Of all the encounters Mikael Åkerfeldt has had with his heroes over the years, it’s the night he got pissed and danced with the blonde one from ABBA that sticks in his mind. It was 2011, and Åkerfeldt’s band Opeth were working on their tenth album, Heritage, at Stockholm’s Atlantis Studios. In the 70s, when it was called Metronome, ABBA had recorded their first five albums there. The same guy still owned the studio, and was still in touch with Agnetha Fältskog, one of their singers. As huge ABBA fans – mandatory in Sweden, punishable by prison for anyone who isn’t – Opeth would bring up her name every so often. “I’d joke: ‘How’s Agnetha doing? When’s she coming down to do guest vocals?’” says Åkerfeldt now.
On the last day of recording, the studio owner invited Opeth for dinner in the flat they owned on top of the studio. Who should open the door while offering a tray of champagne but Agnetha.
“I lost it,” says Åkerfeldt. “I went straight back outside and smoked five cigarettes in a row down to the butt.”
Once he’d got over his nerves, he went in and tried to hold it together. The free-flowing alcohol helped.
Over food and booze, Agnetha happily regaled the members of Opeth with old ABBA war stories. The owner and his wife had a jukebox filled with old 1950s singles, which is how, at some point in the evening, Åkerfeldt found himself grooving along to some long-forgotten number with Agnetha from ABBA.
“I danced with the Dancing Queen,” he beams. “Not to Dancing Queen, sadly. The studio owner used to hang out with her, and he said the Heritage record was always out by the stereo in her house – and it wasn’t in the shrink-wrap.” He beams again. “She definitely listened to it.”
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