Opeth Plan String of 20th Anniversary Concerts

It's hard to imagine but revered Swedish heavy metallers Opeth have been around for 20 years. Two decades of unrelenting, sinister metal, spread out over nine stunning studio releases. To celebrate the band's 20th anniversary, Opeth will be playing a series of exclusive shows all around the globe ... must-attend events for all true Opeth fans.

The six shows will take place in 2010, in Stockholm, Sweden; Essen, Germany; Paris, France; London, England; New York City; and Los Angeles. According to frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt, this is the first time in the band's history that they're celebrating anything. They've never even had an album release shindig.

"To say that [these shows] will be super-exclusive is beyond an understatement," he explains. "We've discussed the setlist already and it seems like we'll pull out a few songs we've never played before, some of which fans all over the world have been demanding to hear for years and years."

There's no word yet on who the openers will be, but details are expected to be announced soon. "Our main agenda for these shows is to have 'fun' whilst trying to blow your f---ing minds," Åkerfeldt added. "You could say business as usual, but really ... it'll be special, trust me. I can't stress enough how exclusive this will be! We will not add any more shows on top of the six that we've confirmed already, so please make up your mind early on whether you wanna go or not as I would assume there's quite a few of our fans that might be interested in seeing a thing like this."

Opeth plan on spending the first three months of 2010 prepping for the gigs, and at each show, Opeth plan to play two sets. For the first, Opeth will play its landmark LP, 'Blackwater Park,' in its entirety. The second will be a career-spanning best-of set.

VIP ticket packages will be available, and include a laminated VIP pass exclusive to each show, access to sound check, a meet-and-greet with the band, a T-shirt exclusive to that particular show, a signed tour program and a special edition copy of 'Blackwater Park.'

The band's two U.S. shows will go down April 7 and April 9, at Terminal 5 in New York and The Wiltern in Los Angeles, respectively.