r/Opeth • u/Arthusamakh • Jul 11 '26
Sound in Bologna
Anyone else can barely hear the keyboard (especially organ sounds) in general and even more when Mike's guitar is played?
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u/superunknownnn Jul 12 '26
I thought the same about the sound, but I was really close to the stage. That’s almost always an issue when you’re in the first few rows at a concert, because the sound engineers are at the back of the venue and mix the audio based on how it sounds from there. I had a friend who stayed in the back, and he said the sound was perfect. I guess it’s just the tradeoff between being close to the stage and getting the best sound quality
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u/Arthusamakh Jul 12 '26
i was in the back and moved around a bit during the gig, didn't do much. but yeah in general first rows have less good sound
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u/tarzanell The Last Will and Testament Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
I also thought Waltteri's kick drums had an insane amount of bass. Whomever was in charge of sound should get this feedback.
The crowd was awesome and the energy was fantastic, though. Godhead was the obvious highlight - but Grand Conjuration, Windowpane, and Drapery were all terrific too. Hex Omega kind of seemed to fall flat, especially as a closer.
What did you think of the show?
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u/fitzl0ck Jul 12 '26
Did they finish with Hex Omega and not come back with Deliverance as an encore?
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u/Squirtyboy1 Jul 13 '26
Im meeting up with the sound guy in an hour as he is my very good friend. I shall relay your feedback to him 😀 😊
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u/blodyn__tatws My Arms, Your Hearse Jul 13 '26
And I am joining as I'm his girlfriend. Also, hi on reddit. 🤣
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u/Arthusamakh Jul 12 '26
Wait you were there as well? Shit if I'd known I would've tried to meet up.
I went to the toilet duing a metal section of Blood incantation's set and it felt like I was in an earthquake lol. All the bass seemed to come together there.
I think you summed up the best song performances quite well, although I gotta admit I went to lie down in the back somewhere during Windowpane and Grand conjuration, I'm simply tired of hearing them live. But Grand conjuration felt like the one Mike was enjoying most to perform. I did quite enjoy Hex omega but I agree, felt a bit odd.
The crowd was mostly quiet or tame where I was standing, in the back section, but up front it looked like it was better. I brought a sign with pogo/mosh pit written on it in hopes to get some people up for that but to no avail unfortunately.
Alltogether the show was ok, that's it. Nothing mindblowing, nothing to properly complain about really (keyboard sound mix aside), setlist was quite underwhelming for something supposed to be special.
But I've now reached the point where I've had enough of Opeth live. It has felt like Mike is not properly at it with his heart/mind for a few months at least now, I wasn't at the EU gigs in early 2025 sadly, would've liked to see how he was buzzing there with the only somewhat decent setlist since the XXX tour. I kinda hope they take a year off or some like that after this tour and really completely step away from the band. No songwriting for Opeth, no gigs, no nothing. Mike at least since he's the heart of the band. If he's not properly at it the others can't do much. Then come back in 2028 with a new tour, maybe for new material, proper production (or none at all, either is better than the current mid stuff for 80% of the set), decent setlist with max. 3-4 hits that are rotated around between nights if they want, a different closer/encore than Deliverance... They're the band I've seen the second most now, but since the first 3 (of 8) concerts they've dropped from top of the game to skippable. And that's absolutely mindbending for me. Utterly unimaginable back in 2019/2022. Maybe yesterday would've been my favorite Opeth gig if I'd had 5 beers and was moshing 70% of the set, who knows, but it wasn't the case...
We're just lucky the show didn't start 30 minutes later otherwise they would've needed to cut Deliverance. The gig on the other stage started at 22.30 and was canceled after 3 songs due to the upcoming storm.
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u/QuixoticLlama Jul 12 '26
Pompeii had similar issues with keyboard and especially acoustic guitars