The King and his court came back to Portland. This time, as sole headliners in an all-too-familiar venue full of all-too-familiar faces. The King of Avatar Country and the city of Portland have a strong relationship actually, one that goes back to a time before Avatar Country became a soverign “nation”. The mutual admiration between the Norse nobility known as Avatar, and the peasants of Portland was distinctly palpable. But first, there were openers…
Kicking things off promptly were the duo called ’68. “We’re called that because that’s the name of our band”, says lead singer and guitarist Josh Scogin. And the subtle humor kept coming. With the sun beating a path of righteousness through the windows of the Crystal Ballroom, Josh and his counterpart, Mr. Nikko Yamada toyed with the crowd. Quite frankly, I’ve never heard as much laughter during a metal show as I heard while this duo of misfits rocked us out. Through the creative use of instrumentals and vocal outbursts, ’68 nearly stole the entire evening. And their outro was so incredible! At the end of their final song, Josh kept the closing riff going through the use of a looper while breaking down the drumkit and getting it off-loaded from the stage. Piece by piece, the drum kit faded away, with Nikko just pounding on whatever was left until all that remained was the man, his throne, and a snare. Two words… Fucking genius!
Dance With The Dead (DWTD) got to follow that up. Not an easy task, but they were clearly up to it. Having never heard of DWTD, I simply didn’t know what to expect. A giant skull placed center stage and two “lectern style” equipment racks on either side left me wondering… Where’s the drums? Well, it turns out, DWTD is what I’m going to call “Electro-fusion-metal”. With a strong synth-electro backing track, guitarists Justin Pointer and Tony Kim completely slayed for the entirety of their set. One of the samples that they played over the top of struck me as way too familiar. In fact, it was Master of Puppets, but instead of clicking along at 220BPM, it was slowed down with some techno smashed over the top. Disorienting, but entertaining regardless. The audience seemed to receive the music pretty openly with many dancing along. These dudes would easily slide into a lineup at an EDM show (Hey man, have you seen Molly?) or any metal festival. Something to be said for versatility, I guess?
The man, the myth, the legend… Devin Townsend rounded out the warm-up round. Again, no drums. This time, one man, one mic, and his acoustic guitar. For a good 45 minutes, Mr. Townsend strummed along, singing Deadhead, Why?, Life. All the while, he shared anecdotes about his passive-aggressive Canadian upbringing. He even trolled the audience for a bit with a sound byte of “baby shark”. His set was thoughtful and full of introspection. Before he walked off stage, Mr. Townsend said “Take care of yourself, don’t let the bullshit get you down, lots of love.” Mr. Townsend, if you’re reading this, thank you, doo do do do da dooo.
An announcement over the PA asked the audience to please be silent while the King makes his way to the stage. Portlanders, being Portlanders, couldn’t contain their excitement. Although the venue was nearly silent, various shouts could be heard throughout the room. “Ava-tar!”, “Hail to the King”, “This is why we can’t have nice things.” But the King took the stage and the ceremonies began. Jonas “Kungen” Jarlsby, John Alfredsson, Johannes Eckerström, Tim Öhrström, and Henrik Sandelin AKA Avatar completely shook the foundation at the Crystal Ballroom. Moshing was the order of the day, but was confined primarily to the all-ages side of the room. I suppose that’s because the 21 and over crowd didn’t want to spill their beer. But, from song one to song sixteen, it was full speed all night. You wouldn’t have known that lead singer Johannes was battling with the flu. In fact, just before the encore, Johannes explained why they didn’t cancel the show. Was it because of the roadies and techs that bust their asses every night? Nope. Was it because the fans paid to see a show? Nope. In fact it wasn’t about 10 different things. But, he explained, it’s you (pointing to the crowd). Pounding his scepter at his feet, “this is the best goddamn place to see the show, right here” he said. “Looking in your faces, seeing your eyes, you are the show” he told us. It’s clear that Avatar adores their fans just as much as we enjoy adoring them.
There are still a few dates left on this leg of the tour. And yeah, Johannes or one of the other band members, the crew, might be suffering from the flu. But they’re going to give you 100% anyway, and you’re gonna thank me.
Hail the apocalypse. Hail to the King.
