Anathema vs Opeth

On Saturday night Mrs B and I went to Portsmouth to see Opeth and Anathema and had a blast! Actually, the idea was to go and see Anathema who just happened to be supporting Opeth and they did not disappoint. It was the first time we'd seen them live and they were tight, powerful and even more hypnotic than they are on their albums - it was such a shame that their set was all over so quickly. We hung around for Opeth, feeling very out of place in a sea of black t-shirts, black jackets and black jeans and we only really expected to watch a song or two and then head for the exits. Obviously, they're known for being heavier than a ten ton heavy thing and have a sort of doom-and-gloom-death-metal sort of image (those who like doom-and-gloom-death-metal will no doubt object) but I wanted to check them out because I'm such a fan of the Storm Corrosion album, featuring Opeth main-man Mikael Akerfeldt along with Steven Wilson. And they were an absolute revelation - quite superb in every department. Akerfeldt was such a good front man - he had us in stitches with his banter in-between songs - while Martin Axenrot was just amazing on drums. So a lovely slice of serendipity there to go with a great performance from Anathema.