On Monday evening Boy Child and I set off up the M8, braving the rush hour traffic to get to our destination of choice before the doors opened. Having parked in the science centre car park, we set off on foot across the bridge and turned left on the far side. (Right takes you to the Hydro) SWG3 was our final destination for the evening.

And the band of choice for the night? Avatar!

When we arrived at SWG3 there was a rather mixed looking queue. Half of those queuing didn’t look like Avatar fans…. Boy Child went to investigate and decided that the front half of the split line looked like the Avatar queue. We innocently moved up… no one stopped us….and oops we discovered a few minutes later that we’d jumped half the queue. Our faux pas only came to light when the security guys started to split the fans into their two respective lines for entry. Sorry, folks.

The rail Gods were still being kind and we secured a spot just off the rail. Happy days!

There were two support acts for the evening.

First out on stage were Mastiff from Hull. I’m going to adopt my Thumper principle here. These guys weren’t for me and its half an hour of my life I’ll never get back.

Moving on…

Next out were Veil of Maya, a metalcore band from Chicago. I’m torn a little here. In their defence, they did a good job during their 45-minute set. Their front man was energetic and got the crowd moving but, sorry, guys, in the interests of fairness, I’m adopting my Thumper principle again here. Perhaps if I hadn’t suffered through the opening act, I may have enjoyed this one more…we’ll never know.

At 9:10pm the lights went out, the intro tape played, the “cages” were illuminated to reveal the various members of Avatar waiting, resplendent in red and black.  They opened their two hour set with the title track from the new album Dance Devil Dance. Spectacular opening number complete with pyro. Cutting a striking figure, front man Johannes Eckerstrom strutted the stage with his cane, reigning supreme.

Set stalwart The Eagle Has Landed followed then Avatar played the second of five songs from the newly released album, Valley of Disease.

For me, I find Avatar deliver the perfect combination of theatre, circus, horror and f**king hard and heavy tunes. This was the third…maybe the fourth…time I’ve seen them, and they never disappoint.

Johannes is one of my favourite front men. He is super skilful at working the stage and the crowd. Part clown aka Stephen King style, part ringmaster, part mime artist, he delivers an incredible performance.

Each member of Avatar gets to showcase their own personality/character as the night progresses and they each bring something unique to the stage.

One highlight moment mid-set was Puppet Show from 2014’s Hail The Apocalypse album. Mid-song, Johannes slipped from the stage only to “magically” re-appear near the back of the room performing some balloon art (Poodle anyone?) followed by a brilliant trombone solo before making a mad dash back to the stage to close out the song. No strings on him! Brilliant fun moment.

Guitarists Jonas “Kungen” Jarlsby and Tim Ohrstrom got their spotlight moment during the guitar duel that preceded Black Waltz, the title track from Avatar’s 2012 album.

A large gift box was brought on stage after the duel and set down in front of drummer John Alfredsson. The lid was lifted and four balloons floated up, followed by Johannes’ head before he climbed out of the box to perform the suitably dark and creepy Black Waltz.

Avatar slowed things down for a few moments after Black Waltz as Johannes showcased his piano playing through the delicate Tower. Beautiful.

The quiet moment didn’t last long as Tower was promptly followed by the hard and heavy Colossus. Drummer John Alfredson was set up with a kit at the front of the stage for this one. Christ that song’s heavy!

No Avatar show would be complete without Kungen getting to enjoy his regal moment. Suitably robed and crowned, the Kungen reigned supreme during A Statue of the King which rounded out the main body of the set.

With the Scottish fans baying for more, Avatar returned to the stage for a three song encore that opened with The Dirt I’m Buried In from Dance Devil Dance. My personal favourite followed – Smells Like A Freak Show. I love this one! It’s Johannes at his creepy theatrical best as he introduces it with a healthy helping of cheese.

The mighty Hail The Apocalypse brought the night to a thunderous climax.

Awesome show!

Hail Avatar…til next time.