The Symphony Hall, as is noted more than once tonight, is a very, very nice venue. It is, though, given its all-seated nature, a weird place to watch Grand Magus.
They are playing “Like The Oar Strikes The Water,” and you look around the seats to see row after row of people headbanging while sitting down.
It’s all a far cry from where they last played here—literally just before the pandemic, a couple of miles away in a “proper” metal venue.
What Grand Magus do, to their very core, is proper metal. And they are brilliant at it.
Their 40-minute set is packed with everything you’d want—fists-in-the-air fun like “Skybound” or “Steel Versus Steel” (surely the best song that Saxon never wrote)—all played by a band that looks like they love it just as much as you do.
The title track of last year’s Sunraven album is built on the near-thrash drumming of Ludwig Witt (“We’ve been through plenty of drummers; it’s called being a metal band,” jokes Janne “JB” Christoffersson), but “Untamed” crushes too.
They end with their anthem “Hammer Of The North”—the type of thing that would (and does) sound awesome at a festival. And when the crowd joins in, just for a minute, the Symphony Hall is Bloodstock in the summer.
All the proof you need that great metal is great anywhere—but especially a couple of miles from where it began. Grand Magus carry on the spirit better than most.
About halfway through this mammoth show, Opeth play “Häxprocess.” Mikael Åkerfeldt reckons he loves playing the track but admits it’s “a hard listen for you guys.”
In saying that—to be truthful—he’s summed up MV’s feelings on Opeth full stop. There are certain bands I just don’t “get,” and these are top of the list.
Before I get the angry socials—I’ve paid for my ticket tonight. I love Grand Magus, as I’ve made clear, and I want to like Opeth. I love prog rock. I love metal. And I always hope that tonight will be the night with them.
It never is.
They are impressively immersive, and the light show is as stunning as the music. But I can never find the heart or the warmth.
They release “Last Will And Testament,” and it’s as different from the Heritage stuff as can be. “§1” is labyrinthine, and for my money, “The Leper Affinity” from Blackwater Park is a highlight.
“§7” brings out their prog side superbly, and given that their old label boss Lee Dorian is here tonight, there’s a dip back to their very early days for “In My Time Of Need.”
Åkerfeldt has joked a few times on stage that the new stuff is incredibly difficult to play, and “§3” is quite the trip—heavy as hell.
The chatty frontman unleashes his inner David Coverdale with “Here’s a song for ya” before “Ghost Of Perdition.”
Opeth really are wonderful musicians, and there are a lot more laughs than you’d imagine—like the run-through of Napalm Death’s “You Suffer” before the most gentle, accessible moment on …Testament, as “A Story Never Told” closes the set just as it does the album. It could be a Yes track. It suits them. Special mention too for Fredrik Åkesson, whose solo reach elevates it.
The groove—and Opeth are not a groovy band—of “Sorceress” sees people standing for the first time, while “Deliverance” perhaps underlines their longevity. Nearly a quarter of a century since it came out, it is dismissed as “a couple of riffs and shit” by the singer, yet it nearly starts a moshpit in an all-seated venue.
For 30 years, Opeth has enthralled so many. And look, I’d never criticise a band—and most assuredly never ever one as talented as this—when the fact is that they are superb at what they do.
As of yet, though, I don’t “get” it.
Indeed, I’d imagine that for many, this would be close to their gig of the year.
For MV? Grand Magus, eh? What a band.
