OPETH
Joakim Svalberg shines.
ANNE-MARIE FORKER
VENUE SENTRUM SCENE, OSLO, NORWAY
DATE 12/02/2025
It’s a bitterly cold night in Oslo as Swedes Opeth visit their Scandinavian neighbours to warm everyone up in a packed, sold-out venue, Sentrum Scene. It’s been less than a year since the band’s previous visit to the city, at last summer’s Tons Of Rock festival, but since they’ve not yet played new material from their recent album, The Last Will And Testament live here the anticipation among the crowd is palpable.
The set begins where every story should, with §1, and the audience’s curiosity about how the new material will sound live is immediately satisfied. Alternating between falsetto and growling without any difficulty, Mikael Åkerfeldt’s vocals are flawless. He’s also in characteristically jovial form, mischievously calling Oslo by the name of another Norwegian city: “Good evening, Stavanger… OK, not that, what should I call you? The Prog Collective?”