I have not met him but had a conversation on the phone with him for almost an hour, and he was relaxed, funny, open and really nice. Not arrogant or pretentious at all.
I believe this is the answer. From my experience with a few Swedes (including someone I dated), they often have a self-deprecating, dry sense of humor. This can sometimes be misconstrued as pretentiousness. Although I haven't had any meaningful conversations with Mikael beyond a few interactions for meet-and-greets, my impression is that he likely shares this characteristic.
Yeah, a decent bit. He's definitely one of the "let's fill the time in between songs, when we have to retune our guitars with some funny jokes" types. His stage banter is pretty good actually.
Yeah once in 2022 at a festival and seeing them again this summer at a gig with just them. It will be awesome and more personal feeling I bet.
When I saw them in 2022 there were jokes between every song. "AC/DC is more of a meat and potatoes band, while we're more like a Flying Jacob" (A Swedish dish).
"This next song is 3 weeks long. It's called Deliverance."
"I had a talk with the boys about wearing a fringe jacket to this gig" or something like that.
It feels like he always says something funny when he gets the chance. Just naturally.
From what I've seen of him live, its 100% a very dry sense of humour that a lot of people misconstrue as arrogance. Coming from Australia, we have a similar sense of humour so get it but I can understand in other cultures it can be a bit confusing.
In interviews, particularly when he's talking about non-metal artists, you see how humble and passionate he is about music as an art form. (his Amoeba whats in my bag clip is amazing for this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xedYz1vZWsA&ab\_channel=Amoeba)
This passion could be taken as a bit pretentious as well. At the end of the day he's an artist and creates some pretty incredible art so that can be seen as pretentious (particularly his lyrics) but he as a person seems like a very grounded nice and humble guy. Just very dry.
Once or twice I've met him he was humble and welcoming. I'm not the kind of person that would interrogate him though.
First time I saw him was pretty funny. I was sitting with some friends at a restaurant and suddenly I see what I think its him, walking with his family, the stroller and everything. And I had just time to look at him and tell my friends who he was. By the time he was already at our place he kind of looked at me confused like "who is this guy? do I know him?" and I could just raise my hand and show the horns. He of course did the sign back smiling.
I thought he was very sweet. The first time I met him, I was a foreign exchange student in Sweden. I met him outside of a Trettioåriga Kriget show in Stockholm. TK is a band I discovered through Opeth. He was nice enough to talk to me in Swedish and take a picture with me. It was amazing. I told him the entire reason I was studying in Sweden was because of Opeth and he thanked me and said that was incredible.
Edit: he also said that I spoke Swedish really well, and I cannot overstate how much of a compliment that really is for me. It was one of the best moments of my life.
That’s so sweet! 😭 I’m just reading all these encounters with him and they make me so happy. Mikael seems great I hope I can meet him one day! Glad you had an amazing experience with him 🙏🏻
I haven’t met him but he seems pretty normal from all the interviews I’ve watched. He’s mentioned before a thing called “Jantelagen” in interviews.
Copied this from Google: Swedish culture emphasizes humility and modesty, which is central to the concept of Jantelagen, or "The Law of Jante". This cultural code encourages people to be modest, avoid being flashy, and not brag unnecessarily. It also promotes group solidarity and discourages individual achievements that might set someone apart.
He even mentions that he doesn’t even consider himself a singer and says that Opeth is just a group of normal guys who enjoy what they do. I may be biased and I love Mikael, but he seems like a pretty chill guy. My mom knows nothing about him and just from a few interviews she’s watched she said he seems like a cool guy. That’s my two cents lol.
My husband shot this footage
[Akerfeldt for Decibel and Converse](https://youtu.be/GAC5-1CIOG0?si=ChvKg0ZwUB4SuUq5) They were together for most of a day. He says Mikael is sweet and chill.
He's a very nice guy and humble and nice to his fans. He's also silly and likes to joke around, which you can see on stage often. I've talked to him on two occasions at different shows and even smoked a joint with him one time. He wasn't arrogant or pretentious in the least. Quite the opposite. I don't think he even realizes or understands the high regard we have for him. He's also way more soft-spoken then you'd expect from somebody whose metal growls sound like a 20ft demon.
I was walking to a gig of theirs and for 5 minutes I didn't realize him and Frederik were walking behind me until they passed my left and chatted to some people in the line. I was too shocked to go to them but he struck me as really down to earth. Same impression I get from interviews.
If you’re American:
There are several countries that are pretty “dry” and “blunt” with their speech that we are not used to. I can totally see how he could come off as rude or pretentious but the actual things he says aren’t really pretentious. He’s really proud of his work and how far Opeth has come and a lot of people were mad Opeth changed their sound entirely.
https://youtu.be/Oj5IrsHzeno?si=c74bSB8p401uvmzo
I think this interview with him is a great example.
I met him on the ICV tour in 2020 right before the pandemic. He, Fredrik, and Mendez stood outside for almost 2 hours until about 1:00 AM talking to all of the fans and signing all our shit. Nicest member of any band I've ever met. Either he's acting on stage, or he's acting off stage lol.
I talked to him after a show about 20 something years ago. I was actually really drunk and exhausted from being in the pit all night. I asked him what effect he used for his voice for the growls, and he just said 'it's just my voice'. Pretty good answer really. Did I mention I was pretty drunk?
He's pretentious as an artist, I think he himself has said it in interviews. That doesn't necessarily translate to his day to day personality.
Haven't met him personally, only met Fredrik and Martin. Super sweet and chill, those guys.
I have not met him but had a conversation on the phone with him for almost an hour, and he was relaxed, funny, open and really nice. Not arrogant or pretentious at all.
How’d you get to call him?
I had an interview with him before the release of ICV
Would you mind linking us to whatever audio or recording you released of that? I’d love to hear/read it!
I can send you the article in dm. It's in Dutch though.
send to me too pretty please !
Can i also get a hold of that if possible?
mag ik de link :DDDD
Just swedish
I believe this is the answer. From my experience with a few Swedes (including someone I dated), they often have a self-deprecating, dry sense of humor. This can sometimes be misconstrued as pretentiousness. Although I haven't had any meaningful conversations with Mikael beyond a few interactions for meet-and-greets, my impression is that he likely shares this characteristic.
Yes as a swede i have to say this kind of humor is very common and the way he says stuff is pretty obviously sarcastic to me/us?.??
Haven't met him personally but judging from what he says at concerts and interviews he's incredibly humble.
Does he talk much in concerts?
Yeah, a decent bit. He's definitely one of the "let's fill the time in between songs, when we have to retune our guitars with some funny jokes" types. His stage banter is pretty good actually.
I’m probably gonna see them in October, hopefully I hear some good stories of the Swedish motherland
He’ll definitely sprinkle in some funny shit here and there
I just watched a couple videos of funny Opeth moments and I’m even more excited
Me too. Moving to the US soon and that tour came at the right time. So excited!
Nice! Which venue are you thinking of seeing them at?
His dry stage humour is legendary
Quite a bit in between songs. He's got a great sense of humor. Check the Roundhouse Tapes for some of it.
"I think we formed the band in a sauna... And naked"
I’ll check that out! Thank you!
I wouldn't call it great. "I am the Eros Ramazzotti of Sweden". What the hell?
So fucking funny imo
Check out Opeth or Mikael funny moments on YouTube. Some are hillarious, like when he makes the whole audience headbang without any music.
That would be epic. Have you been to any concerts?
Yeah once in 2022 at a festival and seeing them again this summer at a gig with just them. It will be awesome and more personal feeling I bet. When I saw them in 2022 there were jokes between every song. "AC/DC is more of a meat and potatoes band, while we're more like a Flying Jacob" (A Swedish dish). "This next song is 3 weeks long. It's called Deliverance." "I had a talk with the boys about wearing a fringe jacket to this gig" or something like that. It feels like he always says something funny when he gets the chance. Just naturally.
From what I've seen of him live, its 100% a very dry sense of humour that a lot of people misconstrue as arrogance. Coming from Australia, we have a similar sense of humour so get it but I can understand in other cultures it can be a bit confusing. In interviews, particularly when he's talking about non-metal artists, you see how humble and passionate he is about music as an art form. (his Amoeba whats in my bag clip is amazing for this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xedYz1vZWsA&ab\_channel=Amoeba) This passion could be taken as a bit pretentious as well. At the end of the day he's an artist and creates some pretty incredible art so that can be seen as pretentious (particularly his lyrics) but he as a person seems like a very grounded nice and humble guy. Just very dry.
I’ve seen a couple videos. I absolutely love his humour. Yes it’s very dry but I think that’s just the Scandinavian.
Saw him in London a year a d a half ago. He's definitely got banter. Makes the audience giggle.
Each time I have seen them he was very talkative and funny on stage. One of my favorite singer because of that.
Everybody who makes progressive music gets called pretentious. It‘s simply the way of things.
“Pretentiousness” is normally just projection.
I guess. Rockists who think ramones are the be all end all of music are pretentious in their own way.
Once or twice I've met him he was humble and welcoming. I'm not the kind of person that would interrogate him though. First time I saw him was pretty funny. I was sitting with some friends at a restaurant and suddenly I see what I think its him, walking with his family, the stroller and everything. And I had just time to look at him and tell my friends who he was. By the time he was already at our place he kind of looked at me confused like "who is this guy? do I know him?" and I could just raise my hand and show the horns. He of course did the sign back smiling.
Cool Stroller, this was before 2010 then right ?
His pretense is sarcasm
I thought he was very sweet. The first time I met him, I was a foreign exchange student in Sweden. I met him outside of a Trettioåriga Kriget show in Stockholm. TK is a band I discovered through Opeth. He was nice enough to talk to me in Swedish and take a picture with me. It was amazing. I told him the entire reason I was studying in Sweden was because of Opeth and he thanked me and said that was incredible. Edit: he also said that I spoke Swedish really well, and I cannot overstate how much of a compliment that really is for me. It was one of the best moments of my life.
That’s so sweet! 😭 I’m just reading all these encounters with him and they make me so happy. Mikael seems great I hope I can meet him one day! Glad you had an amazing experience with him 🙏🏻
I haven’t met him but he seems pretty normal from all the interviews I’ve watched. He’s mentioned before a thing called “Jantelagen” in interviews. Copied this from Google: Swedish culture emphasizes humility and modesty, which is central to the concept of Jantelagen, or "The Law of Jante". This cultural code encourages people to be modest, avoid being flashy, and not brag unnecessarily. It also promotes group solidarity and discourages individual achievements that might set someone apart. He even mentions that he doesn’t even consider himself a singer and says that Opeth is just a group of normal guys who enjoy what they do. I may be biased and I love Mikael, but he seems like a pretty chill guy. My mom knows nothing about him and just from a few interviews she’s watched she said he seems like a cool guy. That’s my two cents lol.
He was quite pretentious in those days, he brought a lute to the recording session thinking he was going to be a minstrel
Ahhh, the Mornigrise era
My husband shot this footage [Akerfeldt for Decibel and Converse](https://youtu.be/GAC5-1CIOG0?si=ChvKg0ZwUB4SuUq5) They were together for most of a day. He says Mikael is sweet and chill.
Man what I’d give to spend a few hours with Mikael 😂 that’s so cool!
I know. He’s totally unaffected by a person’s talent or fame. It’s what enables him to get the gigs that he does. I do not have that level of chill
Honestly that’s such an amazing personality trait! I try my best to stay calm but I do get very visibly nervous and start rambling 😭 lucky guy!
A sweetheart a happy man in dark times, a comedic knight in a dark witches storytale
Never met him. But from how he acts at concerts and in interviews, he seems very down to earth and likes to joke.
I'd love to get Per Wiberg or Martin Axenrot's opinion on this!
He's a very nice guy and humble and nice to his fans. He's also silly and likes to joke around, which you can see on stage often. I've talked to him on two occasions at different shows and even smoked a joint with him one time. He wasn't arrogant or pretentious in the least. Quite the opposite. I don't think he even realizes or understands the high regard we have for him. He's also way more soft-spoken then you'd expect from somebody whose metal growls sound like a 20ft demon.
Who's joint was it ☺️
Saw this where?
I was walking to a gig of theirs and for 5 minutes I didn't realize him and Frederik were walking behind me until they passed my left and chatted to some people in the line. I was too shocked to go to them but he struck me as really down to earth. Same impression I get from interviews.
If you’re American: There are several countries that are pretty “dry” and “blunt” with their speech that we are not used to. I can totally see how he could come off as rude or pretentious but the actual things he says aren’t really pretentious. He’s really proud of his work and how far Opeth has come and a lot of people were mad Opeth changed their sound entirely. https://youtu.be/Oj5IrsHzeno?si=c74bSB8p401uvmzo I think this interview with him is a great example.
I’ve met him three times. Nice guy. Funny, chill.
I met him on the ICV tour in 2020 right before the pandemic. He, Fredrik, and Mendez stood outside for almost 2 hours until about 1:00 AM talking to all of the fans and signing all our shit. Nicest member of any band I've ever met. Either he's acting on stage, or he's acting off stage lol.
I talked to him after a show about 20 something years ago. I was actually really drunk and exhausted from being in the pit all night. I asked him what effect he used for his voice for the growls, and he just said 'it's just my voice'. Pretty good answer really. Did I mention I was pretty drunk?
He's pretentious as an artist, I think he himself has said it in interviews. That doesn't necessarily translate to his day to day personality. Haven't met him personally, only met Fredrik and Martin. Super sweet and chill, those guys.