On March 16th, 2023, AVATAR, along with VEIL OF MAYA and KASSOGHTA hit Columbia Theater in Berlin as part of their Dance Devil Dance Tour.
KASSOGHTA was the band to open the show. Hailing from Switzerland, they were a modern progressive (death) metal act with a wild front who, in addition to impressive growls, also had a convincing singing voice. They were reminiscent of GOJIRA and OCEANS OF SLUMBER and were definitely worth checking out.
VEIL OF MAYA were up next. Unfortunately, the laptop containing the samples for the songs crashed and while the crowd was waiting, the frontman Lukas Magyar entertained them. Alas, they failed to fix the problem, so unfortunately, that was that for VEIL OF MAYA.
Then the moment everyone came for finally arrived: AVATAR was up next. The stage was considerably smaller than previous venues and many props could not be used. Drummer John Alfredsson entered the stage and started with the beat of “Dance Devil Dance.” The rest of the band then took the stage and kicked off the song. Frontman Johannes Eckeström was an instant and permanent eye-catcher. Vocally, he’s a chameleon who can do anything. Rarely do you hear such convincing growls and a moment later such clean, clear, and powerful vocals. The man could easily sing in death metal, ’80s metal (high screams!), pop rock, and Goth rock bands. The musical program was correspondingly varied. Without exaggeration, there was never a dull moment, because you had absolutely no idea what kind of surprise was coming up next, both musically and on stage. An AVATAR concert is a mixture of theatre, cabaret, and music, perhaps a little comparable to LORDI in humor, wit, and (self-) irony.
Eckeström talked a lot to the audience, always in German, and his accent made him all the more likable. He often had the laughs on his side and thanked all the freaks who spend their time watching “five made-up idiots doing nonsense” more than once. They performed “Bloody Angel” with its alternation between groovy mosh and tender children’s song passages; the piano version of “Tower,” which showed all of Eckeström‘s vocal class and was introduced by the melody from a NENA song (“Nur dreamed“); the very industrial rocking “Colossus,” with its mighty chorus; and of course the encore session, in which the most well-known AVATAR songs were presented, introduced by the pop-brilliant “The Dirt I’m Buried In.” The “Puppet Show” was big in terms of the show, while Johannes Eckeström left the stage and appeared, standing on the bar at the top left, in the back of the stage. Here, he handled balloons, from which he knotted balloon animals, then he played a solo on the trombone. They closed the show with their anthem, “Hail the Apocalypse.”
Kassoghta
Veil of Maya
Avatar
Photos by Alexandra Aim
