Live Reviews : Opeth & Caligula’s Horse @ Eatons Hill, Brisbane 06/05/2015

Images: Amanda Brenchley
Words: Jake Patton

While a mid-week concert held in a location that isn’t centrally in Brisbane’s CBD area would normally keep the droves away, Metalheads had flocked to Eaton’s Hill Hotel to witness the sheer power of one of the worlds most established, cherished and powerful acts in the metal industry.

Local Brisbane support Caligula’s Horse is a powerhouse that isn’t slowing down any time soon, supporting now their third major international band in as many months. I can honestly say that out of the past three shows I have seen, tonight was easily their best performance yet. I’m not sure if it was the fact that there were more members in the audience that were aware of their music, or if it was that they were sharing the stage with one of their key influences, and one of the most influential bands over the past twenty-five years, but they performed with a vigour and intensity that I hadn’t seen from them before.

Caligula’s Horse

The band opened with two of their tracks that I consider to be their main heavy hitters in Dark Hair Down and A Gift to Afterthought. I was lucky enough to be standing near people who hadn’t heard them before and were instantly hooked on these two tracks alone. The great thing about Caligula’s Horse is that their music takes you on a journey that crosses so many levels. Each time they take the stage you find yourself transfixed to something – either visual or aural – that draws you in and keeps you fixated on their set. Their accessibility is possibly their strongest asset as they seem to have found a niche sound that combines several different elements which creates a product which transcends the sum of all their individual parts.

Following a relatively quick changeover, it was time for the main attraction of the night. Having never had the privilege of seeing Opeth live before, I had the opportunity to go in with a fresh view and without any preconceptions about how their performance should be.

Opening with Eternal Rains Will Come and Cusp of Eternity the band announced their presence with some of their more progressive songs. Once The Drapery Falls hit, you could tell that the main contingent of fans was there to hear the old Death Metal material as the crowd worked into a frenzy. Previous setlist woes that I have heard so much about were not really apparent tonight. I had heard that during their last tour they performed a majority of songs off Heritage, but I felt like they struck a really good balance tonight, with Orchid being the only album that wasn’t included in the setlist. Front man Mikael Åkerfeldt even acknowledges the evolution that their material has taken over the past twenty five years by telling the crowd that he knows everyone might not like the Death Metal style, or the progressive metal style, but that there is something for everyone and that all the fans are just going to have to get along. Crowd favourites on the night were April Ethereal, The Locust Eater, The Moor and The Grand Conjuration

Opeth

The great thing about Opeth is that they don’t conform to any one genre or style, often combining several elements in their music which create a beautiful, ethereal and dark sound, which attracts many different fans. While the reception has not been as favourable for latest releases Heritage, and Pale Communion, it is this natural progression and evolution which has allowed the band to be such a strong force dynamo in metal and across genres for the past twenty-five years.

There were a few technical difficulties throughout the night with the guitar amps (particularly Fredrik Åkesson), but you could almost be forgiven for not noticing because each time something happened Mikael made a quip, or started a conversation with the crowd deflecting attention away from the issues. These included discussions about their day off that they spent drinking beer (it was Coopers for anyone interested); about how Metalheads are not allowed to like sport (even though Mikael had been playing Badminton lately); quipping that an amp popping noise was a ‘snippet from our new record – it’s very Avant-Garde’; telling Fredrik to hurry up by yelling ‘tick tock’; and even at point discussing the tuning if his guitar, which for those of you that have seen Metalocalypse, was done in a very Toki Wartooth fashion (the character that is modelled after Mikael). I know that these technical difficulties happen to bands every now and then, but I have never seen them managed in such a humorous manner by a front man, and its effect wasn’t lost on the crowd either with a few people in hysterics at times.

Before launching into their encore, Mikael decided he wanted to run a social experiment to see if the crowd was deemed worthy for the 13 minute headbang onslaught that was to come – so he involved the crowd in ‘the silent headbang’. This entailed a lead in with drums before all music stopped while the crowd headbanged – it really was as ridiculous as it sounds (and I can only imagine the brilliant view the band had of it), but they deemed it worthy of launching Deliverance on us, which came to an end right on the cusp of midnight. After playing such a dynamic set, the band linked arms and took a final bow before proceeding off stage, truly the perfect way to finish a spectacular night.

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