Opeth played at the Senator Theatre in Chico, California on May 13, 2009 on the Watershed tour. This was actually the second time I saw Opeth on this tour as I saw them at the Paramount Theater a year before in Oakland (about a month before Watershed officially came out). They opened for Dream Theater on that night and didn’t have a very long setlist so it was good to see them again, as the headliner this time.

That moment before a band hits the stage when the house lights go down, the laser lights kick on, and the intro begins is always a special one.

Opeth appear to have invested in a bunch of new laser lighting. It was almost too much at times for the size of the stage, but cool anyway. I think they had more of such lighting than even Rush.

I have dozens of decent photos from the show. I suppose I could turn Opeth into a week or two worth of daily blog entries, but I will try to control that urge and cram everything into five or fewer entries.

Mikael Åkerfeldt is the driving force behind Opeth. He is the only member still around from the outset of the band, has written most of the music, does the lead vocals, and plays lead guitar. He is also fun to listen to between songs. I would pay to see him do nothing but a stand-up comedy routine.

On the right of the above picture is Fredrik Åkesson, Opeth’s newest addition. This was about the only moment of the entire evening that he was on this side of the stage.

Usually this spot on the stage was manned by bassist Martin Mendez as shown in the above photograph.

I’ll have much more for you in the next few days including a couple of videos.

The setlist went something like this:
Heir Apparent
Ghost Of Perdition
Godhead’s Lament
Wreath
Credence
Hessian Peel
Closure
The Night and the Silent Water
The Lotus Eater
Demon of the Fall

Related posts:

1. Opeth, part 4 This guy in the crowd with one arm up and a yellow wrist band messed up a large number of my shots. He was center, front and had both...
2. Opeth, part 2 The venue in Chico (Senator Theatre) is very decent. There are seats until you get to about 20 feet from the stage. At that point there is a railing...
3. Opeth, part 3 The Opeth posts continue today with more images from the Chico show. I apologize to those of you who couldn’t care less about Opeth and promise that tomorrow will...
4. Opeth (オーペス) in Tokyo at O-East Opeth was set to hit the stage at Shibuya O-EAST at 7 p.m. Doors opened at 6 p.m., and there was no opening band. Rain had been falling hard...
5. Opeth in Shibuya tonight Tonight is the night for Opeth! Between bands at Loud Park the above Opeth ad could be seen on the giant screen. I purchased my Opeth ticket before Loud...

Posted on May 15th, 2009 under Other • Tags: metal, opeth. • RSS 2.0 feed • You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed