AVA-Who? AVATAR. 🖤🤡🎶

Now back to regular scheduled programming… the music. I’d heard the whispers, especially at the P.O.D. show the previous Saturday. All of my rock n’ roll friends were talking about the AVATAR show happing next Saturday at The House of Blues. The whole place was buzzing about who was not going to miss such a crazy show. The entire time I’m thinking to myself…man have I been out of the loop this long? Ava-who??? I honestly had no clue who this band was and what all the hype was about. I literally felt like the only person on the planet that didn’t know them. So I realized very quickly if I wanted to get myself integrated back into my beloved rock scene I should probably do some serious research as soon as possible.

There’s not too many new rock bands out there today that can arouse this kind of excitement from the Las Vegas rock scene. So naturally I turned straight to Wikipedia to get some answers. Blah, blah…Swedish heavy metal band, seven studio albums, 2001 to present. Ok. Avatar Country being the most recent in 2018. Everyone has been completely eating up these Swedish metal bands. I guess thank you Sweden.

Wikipedia did NOT remotely do them any justice. I watched a couple of videos and I was completely captivated and definitely not going to miss a spectacle of this magnitude. Avatar to me seemed like Alice Cooper, meets Rob Zombie on an avant-garde runway in the middle of a damn circus!! And that was just what I got from watching a couple of videos. I was more than intrigued.

I hadn’t bought my ticket yet, but I was definitely going. While I’m at work my man text me and says I’m on the guest list plus one for the show. He had a buddy that worked for Avatar. Well, that was pretty sweet!! My girlfriend, who “claims” to not be obsessed with Avatar (but she definitely is) didn’t have her ticket either so it worked out perfect that she was my plus one. I rush out of work after having a pretty great day and go home to get ready. My non-obsessed girlfriend meets me at the house and we do a little tequila pregaming.

We grab our Lyft ride…dude was a complete moron btw. And just when we think he knows the back way, he drops us off at the front of Mandalay Bay. Thank god we are smart little rocker chicks and don’t even attempt to wear heals up shows anymore. And we make our way to The House of Blues will call. Boom we got our tickets and started to head in the concert. But wait…the circus had already began at the merchandise table. I paid $10 to the bearded lady/man thing and spun the wheel to win a prize. I won an Avatar t-shirt…which promptly was stolen out of my hands by my girlfriend. Ok well what’s $10 more? On the next spin I won an Avatar autographed poster. So naturally, I lost the poster but got the shirt back.

We walk down the HOB stairs and into the concert venue….whoa, whoa, whoa…..it was hot as fuck in there!! No, I mean like really hot. I’ve been to this venue probably a thousand times so I know any nook and cranny by heart. We say our hellos and do a lap… hitting everyone with the selfies and group shots. I’ve always got to get my barrings first though and that means finding my bartender. Of course my regular rocker buddy has found me and we are off. My bartender isn’t hard to find as she’s the only super tall chick working. Found her!!! Singles or doubles? Duh, that’s not a real question right? You know the answer.

Currently there was some weird techno rock thing happening on stage. I was obviously unintentionally uninterested. There was excitement in the air for the headliner Avatar to start and strangely before them a comedian named Devin Townsend…who apparently is kind of a big deal. Plenty of my friends seemed pretty excited. The music that he played was pretty cool and he actually has a very good voice. He seriously had great range. But, sadly ANY kind of comedy type stuff is just not my thing. Sorry, not trying to offend anyone. I’m just keeping it real and maybe it’s my shitty attention span.

Now with out further ado… enter AVATAR COUNTRY!!!!! The lights go down and it’s time to see this psycho circus. Jonas Jarlsby is raised up from behind the drum kit on a golden throne fit for Daenerys Targaryen herself. He was a large man with a gold crown atop his long dreads and dark black eyes. And he was lighting that guitar on fire while sitting atop his throne. And this is how it all started. The band name AVATAR in golden bulbs behind the band. And it’s all hail the king. The rest of the band joins the stage… John Alfredsson on drums, with his hair slicked back in a long ponytail and looking devilishly evil. Banging on the drums like he was breaking plenty of laws. Henrik Sandelin stage right on the bass. Known as The Guitar Wizard, Tim Ohrstrom stage left and most importantly directly in front of me. I could barely take my eyes off of his playing. And taking center stage at his podium to lead the metal masses none other than frontman Johannes Eckerstrom!!!

The entire band is dressed like an avant-garde, high school marching band in Ringliing Brothers and Barnum & Bailey (the greatest show on earth). Eckerstrom is leading and directing the room with his long staff in hand. He was literally marching and high kicking all while singing and very well I might add. His voice was haunting and very mysterious to me, which I loved. And he yelled at us….VEGAS!! Which was actually a bit creepy, but I’m a good way. But this was no typical metal band. No this was HEAVY, HEAVY. And with each song ending with a new one beginning the energy in the room was building. This band was beating it into us with every chord. I’m not exactly how many songs in the show I noticed there was quite a wild mosh pit swirling directly behind me. I was so mesmerized with the music that the only reason I even noticed was that someone was thrown into the back of me. I throughly enjoy getting knocked around a little in a good mosh pit every once in a blue moon. Always a good sign to see chicks in the pit. But usually I just skate through them to get closer to the stage.

High kicks into hair rolls for days!!!! The entire band was completely in sync and I was dizzy as fuck. I mean seriously, how can they flip their hair and play for so long??? I can’t even hold my drink and headbang!! And the guitar sound was like nothing I had really heard before. I was beginning to think that guitar players actually were wizards. Maybe this is the new sound that we’ve been longing for and maybe the Swedes were doing it for us. Unbelievable. I’m honestly not familiar with the songs… but I do remember really enjoying “Paint Me Red” and “Let It Burn”. Let it burn! Burn! Burn!!! With a slight bluesy guitar riff to start. Flailing his arms and the crowd chanted along. Avatar played nearly 20 songs…I think 17 (don’t quote me on that). With each song the intensity was building…the crowd was sooooo into it. They were completely EATING out of the palm of Eckerstrom’s hand which was exactly what he demanded. As I looked around the floor a few times people’s faces actually looked stunned and in disbelief at how killer this show was. At one point he even played a damn trombone. How do rock n rollers get so involved during a trombone solo? Well…we were!! And did I mention I’m sweating buckets?

It was nearing the end of the show and I was seriously waiting for elephants and chimpanzees to be tight roping over the mosh pit. But to my dismay is was only a bubble show. Read that again..,ONLY a bubble show?!? Oh my god the bubbles were so perfect. The perfect way to end this crazy circus sideshow. Releasing bubbles during “Avatar Country”. They floated over us in the most pit and made for the raddest scenery for the end of the show. The combination of the golden bulbs, bubbles and now white jackets made for some kick ass stage appeal. And yes the entire crowd had entered actual Avatar Country. It was magical and mysterious just like the entire show!

All in all…I’m insanely excited about my first introduction to Avatar. I’m digging this fresh new heavy metal sound and love the overly insane theatrics. Whether it be Swedish, German, American or whatever it’s nice to know that rock is evolving for the ages and for us stuck in time. My friend informed me that Avatar will be returning to Vegas soon and you best believe I won’t be missing that show!!! Fuck yea Avatar Country baby!!!! I’m hooked. If you haven’t seen this band live, don’t miss the next show!!! I loved it. Now I completely understand the whispers…

🖤🎶twiggytalksrock🎶🖤