Avatar Concert Review with Orbit Culture and The Native Howl
Sunday, September 17,2023
The Castle Theatre
Bloomington, Illinois

 
Avatar is a Swedish Metal band that is having a stellar year. They recently reached their first number one song on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart. “The Dirt I’m Buried In” is from their ninth album Dance Devil Dance which was released in February. The single rose to number one on its 31st week making it the longest trek to a number one in twenty years.

The band has also been immortalized in history by having a fossil from southern Sweden named after them. The fossil is named Ophiocoma Avatar discovered by Dr. Ben Thuy. The fossil is a brittle star and the Avatar brittle star is by far the oldest known of this type of brittle star that can see with their entire body surface.

The band brought openers, The Native Howl who are described as Thrash Grass so a blend of Thrash Metal and Bluegrass. That describes exactly what music the band is making. The Native Howl is from Leonard, Michigan and their band consists of guitar, bass, drums and banjo. Missing was the mandolin but the electric guitar fills in for the mandolin parts. They covered “Man of Constant Sorrow” the song made famous from the movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou? a gem from the Coen brothers. The Grammy award winning song was penned and sung by bluegrass legend Dan Tyminski in the movie. The Native Howl gained a bunch of new fans in an area where country, rock and metal music are listened to by many in the area.

Orbit Culture is a fairly new band and I had not seen them or heard them before now. I have to say that their music was really great metal. It made you want to get up and bang your head the entire time. Their songs, “From The Inside” and “Vultures of The North” really spoke to me. Their entire set got the crowd going.

For more on Orbit Culture find them online: Orbit Culture

 

 

 

 

 

I first saw Avatar in 2014 at Rock On The Range.  They always make a great impression wherever they perform.  In addition to their fantastic music, Avatar’s music videos are some of the best in metal.  You can see their creativity in the music videos.  The band has headlined The Castle Theatre several times before. Their metal circus show has become more entertaining with more elaborate and well thought out showmanship. They have gained new fans with their song “The Dirt I’m Buried In”  getting serious airplay.  Avatar set the stage with two side curtained areas where band members walked out of and sophisticated lighting. The band came onto the stage in their classic red and black carnival outfits.  Avatar had some small pyrotechnics during their set. Johannes went out into the crowd and onto the balcony and made a balloon animal dog and then played his trumpet.  A set of balloons were gifted and each one popped during the show. Guitarist, Jonas Kungen Jarlsby came out on stage in full King regalia during the song “A Statue of The King”.  A streamer gun was used to playfully shoot streamers into the crowd.  

 

The full setlist:
1. Dance Devil Dance
2. The Eagle Has Landed
3. Valley of Disease
4. Chimp Mosh Pit
5. Paint Me Red
6. Bloody Angel
7. For The Swarm
8. Puppet Show
9. When the Snow Lies Red
10. Do You Feel In Control
11. Black Waltz
12. Tower
13. Colossus
14. Let It Burn
15. A Statute of The King

Encore:
16. The Dirt I’m Buried In
17. Smells Like A Freak Show
18. Hail The Apocalypse

The night was long but went by in the blink of an eye. It was truly an entertaining and imaginative show.  I cannot wait to see how Avatar grows bigger and bigger and puts on more elaborate shows.  

Catch them on tour: AvatarMetal.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                

sources: wikipedia.org, setlist.fm