After the release of their new album ‘Feathers & Flesh’, Avatar decided to go on a tour as well. Luckily, they decided to come to The Netherlands during and tour, and it wasn’t a bad decision. This show would be the biggest sold out headlining show they had ever done, which of course already says a lot about the quality of the band. However, their quality isn’t exactly ‘confirmed’ until after the concert, and so I had to check it out myself as well. Of course, I was excited to see them, after such an amazing album release, and my previous experiences.
The first band was another band from Sweden. They were called The Last Band, despite playing first. It became clear to me that the crowd was purely there for Avatar, as not many seemed to have heard of them before. Besides that, when the singer asked the crowd to sing along, perhaps just five people actually sang along with him. However, after that show they granted us with, more people will actually know of their songs, and will sing them along in the future. Their sound was a little rough, but cool – quite some screaming and grunting, but mixed with some clean vocals as well. They were energetic and walked from side to side. On top of that, they had quite some interaction with the crowd, besides the fact that barely anyone had heard of them before that night. It was a great act, though I doubt I myself would go and buy a ticket to see them again – it simply wasn’t my cup of tea.
Then some carnival and circus music started playing during the break. This truly got us in the mood for what would come next. The curtains had been drawn, and the stage was being build up, as we danced to the music which was playing. As the music stopped, and the intro of the Avatar show was being played, the curtains opened again, showing us a table with curtains. After the intro stopped, smoke came up, and the curtains dropped – Johannes appeared! From then on, the show started, granting us with ‘For The Swarm’ as their first song.
Their show was packed with songs – 18 in total to be precise. Most of them were from their latest album called ‘Feathers & Flesh’, the others were from ‘Black Waltz’ and ‘Hail the Apocalypse’. Not only was their show packed with songs, there was humour as well, and a lot of interaction with the crowd. There was a lot of ‘show’ during their performance as well. During ‘Fiddler’s Farewell’, the singer came on stage in a full clown’s suit, complete with a pointy hat. During ‘Black Waltz’, the singer came up on stage with a bunch of balloons. At the end of the song, there was only one left; the others had all gotten loose. Just as he wanted to give said balloon to someone in the crowd, he popped it – causing a laugh from all of us in the crowd.
Besides the theatrical add ons during the show, their performance was simply amazing. Vocals were on point, both clean and grunting, as well as their sound. Despite a loss of lyrics at some point, there was truly nothing wrong during their show. And besides the obvious fact that we were all enjoying it, they seemed to be enjoying it themselves as well, which is important for me to see. No matter what they asked the crowd to do, be it clap or sing, they would do it. Everyone seemed to follow up, and sometimes they didn’t even have to ask – we already started before they could. It was a true party, one which you could not miss!
In all honesty, I believe Avatar is only getting better, the more time they spend on tour. Each and every time I see them live, they seemed to have become more experienced and more energetic. It was a true delight to see them again, and truly, I will give it my all to be part of their ‘freakshow’ again next time. I will return to Avatar Country one day, and I advise you all to come and visit with me, as their shows are something you should definitely witness.