlists I have ever seen. They represent every album they have released on this evening, bar the first one (Orchid). This seems to be a popular decision as the audience is really great throughout the entire set. The one thing I found a bit strange was the decision to turn about half of the general admission floor into a seated area. I think the balcony would have been enough.

The crowd favourites of the night are Windowpane, Deliverance, April Ethereal and Advent. Everything is perfection, as you would expect when it comes to Opeth. Watching this band live is just mesmerising. That said, one thing that some people seem worried about are Mikael’s growls, and while I can only compare them to when I saw Opeth in Finland 2 years ago, they really sound a lot better now than back then.

So if I should summarise this for people who are attending dates later on this tour: The setlist is about as good as it gets if you are a fan of both new and old Opeth. Also, Mikael’s vocals are awesome and he’s just as funny as ever. I believe that the remaining shows are really close to or completely sold out which is really impressive! I am sure that you will all have a great time.

Setlist:
Eternal Rains Will Come
Cusp of Eternity
The Drapery Falls
The Moor
Advent
Elysian Woes
Windowpane
The Devil’s Orchard
April Ethereal
The Lotus Eater
The Grand Conjuration
Encore:
Deliverance

About

Martin is an aspiring music photographer/videographer. He is originally from the southern parts of Sweden and now he's living in Sydney, Australia. Thanks to his older sister, he got into Rammstein at the age of 9, and since then he's been into all types of metal/rock. He loves to combine photography and music, but also filming concerts and produce live material. Follow him on Twitter and check out his website.