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OPETH
MOONSPELL
DEVIL DRIVER
@
The Quest in Minneapolis Minnesota USA
18.02.04
live report by
Matthew "Newbreed99" Haumschild ___
Even
as I was walking in, there was this huge buzz about this show. Everyone
was talking about Opeth and how many times they, meaning the fans, have
seem them. Someone asked me, “Dude, have you seen this band before?”
and I would reply, “Um, yeah this would be my fourth time. Twice in
Phoenix and this will be my second time seeing them here.” To be
honest, I didn’t know rather to be excited or not. Also, Devil Driver
was heavily talked about as well. I admit, I was anxious to see Dez
Fafara’s new band since his old band, Coal Chamber, had been
disbanded. I walked upstairs to the balcony and stood on top near where
the stage was on the left side or stage right as it is called in the
industry.
Devil Driver
“DEVIL..DRIVER..DEVIL..DRIVER!” That was the chant you could here
from the young crowd below just before they hit the stage. I knew it was
going to get rough at this point…thank God I was upstairs! Devil
Driver hit the stage blasting “Nothing’s Wrong?” and a very
violent pit erupted on the floor! Everyone from the back to the front
was moving! I hadn’t seen this reaction for a long ass time, even the
people upstairs, including myself, had their fists in the air singing
along. DD had a really nice stage presence. Actually to be honest, I
think the sound guy was a sleep. You could hear Dez’s vocals in the
P.A. but you couldn’t hear the rest of the band! To be honest, they
were loud enough anyway. An interesting thing I noticed was the drums;
they sounded completely different then they sounded on the album. Which
wasn’t good. The drums didn’t sound as good until later in the show
when the soundman woke up, he tweaked the kick drums, but it was already
too late for the rest of the kit. As another thing I thought was
unusual, the drummer was playing bare foot! If you ever played on a drum
kit, playing with bare feet is just so damn odd! Especially in Minnesota
this time of year! The other songs the band played were “I Could Care
Less”, “The Mountain”, “What does it take (to be a man)”, and
“Revelation Machine”. At least those are the ones I can remember. I
liked the fact that in-between songs Dez would talk to the crowd about
various things like his parents being Blue Collar, going out in L.A.
during the week ect. During their set, the crowd kept it’s
intensity with violent pits and during various songs they would form a
“circle pit” where everyone would be going around in a circle
pushing and everything to the beat of the music. This area has been
known to do this as opposed to Milwaukee or Phoenix. DD put on a
spectacular show. If you do not have their CD…for God sakes get it!
This is one of the best things to come out from North America for a long
time.
9/10
Moonspell
It was a minor disappointment that hardly anyone in the crowd was
talking about Moonspell, before or after their show. I had a feeling the
crowd response wasn’t going to go as well as it had for Devil Driver.
I think it was a mistake putting a high energy band like Devil Driver
before Moonspell who is more methodical, melodic, mellow, and Gothic.
Going from Fast to slow, isn’t the best combination and it showed. The
crowd was not prepared or in the mind set for Moonspell. As Moonspell
opened up with “In and Above Man”, the crowd just looked like
“deer in the headlights”. In a way I can’t blame them. Moonspell
played well, but it was all about where there set was positioned in that
night. However, they went straight into “From Lowering Skies” and it
sounded awesome. Then, it started somewhat of a pit, but it is hard to
top Devil Driver and their type of pit. Moonspell played various songs
from “Irreligious” and “Wolf heart”. I was a little disappointed
that they didn’t play anything from “Butterfly FX”, “Darkness
and Hope”, or “Sin/Pecado”. It was to be expected that they
weren’t from “Sin” but not DAH or BFX. Some of the people I talked
to felt the same way. I would say the highlight of their show was when
they played “Everything Invaded”. Most people in the crowd must have
seen the video because when Fernando announced they were going to play
it, most people yelled and screamed.
Overall, Moonspell played an average show. Not terribly great and not
bad either. Would I see them again? Probably, at a smaller club perhaps
with better and more compatible bands.
7/10
Opeth
Before I begin, I would like to apologize. I don’t listen to Opeth as
often as I would like, so I am not familiar with all the song titles.
Everything has been building up to this moment. Opeth would come on
stage and blow everyone away. After Opeth played “Wreath”, Mikael
announced that they were going to perform songs they hadn’t performed
live before…after they played “The Drapery Falls”. Opeth played
that song so well that I personally believe that has to be one of the
best songs to hear live, out of any of the songs played in clubs,
arenas, or bars. As they came to the second chorus where Mikael holds
that one note, you could hear his voice fill up the Quest like none
other. It wouldn’t surprise me if I wasn’t the only one with goose
bumps (goose pimples) during that part of the song. Every nuance of that
song was executed with precision and passion. You could hear every note
of the bass, every strike of the drums, and the changeovers from
distortion to clean with guitar were extremely smooth. But, it was like
that the whole night! Mikael also apologized that he has a cold. He
sounded fine though it was almost comical that he would be apologizing
for something that minor, when his performance was as flawless as ever.
Opeth also played “Patterns in the Ivy”, “Bleak” (I think),
“April Ethereal”, and “A fair Judgment” those are the songs I
can distinctly remember them playing. I also recall them playing a song
or two from “Still Life” but I don’t have that album so I
couldn’t tell you which songs they played. Overall, it was a above
average performance from a band that excels %80 of the bands touring
right now in terms of stage presence and sound quality. I didn’t quite
what to expect from Opeth this time around, but it was a great show, and
as long as they tour through town, I’ll keep going to see them.
8/10
Overall it was a great evening, there wasn’t a bad band at this show.
The crowd interaction was more prevalent in this show than it was in
others. I wish all shows had this great of a line up.
Overall 8/10
Matthew Haumschild
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