Went to the Scout Bar in San Antonio last night to see the mighty Opeth.

This is the second time I’ve seen them live. I saw them some months ago when they came through Austin doing initial support for their Watershed album. Went with W and K. W is a major Opeth fan; last night was I believe the 7th time he’s seen them live.

The show was great. Opening act was a Norwegian metal band called Enslaved. Never heard of them before. They’re not quite my thing (I’m not that into death metal). But the music had a groove at times and really wasn’t all that bad. I’ve certainly dealt with crappier opening acts. I doubt I’ll go buy their album, again mainly because I’m not that much of a death metal fan, but they weren’t that bad.

Opeth hit the stage for 2 hours of music. The band was tight. Mikael is an interesting front-man to me. He’s calm, but he’s not. He’s witty, but mellow. He plays off the crowd, but knows when to ignore then. He’s peaceful, but yet writes music like this. Just an interesting cat, no doubt. W was commenting on how he believes Mike has some of the best stage raps of any front man.

Set list:

1. Heir Apparent
2. Ghost of Perdition
3. Godhead’s Lament
4. Wreath
5. Karma
6. Hessian Peel
7. Closure
8. The Night and the Silent Water
9. The Lotus Eater
10. Demon of the Fall (encore)

Good set list. Flowed very nicely. Of course, there was bits of teasing and noodling between some songs. During Closure there was an extended jam and they went into some riff which we all recognized but couldn’t place. I think it was a Jimi Hendrix riff, very familiar.

One funny side note. When we were in line to get into the club at the Austin show some months ago, there were a couple of goth-chicks in the line in front of us. We spoke with them, very cool chicks. So who should wind up being in front of us in the line to get into this club? The very same two chicks. 🙂  It was easy to recognize one of them, by her tattoos. Nice girls. I’m sure we’ll run into them again.

Updated: Recounting the evening with the family over breakfast I remembered something.

Smoking. Austin is a “clean-air city” so you can’t smoke in bars and most other public buildings. Apparently San Antonio is not this way. Walked into the club and the smell of cigarette smoke was everywhere. I haven’t smoke a cigarette in about 10 years. That last time I stopped was truly the last time I stopped because since that point cigarettes have been physically revolting to me. While I chose to stop smoking, the fact my body is repulsed by the smell of cigarettes was not a choice and I can’t really explain how that came about. It’s interesting tho that when I’m in a situation like a club seeing a show, my body can put up with it. I couldn’t take many deep breaths last night, but I could deal with it. While I apparently prefer the “cleaner air” of Austin, I also don’t like how it is a mandate. If you don’t want to suck up smoke, don’t go to places where there will be smoking. I grant there will be smoking at a club; if it bothered me so much, I wouldn’t go. W said it best when he smelled the smoke: “Ah, the smell of freedom.”