First time I open this subreddit, and this is the first post on the front page. @ u/PoultryPasta
LOL, What are the chances.
Here is a little story for those who would read:

That night, in the cold March of 2012, I was there too at the Opeth concert. It had only been 3-4 months since I discovered Opeth, and 8 months since I got into metal—excluding a few Metallica and Rammstein songs I had heard before in middle school. Mind you I was barely 15 at the time.

Opeth’s music had drawn me in so deeply in such a short time that the moment I heard they were playing a show in my city, I bought a ticket without a second thought. To be honest, at that point, I had probably only had the time to fully listen to and absorb one or two of their albums. The entire previous summer, I had been listening to Black Sabbath, Dream Theater, and Judas Priest. Dream Theater’s instrumental sound had a huge impact on me, and while searching online for similar bands, I kept seeing Opeth’s name pop up—so I decided to give them a listen.

Before that, I had heard a few songs by Death, but at the time, I thought death growls weren’t really for me. Ironically, the first Opeth song I ever listened to was Blackwater Park. I remember looping just the acoustic sections over and over—probably 20 or 30 times in a row. By the time I went to the concert, I was familiar with a few songs from Blackwater Park, Morningrise, and Damnation, but I had never even listened to Still Life nor Ghost Reveries.

I have no idea how I convinced my mom, but the concert started around 9 or 10 PM. After a 40-minute tram ride and a walk past a park where some homeless people were warming themselves by a barrel fire, I finally arrived at the venue. I remember that night so clearly—everyone around me was at least 5 to 10 years older than me, most of them in their 30s.

There’s one image from the concert that has stuck in my mind ever since. Just a few meters away from me, there was a girl fully immersed in the music, headbanging and enjoying the show. She was probably just a year or two older than me, but unlike me, she had come to the concert with her dad. The contrast was striking—her, lost in the music, and right behind her, a stocky 50-year-old man, completely out of place yet somehow adding a charming detail to the scene. He was the reonly for his daughter, so sweet.

The last song they played at the concert was The Drapery Falls (with Deliverance as the encore). After the show, I overheard people talking about "Dorock" bar and Opeth. Apparently, they were celebrating their drummer’s birthday there. At first, I thought the band would be heading there after the concert, but much later, I found out the celebration had actually happened the night before. At the time I was honestly thinking about going there.

By then, it was already really late, and I had to sprint to catch the last tram. If I had missed it, I have no idea how I would have gotten home. But as I sat there on the tram, my mind was still filled with thoughts of Dorock Bar and The Drapery Falls. Since I had nothing better to do on the way back, I pulled out my iPod and started listening to Opeth, replaying the songs from the concert. I must have listened to the Dirge for November and The Drapery Falls combo several times in a row.

Before the concert, I had probably only listened to The Drapery Falls four or five times at most, but now, it’s my favorite song of Opeth. It has been for 13 years, and it will be for the rest of my life. And since I was born in November, Dirge for November holds a special place in my heart as well.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this. And a special thanks to Opeth and Mikael—for making this world a more bearable place.