Avatar Unleashes Their In the Airwaves Tour at The Fillmore Detroit
Avatar’s rise from eccentric Swedish outlier to full-blown touring spectacle has been a steady, deliberate and increasingly theatrical journey. Their In the Airwaves USA 2025 Tour has pushed that evolution even further and Thursday night it was the Fillmore Detroit’s turn to see just how far the band has taken this strange musical empire they’ve built.
The first clue was how the show opened. While most artists come out swinging for the fences, Avatar’s approach was different. They didn’t simply open the set; they let the performance materialize. A heavy fog swallowed the stage, with dark blue lighting dropping to almost nothing. A curtain was drawn open to reveal a square platform emerging from the darkness with all five members onboard cloaked and hooded. Johannes Eckerström held a lantern aloft, the only visible light guiding the vessel forward. When the platform reached the edge of the stage, the band stepped off in unison, took their marks, and opened the night with “Captain GOAT,” its eerie harmonies cutting cleanly through the fog as the Motor City crowd roared to life.
Once “Captain GOAT,” wrapped, the fog had thinned enough for the stage lights to finally light up the Fillmore. Backlighting sharpened on the stage, giving fans the first clear look at the band’s layout and the backdrop they had brought on tour. Avatar moved directly into “Silence in the Age of Apes,” shifting from the slow build of the opener into a far heavier drive. The crowd adjusted along with it—more movement, louder responses, but nothing exaggerated or performative. It was simply a packed venue full Detroit metal heads reacting to a band that came out intent on playing hard from the start.
With the stage now fully exposed, the production behind this tour became impossible to ignore. Drummer John Alfredsson’s elevated platform lit up in stark white beams, outlining him as he leaned into the opening hits of “The Eagle Has Landed.” Eckerström, now without the hooded cloak, worked the stage in his black vest, long gloves, and trademark face paint, shifting between growls and cleaner vocals. Guitarists Jonas “Kungen” Jarlsby and Tim Öhrström, along with bassist Henrik Sandelin, moved as a unified front, giving the show a visual cohesion that elevated the theatrics that would surround them.
The band’s mix of established favorites and six newer tracks off Don’t Go In The Forest landed perfectly with the crowd. “In the Airwaves,” brought a sharper, more rhythmic charge before the band dropped back into moodier territory with “Bloody Angel.” Its slow tension infused riffs contrasting well with the punch of “Death and Glitz,” while “Blod,” hit with the heaviness that long-time fans anticipate at every Avatar tour stop. Fans in the Motor City responded with volume rather than chaos—strong reactions from a room that clearly knew the band’s catalog.
Staging throughout the night shifted in subtle but serious ways. Alfredsson’s platform split apart to allow the main rolling platform to retreat behind the curtain before returning to a singular kit, a controlled change that supported the 18-song setlist without distracting from Avatar’s overall perfromance. “Colossus” and “Howling at the Waves,” deepened the middle of the set, with the aforementioned producing one of the show’s standout moments as Jarlsby, Öhrström, and Sandelin gathered around Eckerström at the piano. It showed the band’s uncanny ability to scale things back without losing the well deserved momentum the earlier cuts had built.
“Tower,” “Glory to Our King” and “Legend of the King,” formed a strong mid-to-late sequence, especially as the throne appeared and drifted forward during “Glory to Our King.” The Fillmore crowd gave this section a noticeable shift in volume, meeting the band’s scintillating theatrics with real enthusiasm rather than spectacle-for-spectacle’s sake. By the close of “Legend of the King,” the show had settled into a tight but solid flow, the kind that reflects a band that is deep into a long tour but still sharp onstage.
Late in the set, “Let It Burn,” carried the provenance earned over years of world wide live performances. Its opening riff always lands hard and Detroit treated it like one of the night’s anchors. “The Dirt I’m Buried In” and “Tonight We Must Be Warriors,” followed, both rippers that were performed with clarity and intention rather than sheer force. Avatar closed the main set without dragging out the exit, leaving the room in that familiar Fillmore buzz—voices rising, people shifting forward anxiously, waiting to see how long the band would stay offstage.
Fans knew what encore would bring and their wish came quickly. Avatar returned for three final tracks, probably the most notable of their catalog: “Dance Devil Dance,” “Smells Like a Freakshow,” and “Hail the Apocalypse.” The last song triggering the loudest reaction of the night, not because of all the theatrics but because the band executed the banger with a tight precision that fans appreciate and throughly enjoy. The Motor City crowds appreciate musicians who come to work, and that’s what Avatar delivered in spades.
As fans funneled onto Woodward Avenue, the reaction was consistent—an appreciative, energized exit rather than the overheated chaos that sometimes follows heavy metal shows. Avatar brought a well-built production, a disciplined performance, and a setlist that rewarded both longtime followers and newer fans. Their popularity continues to grow, and judging from the turnout and response in Detroit, the Motor City is more than ready to follow them into whatever chapter comes next.
AVATAR:
Avatar Performs at The Fillmore Detroit©John Swider
