Still no live shows for the time being, so the Swedish heavy-metal band, Avatar, has decided to take a really creative route for the live-stream concert experience. For each weekend in January, the band will be putting on a concert, each with its own unique title. This week’s was the Age of Dreams, while the next three weekends we can enjoy Age of Illusions, Age of Madness, and Age of Memories. Collectively, the band is referring to all of this as “An Impossible Concert Experience.”
I do think this first show was especially unique because it’s the first time the band has played their recently released Hunter Gatherer in full in a live capacity. As expected, “The Secret Door” was my personal favorite, but they whole set rocked as hard as the album. We were treated to not only synchronized hair swinging, but also some outfit changes, and at least four different sets! The transition from set to set was very creative and very seamless (and so were those costume changes!). The band never lost momentum or gusto as they ripped through each song.
After playing the tracks off of Hunter Gatherer, there was a very brief intermission before they got into the next very unique bit of this concert experience. The back half of the set was all fan-voted songs, so we got to hear the likes of “The Eagle has Landed,” “Let It Burn,” “A Statue of the King,” and “Smells Like a Freakshow” among others from their catalogue. Don’t worry, the few songs that came from the Avatar Country era was accompanied by the thrown, the king, and matching outfits for the rest of the band. Again, they never lost any ounce of energy throughout the entire set, and you could tell lead singer Johannes Eckstrom was having the time of his life.
With that being said, I’ve seen Avatar enough times live to know that they thrive off of being able to interact with an audience. I know they tried their best with the fan-voted setlists, but you could tell they missed their fans. Here’s hoping they get the chance to play some live music in person this year. My favorite parts of the show, besides the changing setups and the setlist, was when Johannes popped his head out behind a curtain with the creepiest look on his face, and when he gave a shoutout to his mother. I can’t wait for next weekend to see what the next installment of this concert series brings!