Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt says he prefers venues with a bit of history over many of the “sterile new ones.”
The frontman brings the band to the UK for a one-off show at the London Palladium on October 18 next year. The gig will see Opeth play their 2005 album Ghost Reveries in full as part of the band’s 25th anniversary celebrations and the album’s 10th anniversary.
And in 2010 they performed a landmark gig at London’s Royal Albert Hall where they played their Blackwater Park album in its entirety to mark its 10th anniversary.
Akerfeldt says Opeth have no problem performing wherever they are asked to, but he’d rather play the likes of the Palladium and Royal Albert Hall if he had the choice.
He tells Roadrunner: “If you’re gonna put it to extremes, if you’re playing in a Mexican restaurant, which we have, with the menus and stuff and people eating tacos while watching the show, it probably generates a different atmosphere.
“The worst types of venues for me are, actually, the sterile new ones. They might sound good and stuff like that, but it feels like a warehouse. I’m not gonna say I don’t enjoy playing those places — it’s alright — but I prefer places with a bit of history.”
Opeth released 11th album Pale Communion this year.
