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2003-07-18 10:53:24 ET I had my first customer yesterday. She either needs a new hard drive or a re-format of her current one. I'll make another visit monday. Later in the day, I made my arrival at irving plaza where I met Peter and Mikael of Opeth. They were outside saying hi to fans until they had to go in and do their sound check. I was pretty nervous about meeting them but I'm glad that I had the chance say hi and tell them how much I enjoy all their music! They seemed pretty nervous about playing last night. Their performance was only to include their softer style of music. Opeth has a reputation in the death metal scene but thats not the style of music they played last night. Before Matt showed up at 6:00PM, I ended up talking to two fellow staten island dudes. We were pretty close towards the front of the line and I am very thankful that they saved the sacred place as me and Matt got a bit to eat. It was a co-headline show between Porcupine Tree and Opeth. Porcupine Tree started off 45 minutes after the doors opened. They were more amazing than I ever expected, real amazing! Steven Wilson is an amazing singer and guitarist. The band generally threw on one of the best shows I've ever seen. Their bass player played a fretless bass thoughout most of the show. Opeth followed, with the crowd gloriously awaiting them. They started off with Windowpane, the first track off their latest work, Damnation. From there, they continued to perform that whole album and then some great surprises. Me and Matt had a nice cozy spot towards the front of the crowd. Between songs, some freaks would ask them to play songs like "When" or any "death metal like" song. I myself felt pretty lucky to watch them play anything. Mikael would tell the crowd how him and the guys were really looking foward to getting piss-drunk that day/nite. The first time they expressed that urge made sense but the second and third time was redundantly overstated. It almost seemed like they didn't want to be there. Some things the crowd said seemed to ruin the ideal scene which was to be expected. One guy said "This is Nickleback bullshit" during Mikaels solo performance at the beginning of Benighted. That really pissed many people off including myself thus almost creating a bad scene. I really felt bad for the performer but all I could do about that was enjoy the music and enjoy I did! Benighted is one my most favorite songs. They even played Face of Melinda from "Still Life" for which I was delightfully surprise. Their last song was a Deep Purple cover called Soldier of Fortune which was claimed to be the greatest balled ever. I certinley enjoyed it. The whole show was generally like sitting at a campfire with Opeth. Dispite some disruptions, the scene was generally really nice and mellow. It was pretty intimate setting between the audience and the performers. It was fun watching Martin Mendez play his bass. I just enjoyed watching him get into the groove of each song. Martin Lopez is a phoenomnal drummer hitting each note precisely. The whole show was great and meeting Peter and Mikael was a great treat! Peter is one tall m0-f0 by the way! As the show ended and everyone from the audience clambered to shake their hands, I was able to yell out "You guys are fucking amazing!" So, they'll always remember the dude in the Rush shirt! I didn't wait for them outside after the show to see them again. Me and Matt encountered Carmine from Exit To Eternity (local Brooklyn band) as well as others. It was real fun meeting them. We all fucked off for a bit until me and Matt decided to split off to our respective hovels. I caught the 2:30 boat where I found those two staten island dudes. All in all, a 5 star evening, plus 5 more for metal! I might even make it for the Overkill show tomorrow night at lamours. By the way, there were mad chix at the show! I was standing next to this cute Puerto Rican girl. It took me awhile to get her attention. I tried staring at her and hoping she would notice but she didn't. She seemed pretty occupied waiting for Opeth to come on up, I don't blame her. I talked to her friend alot about the stuff we both listen to o. The cute one told me she got into Opeth from the Blackwater Park album and that one of her favorite tracks is "The Drapery Falls" |
