Opeth’s The Last WILL And TESTAMENT European Tour 2025
Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, February 23rd 2025
By Mónica Moreira
Only 15 minutes after doors opened, with a lot of people still queuing outside the venue, the Swedish trio Grand Magus entered the stage and offered the audience a tight heavy metal performance, full of powerful riffs and good energy. The setlist was short, as expected, but covered the band’s work well. “Steel Versus Steel” and “Hammer of the North” could not be left out. Fans sang along.
By the time Grand Magus finished their set, we could feel in the air that The Ancienne Belgique was fully packed. It was time for my 8th Opeth show.
The tour began on February 9th, in Finland, and almost every show sold out very quickly, giving Opeth plenty of opportunities to test the new material live and also observe the crowds’ reactions.
“The Last WILL And TESTAMENT” was released in November 2024, received many compliments and made old school fans rejoice about the return of Mikael Åkerfeldt to growls after 16 years. I was certainly ready to see how the album works and sounds live. My verdict: very well!
Opeth’s extensive discography was well represented in Brussels’ setlist, pleasing, overall, old and new school followers. From the new record, to this part of the tour, at least, the band chose to present half the songs: “§1” (opening the set), “§3”, “§7” and “A Story Never Told” (last song before the encore).
“Master’s Apprentices” was one of the early highlights of the night, especially for those who were eager to headbang. “The Night and the Silent Water” was also received with enthusiasm.
“Sorceress” – one of my favorites live – was left to the encore and “Deliverance” closed the night.
There was also time to sing Joakim Svalberg an Happy (belated) Birthday and to Åkerfeldt to tease the crowd with some chords of “Windowpane” after a fan request, with Martin Mendez holding his guitar chords for a few seconds, as a capo.
We all know that Åkerfeldt takes up a lot of attention during the show with his humorous moments and guitar mastery, and we love him for that, but we must also praise the other musicians in the band, Martin Mendez, Joakim Svalberg, Fredrik Åkesson (always a pleasure for me to watch him play solos) and Waltteri Väyrynen, who seems completely at home on stage among the guys, after these last two years behind the drum kit.
Despite Åkerfeldt’s jokes about feeling “old” and Opeth being a band of “middle aged men”, make no mistake, the progressive metal quintet is in perfect shape.
The band’s plans for the rest of the year? Well, after some shows in South America in April/May, Opeth’s Summer will be filled with festivals scattered all over Europe, followed by a second leg of the European Tour (with special guests to be announced) in September/October. After that, a New Zealand and Australia tour is scheduled for November, so, plenty of chances to see our beloved swedes!
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