“When you play live, you want people to be happy. F**k my integrity”: Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt on performing what fans want during shows
Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt is happy to let artistic integrity take a backseat during live shows as he much prefers that fans leave the venue “feeling entertained”.
As the Swedish metal band’s primary songwriter and guitarist, Åkerfeldt argues that live shows are all about giving the fans what they want to hear. In fact, he finds it “boring” when bands play their new albums in full during concerts — something Opeth will certainly not be doing on their upcoming tour.
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Asked if the members intend to play their new album The Last Will and Testament in its entirety to preserve the concept as a whole, Åkerfeldt tells METALXS, “I think it’s boring.”
“I don’t want to see shows where the band plays the whole – if you don’t count, say, The Wall or something like that. I want people to leave our shows feeling entertained. And this is a new thing for me.”
“I went like, ‘My integrity all the way – I’m never going to compromise my integrity.’ But then I realised it doesn’t matter,” says Åkerfeldt of his evolving perspective on live performances. “When you play live, you want people to be happy. Fuck my integrity.”
He adds that most fans have a song they feel a special connection to, and that playing them won’t diminish the albums that are already released.
“The records, they’re still there,” he explains. “But when you play a show, you want people to hear a song that they fell in love with when they were young, or something happened – they have stories with this song, that era of the band, or whatever.”
“So if we do a thing like play the whole album, it’s going to be a select performance, maybe, but [in general] we’re just going to play a couple of songs.”
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