FROM THE PIT TO THE STREAM: AVATAR AGES – AN IMPOSSIBLE CONCERT EXPERIENCE – AGE OF DREAMS – JANUARY 9, 2021

With live tours still not occurring at the start of 2021, livestreams are still in the forefront for the bands to reach out to their fans and provide them with music to remember. And Danny Wimmer Presents brought fans a kick-ass start to 2021 with the Avatar Ages – An Impossible Concert Experience. Swedish metal band Avatar would be performing 4 separate shows in January, each show with a different playlist and experience behind it. The first one, Age of Dreams, Avatar would be performing their eighth, and most current studio album, Hunter Gatherer, from beginning to end plus a number of the band’s biggest hits. The album that was released on August 7, 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, was a huge hit for the band and received great reviews from the media. So to finally get the chance to watch Johannes Eckerström (vocals), John Alfredsson (drums), Henrik Sandelin (bass), Jonas Jarlsby (guitar), and Tim Öhrström (guitar) perform songs from the album was fantastic and the performance went way beyond my high expectations.

The livestream opened with a scene of John, Henrik, Jonas, and Tim riding in a truck somewhere while in some type of tube Johannes was being literally created. It had a post-apocalyptic/science fiction feel and I was already digging it. Avatar likes to have fun on stage and showed the same when doing a music video or in this case a livestream production. The scene changes to the band all together in a studio with the word Avatar spelled out in lights on the wall before kicking off the heavy with the opening track “Silence in the Age of Apes”. And heavy it was with the band all headbanging and hair swinging together before Johannes dropped any of the lyrics. And if you never heard Avatar before, his vocal range shifts so easily from singing to screaming without effort. Avatar is such an animated band on stage you can’t help to join in with them by headbanging, singing, and throwing up horns. When they moved to the second song, “Colossus” (one of my favorites off this album), they moved studios that had three large movie screens that acted like walls behind them. Johannes came out in his pattened uniform, hat, and cane with a big smile on his face. The screens played a kaleidoscope of red swirls to match the timing of the song. When they moved to “A Secret Door”, they moved to another studio that looked like a small apartment with multiple doors, very fitting for the song. Danny Wimmer Presents gave Avatar a wonderful and inventive production with this livestream.

Photo by Johan Carlen

Photo by Johan Carlen

One of my main reasons I recommend Avatar to people is always about their performance. Johannes is a phenomenal frontman with his superb singing, animated movements, and the way he connects with the fans. John‘s drumming is such a perfect sync of thunderous booms and crystal clear cymbals, plus his playful style makes him a joy to watch. Henrik strums away on a bass faster than most bassists while let loose on the stage and producing a rhythmic vibe in every song. Jonas and Tim blend together a sound of strings that make you lose yourself in metal. This is a band like no other and this livestream proved it more than others. I was loving their perfomances of all the songs from the album, especially “Scream Until You Wake” which opens with such fast-paced guitars, bass, and drums, you want to be in a mosh pit for it. One of the coolest parts was getting to see Johannes play piano for “Gun”, a very slow and toned down song than the rest of their metal music.

After they made their way through Hunter Gatherer, there was a 2 minute intermission that made me laugh. As a timer was counting down, there were pictures of each in the band members in weird animation style drawn scenes. It was a unique add in to the show. Afterwards, the band started to make their way through some of their greatest hits kicking it off with “The Eagle Has Landed” from their 2016 album Feathers & Flesh. It’s a great song for fans to headbang to and has such a unique rhythm and it’s just fun to hear. Avatar really had fun with some songs from Avatar Country, their seventh studio album from 2018. They first played “Glory to Our King” where guitarist Jonas is dressed as the King of Avatar Country and doing various things outdoors like feeding sheep, petting cats, and taking photos with people from his land. It was a great segment before moving over to “The King Welcomes You to Avatar Country” (another favorite song) where Jonas sits on a throne and performs as the King wearing a crown and regal cape. I’ve seen him live in the garb and it looked just as good during the livestream. The even better touch was after the song, the band quickly moved over to another studio while Jonas took his time going over there leaving his robe on the throne. The rest of the band was lined up and presented themselves and bowed to Jonas as he stood before them one by one. Afterwards, a servant came out to take his crown and another his brought him another guitar. And then they started performing “A Statue of the King” from the same album. But, one of the best moments of the night came when they performed “Let It Burn” from their fourth studio album in 2012 Black Waltz. They performed it in the studio with the movie screens, used an all dark red background on the screen and rotated between showing the pattern of Johannes eye makeup in flames, to the word Avatar in flames, to the words “Let It Burn” also in flames. Fantastic performance and great use of the movie screens.

Photo by Johan Carlen

Photo by Johan Carlen

I cannot stress enough how amazing the production quality was for this livestream by Danny Wimmer Presents let alone Avatar‘s phenomenal performance. If you missed this show, I’m sorry you did, because it was probably one of the best performances I’ve seen from them yet. Their setlist for Age of Dreams was:

Act 1 – Hunter Gatherer

1. Silence in the Age of Apes
2. Colossus
3. A Secret Door
4. God of Sick Dreams
5. Scream Until You Wake
6. Child
7. Justice
8. Gun
9. When All But Force Has Failed
10. Wormhole

Act 2 – Biggest Songs

1. The Eagle Has Landed
2. For the Swarm
3. Glory to Our King
4. The King Welcomes You to Avatar Country
5. A Statue of the King
6. Let It Burn
7. Bloody Angel
8. Smells Like a Freakshow

Encore

1. Hail the Apocalypse

If you want to buy merch or music from the band you can visit their website HERE. And there are still three more Avatar shows coming this month!