Speaking with Music Radar, Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt revealed the 10 live albums that blew his mind. Follwing is an excerpt from the rundown.

Deep Purple - Made In Japan (1972)

“Or as it was called in Japan, Live In Japan. That release actually had a picture on the sleeve that was actually from Japan, while the UK release had a picture of an old English venue called The Rainbow, which was obviously not in Japan! It’s the first that comes to mind because it’s fuckin’ awesome.

When Deep Purple are on top form, there is no other band that can rival that. You couldn’t put Led Zeppelin against Deep Purple on top form… they would disappear. And especially Black Sabbath, they wouldn’t stand a chance! It’s high energy at the top of its game. I think Ritchie Blackmore was at his best between 1970 and 1973. He made some fantastic records after that of course, some of which people might think were lacklustre, like Burn or Stormbringer. He still played great on those records, but maybe he was a little jaded.  

This version of 'Child In Time' is my favourite; it’s what I put on when I’m in the mood to listen to that song. I actually found my first copy in a garbage heap, where people just dump their fuckin’ household rubbish. There was a stack of records with this on top… for some reason, I felt like a criminal for taking the whole pile so I didn’t. I’ve been upset with myself for not taking all of it ever since… because I’ll never know what else was there! But at least I got my first copy of Made In Japan.”

Iron Maiden - Live After Death (1985)

“I remember the day I bought this. It was 1985, and I had enough money to buy one record in my pocket. It was this or Venom’s Possessed. I went with Maiden, because it was a double album and the price was the same – it had the booklet, gatefold sleeve, and ultimately Maiden were a better band than Venom.

Opening for them in Gothenburg a few years ago was a dream come true. It was their show, instead of a festival, so it felt more accurate to say we’d played with them because they’d picked us personally. I was well chuffed they actually knew about us! We’d been off-tour for quite some time, we were feeling rusty and nervous – it being the first show in seven or eight months. It felt like a trial by fire to go up in front of 60,000 people, but it went well…

Obviously everyone comes for Maiden. No one will ever say they thought the support band was better, so all we could do was bask in the sunlight of Iron Maiden… so that’s what we did. I have many special memories with that band – I was interviewed by Bruce Dickinson for his BBC radio show before we played the Royal Albert Hall. Him – my hero – interviewing me about my band, not the other way round. It was too big to comprehend.  

Bruce is quite into prog I think, which is another thing that connects our bands. I’ve always dreamt about Steve Harris’s record collection. I heard somewhere that he might sell it, I’d love to know what originals are in there. Those guys covered 'Cross-Eyed Mary' by Jethro Tull, a couple of songs by Montrose and this other weird band called Beckett who wrote A Rainbow’s Gold, which they covered. Maiden were clearly progheads, which is why I’ve always loved them!”

Read the complete list from Åkerfeldt here.