As I mentioned last time, O-EAST in the Shibuya area of Tokyo is an excellent venue. Nestled between about a dozen love hotels, don’t be surprised if you see Japanese business men (サラリーマン) in full suits and ties show up at weeknight shows. I saw several on this evening. They hadn’t even loosened their ties or taken off their suit coats to see Opeth. Perhaps Opeth shows should become completely formal in the future.

Getting to Shibuya was, by far, my shortest commute to see Opeth. It took me about 10 minutes on the train, followed by a 5 minute walk from the Hachiko Exit to O-EAST. Normally I have to drive all day to see Opeth. If you count the miles from my home base of Ashland, Oregon, rather than my current home in Tokyo, I have traveled over 21,400 miles to see Opeth. Of course I was already in Denmark when I went to Metaltown in Sweden, but even so, for the four Opeth shows I’ve gone to in the states, all included an overnight stay and, combined, logged more than 2,000 miles on my car.

I took one video which you can view below. It begins with Mikael talking and messing around with the crowd for the first minute and a half. The song Opeth then dives into is “Leper Affinity” off of Blackwater Park, perhaps their best CD. I apologize for the shakes during the first half of the video. The floor was vibrating. I adjusted my feet for a better foundation during the second half of the video so it looks much better. My TZ7 seems to take much better video (and pictures) when it is zoomed to the max. It has trouble focusing in low light for both photos and video when at a wider angle for some, unknown reason.

If you do not like heavy music, but still want to take a peek, then I suggest jumping in at the 5:10 mark. When it gets too heavy jump ahead to 8:50 to see the end.

Enjoy!

Posted on November 18th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: metal, opeth, reviews, Tokyo, tz7 zs3, video. Comments: None

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 all day and didn’t let up before, or after, the show. I arrived at 6 to find that they were letting people in based on a number printed on the ticket. It turns out I was number 189. I don’t know if this is the case at all small venues in Japan, but it is good to know. If you aren’t in the first 50 numbers, who grab up the best spots, you may as well show up 10 minutes before the show so you don’t have to stand and wait for an hour.

Most people in the audience had an umbrella with them throughout the show, myself included. Afterwards I thought I should have opened my umbrella when Mikael mentioned “Watershed,” but maybe the mostly non-English speaking audience wouldn’t have made the connection.

O-EAST is a fantastic venue. The stage is large for the size of the place, and everyone in the audience is within about 40 feet of the stage. The sound was incredible. I think this was the best quality sound I have ever experienced at a concert. Maybe my earplugs were just in perfectly, or something, but the music was crystal clear. There wasn’t the normal distortion of music bouncing around like there usually is at indoor shows. I wasn’t even standing near the mixing board; nor was I dead center. Even so, the mix from my position in the crowd was perfect; every instrument, and the vocals, sounded just right.

Even though I saw Opeth on this same tour back in the states this past summer, the set list was extremely different on this evening in Tokyo. Only two songs were the same. “Windowpane” was probably the last song in the world I was expecting them to begin with. “Burden,” kicking off the encore, was also a shock. Personally, I’d rather hear “Demon of the Fall” and “Baying of the Hounds” instead, but surprises are good too.

Setlist:
Windowpane
Ghost of Perdition
The Lotus Eater
White Cluster
The Leper Affinity
Reverie/Harlequin Forest
April Ethereal
Hex Omega
Burden
Rudolf Schenker impersonation
Guitar Solo
Deliverance

I have a pretty decent video of “The Leper Affinity” coming here soon.

Posted on November 17th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: metal, opeth. Comments: 4

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 Park so the Opeth show wasn’t news to me, but it was fun to see the advertisement anyway.

Purchasing concert tickets in Japan is a breeze (if you can read Japanese). Simply walk into any convenience store (we have at least a dozen within a five minute walk from our apartment), go to the ticket vending machine, type in the name of the artist, venue, or date, push a button to print your receipt, take it to the counter, and pay at the register. There are no lines to wait in, internet sites downed by everyone logging on at once, or $20 commissions to Ticketmaster like in the U.S. I was back home with an Opeth ticket in my hand less than 10 minutes after they went on sale.

The above picture is of the flyer for tonight’s gig that I received at Loud Park. The CD on the left I received at Loud Park for filling out a one-page survey (in Japanese) for Arch Enemy. Unfortunately, there is a guy talking (in Japanese of course) between the songs. He is interesting to listen to once, but I have no desire to play the CD a second time with the thought of having to hear him again in order to listen to the Arch Enemy tunes.

Arch Enemy, by the way, is using my photos on their website. It would have been nice had they asked first or at least linked back to the source. Better yet, they could offer me a photographer’s pass to the next gig they do near my location so I can take photos from less than a mile away. In fact, I will send Arch Enemy, or any other band, all of the photos and video I have of them (63 pics and video in the case of Arch Enemy) in their original, high-resolution, not-yet-resized-for-the-internet format with rights to do whatever they like with them for nothing more than a photographer’s press pass to one of their future shows I can attend. And I will give them, free of charge, all of the images and video I take at that show as well.

Posted on November 17th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: loudpark, metal, opeth, Tokyo. Comments: None

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 arms up high most of the night.

A few songs I was a bit surprised that didn’t make it into the setlist were Deliverance, Baying of the Hounds, and The Drapery Falls–all three of which Opeth played the three previous times I have seen them. I was really happy they did Demon of the Fall. The full setlist is in my prior entry.

Opeth members took a deep bow after the photo below. I have a picture of the deep bow too, but you can’t even see the band members in it as they bowed so low they were below the crowd.

At long last, I present for you the full video for The Lotus Eater from the Watershed CD. There are a couple of things worth mentioning before viewing.

The first is that the LX3 can take great video (even in poor lighting conditions by someone who is very tired and in a state of constant jostlement by those around him). I seriously doubt there is a camera, that can be easily brought into concerts, that can take better photographs and video. Be sure to set the LX3 to HD mode and 16:9 viewing. Also, don’t be afraid to zoom into the digital mode on an LX3. I believe the non-digital mode only goes to 2.5X. The video below is at about 5X and the results are pretty good. Since you can’t change the zoom once the video begins be sure to get to 5X (or something closer to the maximum of 10X if you are farther away) before starting the recording.

The second thing to note is Per Wiberg, the keyboardist, at around minute 3. He moves his microphone out of the way to prepare to headbang which I find very amusing.

Enjoy!

Posted on May 18th, 2009 under Other. Tags: metal, opeth, video. Comments: 1