AVATAR with VEIL OF MAYA, ORBIT CULTURE at HOUSE OF BLUES LV

Saturday night May 6th, AVATAR brought their Dance Devil Dance tour to the HOB inside Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, with fellow Swedish bands Veil of Maya and Orbit Culture.

Holy shit ORBIT CULTURE. blew us away. The band hails from Oksjo, and It’s really hard to describe how insanely good this band is unless you see them in person. Composed of Niklas Karlsson on lead vocals / guitar, Richard Hansson on lead guitar, Fredrik Lennartsson on bass and Christopher Wallerstedt on drums, Orbit did not even do their 1st tour until 2019, but with a band as good as this metal is in good hands for many years to come.

VEIL of MAYA are out in support of their 7th album titled Mother, and although not as heavy as Orbit, Veil of Maya was a fav of the packed HOB. The band's sound is a mix of very heavy deathcore to melodic. Lucas Magyar, lead vocalist showcased his vocal ability giving us his best growls, screams and actual clean vocals as the band showcased their 20 year history. Another solid band, and a must see.

The traveling circus of AVATAR once again did not disappoint, as they gave us a little bit of everything this time around. The band's stage lighting was impressive, as they entered the stage between the massive stage lights. Many fans in attendance had face paint on paying tribute to their idols, and had the mosh pit going full force from the get go..

Avatar’s show is like a carnival gone bad, with everything from costume changes, dancing, balloon animals, trumpet playing, solo piano songs and finally a dance number along with a blast of smoke from behind the stage to go with streamer cannons. Avatar is a party, and they do this better than anyone else and get progressively better each tour. And let's not forget the band's sound, this is still a heavy metal band and are quite good. At one point during the show the band is playing minus singer Johannes Eckerström, who appeared a few minutes later in the middle of the venue at the soundboard. With a single light on him he pulled out a balloon and started blowing it up making some type of dog or animal and then reached down and pulled out a trombone which had the crowd going crazy. After a few minutes of playing he made his way back to the stage and joined the rest of the band. Near the end of the show Johannes appeared onstage by himself along with a piano and played 2 songs for the crowd, and he is a true musical talent.

The closing of the show featured guitarist Jonas “Kungen” Jarlsby walking onto the stage in a full kings robe, including a crown as the band played “A Statue of the King” from the Avatar Country album. This was a fun, exhausting show with Avatar constantly changed things up from song to song. The theatrics are well choreographed and the band's sound is spot on. Avatar continues to reach new heights in theatrical rock and we can’t wait to see what kind of traveling circus they bring us next time around.

Avatar setlist:

Dance Devil Dance

The Eagle Has Landed

Valley of Disease

Chimp Mosh Pit

Scream Until You Wake

Bloody Angel

For the Swarm

Puppet ShowWhen the Snow Lies Red

Do You Feel in Control

Black Waltz

Tower