Having previously asking Devin Townsend, Between the Buried and Me, Clutch, and Periphery about their dream tour and setlist, the only fitting next band to talk to would be… *drum roll* … Opeth!
We recently spoke to the one and only, very talented Fredrik Åkesson about which bands he'd like to tour with and what songs from each LP would be included on the setlist. You can view the guitarist's answers below.
Opeth has toured with so many amazing bands over the years. Is there anyone you have not yet toured with that you want to?
It’d be awesome to tour with one of the greats like Metallica. We had the opportunity to open up for Iron Maiden once and Black Sabbath once. You can’t really top that for me. It would also be really cool to tour with a band like Rush, but they never have openers.
And is there any band that you already have toured alongside that you’d really like to again?
Yeah, we're friends with the guys in Entombed. We’ve toured with High on Fire. I wouldn’t mind touring again with Mastodon as well.
If you had to pick only one song from each album for a show's setlist, which tracks would they be?
- Orchid – “Under the Weeping Moon”
- Morningrise – “Black Rose Immortal” because it is the longest Opeth song ever. There’s always one guy in the crowd screaming for that one.
- My Arms, Your Hearse – I’d have to pick “Demon of the Fall.” I think it is an Opeth classic and it’s something we usually play live. I have a lot of favorites off that record though like “Karma.”
- Still Life – “The Moor.” I love that song. It’s a great track. It is very fun to play live and brings a lot of energy. There are a lot of sections and dynamics that make it difficult to play live though.
- Blackwater Park – My favorite is actually the title track. It’s kind of rare for Opeth because it is a 4/4 beat.
- Deliverance – I have a lot of favorites there, but I gotta pick the title track again. It’s a very important song for Opeth and we always need to have it in the setlist. It’s a great song to end with too. I think it is one of my favorite albums from the band.
- Damnation – We’ve been playing “To Rid the Disease” lately and I think that would be my favorite. The chord progressions are a bit brilliant on that one.
- Ghost Reveries – I have a lot of favorites once again, but I’ll go with “Beneath the Mire.” We started playing that during the Ghost Reveries anniversary shows. We hadn’t done it live before, likely because we’d usually do “Ghost of Perdition.”
- Watershed – My favorite to play on that one is “Heir Apparent.” It’s one of the most aggressive Opeth tracks I’d say. “Hessian Peel” is also a really good progressive and long track.
- Heritage – “The Devil’s Orchard” is one of my favorites, but I’ll pick another one because it’s totally different. “Slither” is a tribute to Ronnie James Dio. We played it on the first leg of that album’s tour.
- Pale Communion – “Moon Above, Sun Below”
- Sorceress – Maybe the track “Chrysalis.” We’re going to rehearse that one and the title track. We’re also looking at “The Wilde Flowers.”
What are your top three countries to perform for?
I really enjoy playing way up in Norway. It really has a great atmosphere to it. But it’s a tough question because it can vary a lot from show to show. Touring in the states is very convenient and people are nice at the shows. But also, South America has the most enthusiastic crowds especially in Mexico and Chile. So, yeah I guess we would go with Norway, US, and some South American dates. I will also say that we just did a show in Iceland and that was pretty cool too.
