### Opeth, Devildriver, Dark Tranquillity, 2006-03-13

#### 15/03/06 || Global Domination

This one was witnessed by ex-staffer Syrrok:

This show was to be the bomb-diggity. Heavy metal in full force, but not like that gay festival over in Europe. Who am I to judge though?

Wait, I am one to judge. In fact, this whole review is my judgement of the event that transpired in San Diego the other night. I am talking about a musical show I went to that involved Opeth, Devildriver, and Dark Tranquillity. Two goods and one bad going into it (can you guess the bad?), but I was willing to be persuaded. Could Dez actually not put himself on display as the tool he so comes off as? Did they perhaps write a whole new album of actual good material before the show? See! Possibilities!

You know what is not a possibility? Getting “NEVERMORE” tattoo’d on my forearm. Unfortunately this possibility became a reality for a gent standing near me. I was amazed. The ultimate brand of allegiance – for Nevermore? Is there a band that screams “ALRIGHT” more than Nevermore? And to translate that feeling of ‘alright’ into BOLD ink on your forearm, a very obvious location? I dont’ get people.

To the show. The card was laid out thusly; Dark Tranquillity, Devildriver, then Opeth.

To my surprise I hear the intro to the one Devildriver song I even cared to commit to some resemblance of memory. Unfortunately by the time the curtain opened to reveal the tough band, I already didn’t care. Devildriver’s set became background noise for my constant wondering about what it takes someone to tattoo “Nevermore” on their forearm. The show took place at the House of Blues, so naturally the sound was top o’ the tits, but the band’s material that led to the sound was weak. Weak nuggets. Weak boredom. Weak normality. For all his bracer-wearing, Dez has about the same amount of true metal spirit in him that the drive thru guy at Kentucky Fried Chicken has.

Piss break.

Oh, and why didn’t Dark Tranquillity open as billed you ask? Devildriver not only sucked musically, but also delivered the worst news of my night at that point, “ – Dark Tranquillity’s bus broke an axle on the way here. Chances are they will not be able to play tonight, but thanks for welcoming Devildriver early. Much respect.”

Much fuck you bro. Suck it, jerk-o.

So there I was fading beers as a form of coping with the fact that one of my fav bands, in one of their only San Diego appearances ever, will not be here because of a fucking bus problem. Are you kidding me? Heavy metal is stronger than buses.

Well it was it turns out! My reward for not jumping off the 2nd balcony during the Devildriver set was an abbreviated Dark Tranquillity set. It was very cool of them to attempt stuffing 4 songs into 10 minutes. Not only was it very cool, but it was also very funny. I’m sure it wasn’t as funny to them, but watching one guitar go out, and then the other, and then watching the somewhat androgynous singer pretend all was going well was the height of unintentional comedy. Regardless of all the technical difficulties, they pulled off 4 songs and proved they had true metal spirit.

Opeth taught me a lot about things. First and foremost they provided an education to all bands out there how to be yourselves. I have never witnessed a band that acted with such class and presented their craft in such a luminous way. The result of this was an actual INCREASE in the intensity of their performance. Mikael (spelling, fuck it) displayed effortless transitions in vocal range, something that needs to be witnessed to fully appreciate. The rest of the band played their parts perfectly. We all know a headbanging keyboardist doesn’t help things, but you accept it as a possibility of true emotion with the music , a bi-product of such masterfully crafted compositions perhaps.

The guys played stuff pulled out of their entire catalogue. It was something to behold. True, some Opeth songs get a bit lost in the ‘loopiness’ of a repeated riff/theme, but those are few are far between. What is plentiful and near between (totally a legit phrase by the way) were the killer songs, the awesome death vox of Mikael, and the weird stances by the bass player. All in all this was a strong example of a professional, intense, and ‘you-got-yer-money’s-worth’ set.

So in summary: Heavy metal rules!

_Note by The Lord: This is what Dark Tranquillity had to say about the short gig they performed:

“Monday’s show in San Diego turned out more than a little weird. Due to our bus breaking down on the way from San Francisco, we arrived to the venue extremely late, not knowing whether we’d be actually be allowed to play or not. Eventually it was decided that if the gear could be set up in record time, there would be room for us to play 3-4 songs.

“We regret that we couldn’t deliver a show up to our usual standards, but during the circumstances we decided that it was better to play a short punk rock style set instead of canceling altogether. We’ll make up for it next time.

“Kudos to DEVILDRIVER for agreeing to playing early. Thanks guys!”_