OPETH // Bringing an ‘Evening of Sorcery’ to the Sydney Opera House

Swedish prog legends Opeth are playing a one off special ‘Evening of Sorcery’ at the Sydney Opera House next February.

This is only one of three exclusive performances worldwide: the other two scheduled at Wembley Arena in London and Radio City Music Hall in New York. Promoters and the band stress these are once-in-a-lifetime shows. The Sydney show will take place on Monday, 6th February 2017.

The shows will include two sets, as front man Mikael Åkerfeldt explains in a statement:

“The first set will consist of songs exclusively from the Deliverance/Damnation records, that was just celebrated with a re-release combo package by the newly revived Music For Nations label. We’ll pull out songs from our back catalogue and mix it up with newer stuff during the second set. So it’s a little bit of a celebration indeed! We’ll only play this setlist three times on the whole world tour, so if you miss it, you’ll have missed it. Of course all other shows will be treated with the same amount of respect and we’ll chisel out a nice diverse set list spanning over our entire career for every single show during the tours. We very much hope to see you there!”

Their new album, Sorceress, is available for pre-order ahead of a 30th September release.

Opera House registration is open now, with a registrant’s pre-sale commencing on Tuesday, 23rd of August.

A Ticketek pre-sale will go live on Thursday 25th of August at 9am AEST.

Tickets for the general public go on sale Friday 26th of August.

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OPETH DREAM SETLIST

Opeth is touring some of the world’s finest and iconic venues and it’s a testament to their longevity and success. Not many prog or metal (yes, debatable nowadays) are afforded such lavish halls to ply their tunes. So here’s a selection of the finest, snootiest Opeth songs befitting such an occasion. (Minus Damnation/Deliverance, natch.)

Forest of October

It’s a special occasion, so why not go back to where it all began? Forest of October, the first track on the first album. Diehards will sing along with eyes moistened – and isn’t that kind of the point?

Serenity Painted Death

The Opeth song that proved they could do everything. Mellow stuff, whacked out jazz fusion, lilting acoustic passages … everything. After hearing it, you either chucked your guitar in the bin … or played until your fingers bled.

The Amen Corner/Demon of the Fall

You kinda need to play these back to back. Then again, you have to play the whole album in succession. Both pivot Opeth as masters of epic metal, no Vikings or dragon quests required.

The Grand Conjuration

Dah-da-DUN, da-da-DUN, Dah-da-DUN, doo doo dooooo … one of Opeth’s most recognised and lauded riffs. So many meat on that bone, you could headbang for ten minutes straight with it. Oh that’s right, you can! Watch as ushers recoil in horror at your slovenly hair windmilling about.

Bleak

The most metal sounding of all their metal tracks. (Kinda sad we have to say that, right?) Just the opening gives us goosebumps; monstrous riffs bearing down like birds of prey on the attack. You’ll be forgiven if you drop your beer.

Last In Line

This isn’t an Opeth song. It’s a Dio song. Mikael played a few bars in a little session of ‘guess the riff’ way back in ’06 during their Ghost Reveries tour. Every single one of us (barring the n00bs who didn’t know who Dio was) wished he kept going. Maybe now’s our chance?