Swedish prog-metal/rock legends OPETH will make their awaited return to North America in 2020 for a winter tour with labelmates GRAVEYARD. This will be the band’s first tour of the U.S.A. and Canada in support of their newly released, critically praised album “In Cauda Venenum” that is available now via Moderbolaget / Nuclear Blast. The dates include two nights at the legendary Apollo Theater in New York and performances at the renowned Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and at the famed Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.
Tickets go on sale on Friday, October 4 at 10:00 a.m. local time.
OPETH’s chief songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt comments on the tour: “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!”
Tour dates (GRAVEYARD main support on all dates except *):
Feb. 13 – Cleveland, OH – The Agora Ballroom
Feb. 14 – Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
Feb. 15 – Detroit, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
Feb. 17 – Worcester, MA – Palladium
Feb. 18 – Montreal, QC – Mtelus
Feb. 19 – Toronto, ON – Rebel
Feb. 21 – New York, NY – Apollo Theater
Feb. 22 – New York, NY – Apollo Theater
Feb. 23 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
Feb. 25 – Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
Feb. 26 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium*
Feb. 28 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
Feb. 29 – Dallas, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Mar. 01 – Kansas City, MO – Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland*
Mar. 02 – Denver, CO – The Mission Ballroom
Mar. 04 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
“In Cauda Venenum” was released on September 27. Recorded last year at Stockholm’s Park Studios, the effort was made available in two versions, in both Swedish and English languages.
Regarding the decision to release “In Cauda Venenum” in Swedish, Åkerfeldt told Revolver: “Doing it in Swedish was just an idea that popped into my head, like, ‘Maybe I should fry my egg in the morning instead of boiling it.’ It wasn’t any deeper than that. And I figured the music climate has changed so much, does it really matter which language it’s in? That was it. And it didn’t have me writing more lyrics — it just had me writing more music. And the music didn’t sound more Swedish or anything like that. But it was a gateway that opened, and it was fun.
Mikael added that he is “not regretting” the fact that “In Cauda Venenum” was also recorded in English. “A lot of people [in the U.S.] are saying they only listened to the English version,” he said. “So I was proven right, in a way. I can say a thousand times that the Swedish version is the original version, but it’s up to people to choose. I can just hope that they check out both versions. But I do think the Swedish version is slightly better — only because it was first. It’s more innocent. With the English version, regardless of what you think about it, that’s me trying to copy a vocal line I had done in another language. So it’s less exciting to me.”
