Skyway Theater – Minneapolis, MN
May 12, 2023
Photos by Brett Zisler
Review by Nick
The time has come… it was time for AVATAR to grace us with another headlining performance, the first time in MN since the release of this year’s Dance Devil Dance record. Waiting to get in, I saw lots of Hawaiian style Avatar shirts and people were excited for the Swedish band’s return.
Glory to the King! The crowd eagerly awaited AVATAR’s arrival chanting “Av-A-Tar” and the band did not disappoint when they came out sparks flying with “Dance Devil Dance” the title track of the new record. The band didn’t pause as they doubled down with “The Eagle Has Landed” and “Valley of Disease” before giving the crowd a chance to breathe. Vocalist Johannes Eckerstrom addressing the crowd and encouraging the pit to get primal for “Chimp Mosh Pit” which perfectly led in to “Scream Until You Wake”.
Like a magic show or circus performance, AVATAR has perfected being masters of distraction to keep the crowd guessing what’s going to happen next. Guitarists Jonas Jarlsby and Tim Ohrstrom had a little guitar duel before “Bloody Angel” and drummer John Alfredsson led bassist Henrik Sandelin thru a tempo change to “Puppet Show” before Johannes appeared in the balcony to make a balloon animal before the trombone solo.
Most bands give the drummer a solo to show off his chops while the rest of the band takes a breath. Not Avatar and not John. Dance break!
“Do You Feel in Control” was a nice dip in to the new album amongst older tracks before “Black Waltz”. “Colossus” and “Let It Burn” got the pits churning but the crowd was never louder than the King appeared for “A Statue of the King.”
By this time, Avatar is at an 1 hour 40ish minutes when they throw down with a heavy encore of favorites the recent single “The Dirt I’m Buried In” into “Smells Like a Freakshow” and ending with an epic “Hail the Apocalypse”. AVATAR gets better and better each time they come thru. AVATAR was showing off just what they are capable of with a 2 hour frenzy to make sure everyone went home fulfilled with the insanity that they just watched on stage. Who’s ready for an encore of the entire set? I am!
Chicago’s VEIL OF MAYA were in the middle slot. No stranger to Minneapolis or the Skyway Theater, the band came out to a loud response as they dived right in with “Viscera”. Playing a few tracks from False Idol and Matriarch before celebrating the release of their brand new record (M)other that was released earlier in the day. The very technical band is fun to watch as guitarist Marc Okubo, bassist Danny Hauser and drummer Sam Applebaum are each equally as talented as the other. The middle of the set is where the real standouts of the set came in the brand new “Red Fur” sounded just as much in place with the set as the previous track “Lisbeth”. “Godhead” and “Synthwave Vegan” from the new album went over very well. Vocalist Lukas Magyar’s vocals perfectly soared above the technicality on “Outrun” and the band closed out the set with a victorious version of “Mikasa”.
Sweden’s ORBIT CULTURE opened the show with a furious 30 minute set that was greatly received by the crowd. The crowd was loud from the very beginning of the set with “Open Eye” and chanting along “Get Out!” during “Strangler”. We were treated to a couple new songs in the set list than they played on the In Flames tour last fall including a crushing new track “Alienated” that will be on their new album Descent that will finally be released this summer. ORBIT CULTURE has gotten even stronger live than the previous fall and the crowd size definitely grew when the band went to the merch booth afterwords to sign and take pictures. Awesome to watch this band grow and the crowd responding in size. Maybe we’ll see them get longer than a 30 minute set next time they come thru!
SEE MORE OF BRETT's AVATAR PHOTOS HERE!
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