Yes! Opeth have announced their return to North America for early next year in support of their new album In Cauda Venenum. Graveyard will be joining them for support for the entire trek, which kicks off on February 13th in Cleveland, OH. This marks the first time-ever these Swedish prog metal titans to perform at the legendary Apollo Theater in New York for two nights on February 21st and 22nd. Tickets go on sale this Friday (4th) at 10 AM local time.
Opeth mastermind Mikael Åkerfeldt commented:
“Well, after having had the ”In Cauda Venenum” LP released we’re set to start touring in support of it. Right now, I’m at home practicing. Learning new songs and re-learning older songs. It’s funny how our music lies dormant in the muscle memory. There are songs I haven’t played for years, and there still there somehow. I put together the skeleton of a setlist and looking at it there’s some niceties in there. I hope. Hard to tell really. Touring in North America is always a treat. We all collectively look forward to it. Hope you are too!”
We recently spoke to Åkerfeldt and asked what the turning point was to move away from death metal:
“Yeah, I didn’t want to be a puppet in a fucking wheel that we had designed and we’re going to be stuck in there. I wanted to keep that freedom that I do whatever I want, because that’s why I started with music, to write the music that I liked. I was done with Watershed and then I kind of looked down elsewhere. And by doing that I got closer to the music that I was actually listening to in my private time, and it was glorious to me. It was a big, big relief for me that I could write music that was still relevant to me, if you know what I mean. And I achieved that by changing a few things, and to me it still sounded like Opeth. Now it’s how many years later, we’re still here. People talk about our change. For me, that was a happy moment.”
Tour Dates:
02/13 Cleveland, OH @ The Agora Ballroom
02/14 Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
02/15 Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
02/17 Worcester, MA @ Palladium
02/18 Montreal, QC @ Mtelus
02/19 Toronto, ON @ Rebel
02/21 New York, NY @ Apollo Theater
02/22 New York, NY @ Apollo Theater
02/23 Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
02/25 Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
02/26 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium*
02/28 Houston, TX @ House of Blues
02/29 Dallas, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
03/01 Kansas City, MO @ Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland*
03/02 Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom
03/04 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
