I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 5, 2021] Avatar

When Avatar announced they were playing TLA I knew I wanted to see them again.  When they opened for Babymetal, I was blown away by what a show they put on–for an opening act.  I imagined that when they headlined, it would be even more amazing.

It wasn’t more amazing (I was actually more impressed by their lights last time) but it was certainly a lot of fun–an even more fun since the audience was there to see them.

Their gear was set up and then a small drumkit was brought to the front of the stage (which was pretty unusual).  Then the five of them walked out and stood in a tight v formation.  After a lengthy pause with all five of them staring at us, drummer John Alfredsson began hitting out a loud snare beat.  Then the guitars started playing and singer Johannes Eckerström–dressed like a ringmaster, his face covered in white paint with (scary) clown makeup on–began singing the fantastic growling anthem “Colossus.”  The band played the entire sing in that tight V shape and from my vantage point when both guitarists played the same solo it was like a multi-armed beast on stage.

They followed that up with “Let it Burn” and then the stage went black.  The crew removed the tiny drum set and the band left the stage briefly while Alfredsson climbed up on top of his full sized kit.  When the band came back out they utilized the full stage and when they started “Silence in the Age if Apes” (the actual first song on the new album) the full synchronized headbanging extravaganza was under way.

Both guitarists take some time to show off, although never for too long.  In fact, when they started soloing, it was usually over by the time I had the camera ready.  Jonas “Kungen” Jarlsby and Tim Öhrström (“he’s single, ladies”) both took turns at the front of the stage.  Although it was Jarlsby who stood up front to play the slow pretty intro of “Bloody Angel.”

Avatar have a new album out Hunter Gatherer, and they played six songs from it.  I rather liked the way they interspersed the new songs with classic songs.  When I saw then two years ago, they played eight songs (as an opening act).  They interfiled three of these songs between three new songs.  And even though some of their new music is incredibly heavy and dark sounding, many of their songs have multiple parts, some of which are upbeat and almost silly, like the wonderful “Child.”

But they also played a bunch of polder songs that they didn’t play in their short stet.  I was sure they’d played “Paint Me Red” but they clearly didn’t.  It fit very well with the super catchy new song “A Secret Door.”

Every few songs Eckerström would drink water from a black gas canister which I thought was very funny last time and very funny this time too.  He even joked at one point about how you have to learn to hydrate properly before a show because if you drink too much during the show then you have to pee too many times on the bus and you start to worry about your prostate.

Their older songs are a bit heavier and growlier.  “For the Swarm” and “Torn Apart” fit that sound very well.

And then things changed up completely.  The band left the stage and they brought out a keyboard.  Eckerström sat down and tried out a few chords before settling in to play their new ballad “Gun.”  It’s a pretty dark song but it sounded pretty (and the lights were cool during it).  The busted out of that song with “Going Hunting” and then Eckerström talked about the Avatar Ages, a four part live stream that they released during quarantine.  He talked about how much fun it was to play for four hours (in four one hour segments).  He said he would love to play for four hours tonight but we’d have to pay him a lot more.

The Ages segments got them to remember how much they enjoyed their earlier songs and so they were going to play “Deeper Down” from their Avatar album (their third, although it sounds like they don’t have too much to do with their first two anymore).

I learned about Avatar through their album Avatar Country which I really like a lot. They didn’t play a much from it last time and they similarly didn’t play much from it this time.  But they did play “A Statue of the King.”  As the final chord of “Deeper Down” rang out the entire band froze (such theatrics!).  Guitarist “Kungen” Jarlsby walked to the front of the stage and his subjects removed his jacket and dressed him in regal finery.   He stood in his greatness accepting al of the applause we sent his way while the rest of the band stood frozen.  And then he started playing “Statue” (Kungen means King) and the place went wild.  It went even more wild when they segued into “The King Welcomes You to Avatar Country” with the ridiculously catchy chorus.  They acknowledged the ridiculously catchy chorus buy sending a stream of bubbles into the audience.  It was pretty great

They came back for an encore and Eckerström tread a fine line between being sincere in his appreciation both for the fans and for his ability to be back on stage and then moving into his over the top demonic character.  He said how we should all be happy to be together so that we don’t have to face our demons alone.  In fact, you fight your demons with a bigger demon–me.

This led  to the heaviest fastest intense song on the new album “Wormhole.”

Last time he introduced “Smells like a Freakshow” in a vey funny way and he did so again tonight.  After saying nice things and sincerely appreciating our presence he told us that he could smell us all out there and we smelled like a freakshow.  The crowd went nuts for this.   For Magic Sword I was in the center of the audience.  I moved off to the left because people in the middle were really tall.  But I’m so glad I did because the mosh pit started and keep getting more and more sizable.  In fact it came pretty close to me during “Freakshow.”

The final song was “All Hail the Apocalypse.”  Last time they opened with it and it was a barnstormer of a song.  But it works even better as a show ender.  Throughout the night, all of the band members engaged in some theatrics and while bassist Henrik Sandelin didn’t do a lot of craziness, he did manage to have some synchronized fun of his own for this song.

It was an exciting and exhilarating show and I’m really glad I went.  Although I wish TLA had gotten their act together and asked for proof of vaccination before the show.

∇ Avatar (2009)
ϖ Black Waltz (2012)
⊗ Hail the Apocalypse (2014)
£ Feathers and Flesh (2016)
© Avatar Country (2018)
∅ Hunter Gatherer (2020)