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Roxian Theater
McKees Rocks, PA
May 28, 2023
by Andrew Latshaw
On May 28th, I took the 2hr drive from my home in Massillon to the Roxian Theater in McKees Rocks, PA to see the one and only AVATAR on their last show of the Dance Devil Dance tour before heading home to Gothenburg, Sweden.
I got to the historic Roxian Theater, and there was a line of people waiting for the doors to open for the show. The line went for about four blocks, and it was such a great sight to see! I got into the venue and talking to the staff, the house was sold out, and they security was expecting 1400 in attendance. As the night went on, looking at the size of the crowd, 1400 felt like a low estimate!
The openers for AVATAR, the first band was also from the small town Eksjö in Sweden, a band named Orbit Culture. These guys were not there to play! They came out and from start to finish these guys just tore it up! I have never seen them before, but I do hope to see them again soon! They were a lot heavier than I expected to open for AVATAR! The vocals that Niklas Karlsson was putting out just tore through the crowd.
You could tell that the early birds of the show were not sure what to think as the sound check started, and then Niklas addressed the crowd, announced that they are Orbit Culture from Sweden. The crowd cheered, and you saw the people at the bar whip their heads around. As Orbit Culture started playing, there was push at the door for those still in line to get in to see who was on the stage! Orbit Culture may not be well known, but they won over that crowd with a quickness!
Next up, was a band called Veil of Maya. While Veil of Maya may not be from Sweden or Finland, they are based out of Chicago and are often compared to and found in play lists along with AVATAR, Amon Amarth, and Orbit Culture, and many others that make up the metal scene hailing from the Nordic region! I apparently am not as well versed in bands as I liked to think, I was chatting with some of my musician friends and they told me that Veil of Maya are an amazing band and always make the best show for the audience. I can attest to that, they did not disappoint! I highly recommend that you add not only Orbit Culture but also Veil of Maya to your play list as long as you have some rigorous exercise or raiding and pillaging in your plans! Their music is going to get your heart racing and adrenaline pumping!
Next up, the reason for the gathering, it was time for AVATAR to take the stage. The house lights went down, the overhead music faded from a thunderous bumping sound to absolute quiet, and the audience went nuts! They were screaming, and chanting AVATAR-AVATAR-AVATAR!
First to hit the stage was John Alfredsson, he was acting like a marionette, with the rigid and robotic movements as he was getting into position at the drum kit, and the crowd got louder! There were a set of cages on both sides of the drum kit, and that is when Jonas, Henik, and Tim walked out of the cages, and the fog machines helped add to the mystique of the show, and as they started playing the opening tunes to Dance Devil Dance. Next, Johannes comes out on to the stage and even with my ear plugs deeply secured in my ear canals, the crowd’s reaction to Johannes taking the stage was deafening!
As mentioned, they started off their set with Dance Devil Dance which makes sense considering that is the name of the tour! I have never been able to catch AVATAR live until this show, and they were astonishing! Their stage show with the theatrics and costumes were so much fun to observe! It was fantastic to see that they put as much effort and presentation into their show as they do in their videos.
After Dance Devil Dance, they went straight into The Eagle Has Landed, Valley of Disease, and Chimp Mosh Pit. That is when Johannes stopped the show to address the crowd piled into the Roxian, and he was chatting with the crowd about the geography of McKees Rocks, if it is Pittsburgh, or their own city. Johannes was laughing at how the locals were saying that they consider themselves as part of Pittsburgh, and he just laughed! Johannes then says to the crowd:
“You all realize that this is the last show of the Dance Devil Dance tour, you all know what that means, right? That means tonight we are going to tear this fucking house down!” As he said that, Johannes pushed over the microphone stand to the stage! You saw a roadie run out and set the stand upright again, but even with that guy’s swift action the crowd was roaring with laughter, cheers, and everyone throwing up their horns pumping to the music that was starting up again!
After that brief intermission, they started things back up with Scream Until You Wake, Bloody Angel, For the Swarm, and Puppet Show. Johannes and the guys just kept the hits coming, they were breathtaking to watch live, and to see how appreciative and humbled they were by the crowd was great to see! The energy they gave us was fully reciprocated! As the night went on, they played every single one of their big hits! I loved the fact that they played a little over two full hours of their set. While I have seen long sets from a headliner, to see a two hour set from a headliner was not something I was expecting, but thrilled all the same! As they wrapped up their show, I was faced with the two hour drive home with a smile on my face that lasted well into the following morning!
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