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Avatar at The Truman in Kansas City, Missouri on August 15, 2024.

Photos and Review by The Pit Magazine Contributor Kayla Hayden

Avatar made their Kansas City stop at The Truman in August this year on their headline tour, “The Great Metal Circus.” Dedicated fans began lining up outside the doors before the show began despite the 90 degree weather KC was hit with that week. Based on the band’s performance I attended earlier this year, I could understand why everyone was so excited for this show.

The Avatar setlist included tracks from their newest album Dance Devil Dance, including “Valley of Disease,” “Chimp Mosh Pit,” and “The Dirt I’m Buried In.” Each song was met with deafening approval from the crowd. The closing number “Hail the Apocolypse” made for a perfect end to the show, with the crowd on their feet and raging as frontman of the band Johannes kept us all energized and engaged. Avatar’s stage presence is a great blend between the theatrics of a circus and craziness of a metal show that makes for such a unique concert experience. At one point in the show, frontman of the band Johannes Eckerstrom appeared in the balcony of the venue to make some balloon animals for the crowd and play the trombone. It was as surprising as it was delightful and gave those in the balcony the best seats in the house.

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As mentioned before, I saw and photographed Avatar earlier this year at Pointfest and just could not pass up the opportunity to see them again when they came to KC. They exceeded expectations on this tour. I highly recommend catching them live on this tour as they also announced it would be the last tour with this circus theme.