The Ghost Reveries World Tour North America Showplace Theatre Buffalo, NY |
As soon as I arrived at the venue, the doors
had yet to be opened and there was already a line 2 blocks long or
more (literally!!)! It actually took about an hour of waiting before
everyone started packing inside. Everyone was cool, though. Of the
fans, I'd say most were there to see Opeth. However, a good portion
of them were very much aware of and excited to see Into Eternity and
Nevermore play too! There were no local bands to kick things off.
The first band was Into Eternity, then Nevermore, then Opeth. So lets
see..... judging by the caliber of bands presented here, I must say--
this was a damn good show. As far as the sound goes, the sound tech
did an amazing job. Of the 3 bands, I would say Into Eternity was
the most pleasing turnout regardless of Nevermore’s frantic
thrash grandeur and Opeth’s broad musical atmosphere. Reason
being.... Into Eternity was up for the challenge! They were by far, the more technical of the 3 bands. Their rhythms could be most other bands' solos and their solos were Malmsteen-esque. By utilizing 3 different vocalist styles with simultaneous melody at most times (both clean and death vox) and performing their songs with little error (granted Rob’s broken string, but shit happens and never leaked into set-back in the band’s overall showing), I believe Into Eternity will heed higher attention in the metal world as soon as the tour ends. The Canadian quintet played an equal amount of songs from each of their 3 albums and just simply ran circles around them! They outdid themselves! A little over a half-hour set... maybe close to 45 minutes. Nevermore, the follow-up to Into Eternity, was flawless in their turn through the order as well. Warrel & co. certainly had grips on all of their preferred songs and fed off the crowd equally as they always do. The biggest hit with the crowd was probably "Enemies of Reality" from that very album. Astonishing feed from the band! It felt as if you were listening to them from their CD's! All of the leads from Jeff & Steve in their songs (esp. Enemies...) were sparkling and Warrel’s vocals rarely twitched a note. The drums & the bass chords were super-tight & often more bombastic to the norm. As opposed to Into Eternity, Nevermore really never had the crowd moshing as much as they normally do. They were outstanding in performance, but I suppose because they didn't play as long either (time restraints vs. Opeth) would be a key. Plus, no "I, Voyager"? Oh well, maybe next time! Still a good turn-out and certainly, a lot of fun. About 45 minutes to an hour set. Opeth, the headliner, sounded amazing as usual.... with or without a good sound tech. That may be because they didn't really have their guitar medleys present tonight, so I really cannot say. Nothing was performed from their 1st two albums. Let's not get any wrong ideas here, Opeth were nothing short of stellar in delivering their selected hymns for the evening! Of the previous 5 or 6 times I have seen them, I never heard them play "When" or "Face of Melinda". They were outstanding! Mike's dual vocal styles were absolutely amazing in contrast as was his & Peter's guitar scales, Mr. Mendez's jazz grooves & hair-swaying had plenty of luster, Per on the newfound keyboards brought out a lot of atmosphere (esp. improved their live setting!) on the newer songs in particular, and who oh- who is this on the drum kit? It didn't appear to be Martin Lopez (perhaps, the drum tech?), so whenever I find out who this was we'll have it on the Fanatix page! Regardless, he did a great job with the songs. Which may lead to why nothing was played off of the first couple of albums. I suppose, too, considering Opeth’s songs are like 10 minutes a piece, it is difficult to play everything. An overall great performance with "Deliverance" and "Demon of the Fall" being the big crowd pleasers. Well over an hour set, maybe an hour and a half. Rating: 90 Reviewed By: Thomas Mitchell |
