So it’s the last Saturday night of August. The crowd is keen and ready, some dressed as clowns anxiously awaiting for the circus to unveil itself and for the madness to commence. And no other better Sydney band to match the circus makeup and revelry than Pyrefly. Is this Déjà vu? No, it’s not 2023. But exactly three years later in 2026 on the last Saturday of August winter we get Pyrefly once again opening for the mighty Avatar! Back in 2023, I was travelling Europe and was not able to make it for this gig when my mates in Pyrefly secured this international support slot. But I guess they did a stellar job last time, that Avatar invited them to open not just in Sydney, but in Melbourne and Brisbane for their Don’t Go In The Forest ‘26 tour.
I’ve known Pyrefly for a few years now, and even had the opportunity to share the stage with them with both my bands in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. Besides being talented and a hard working band, they are just down to earth nice people and that’s what makes me proud to see my mates on stage conquering it. The intro to Foreward kicks in and Stick girl aka Sticks is the first that walks onto the stage getting the crowd to cheer and the rest of the band following suit with vocalist KJ screaming Let’s Fucking Go! Now Pyrefly have always been a 4-piece since the day I’ve known them with KJ on rhythm guitars and vocals. But this is the first gig I’m seeing them as a 5-piece with their most recent recruit Hades joining the fold on guitar, and man does he fit the bill so seamlessly. Second track Imhotep got the crowd doing the mummy stance with their hands, chanting ‘Imhoptep, Imhotep…’ as KJ thrusts the mic to everyone in the front row and red lights glowing to the beat. Blind sees KJ coming to the centre of the crowd and starting a circle and moshpit all while singing. Now that he’s not on guitar duties, it’s freed him up for these kinda antics and I welcome it wholeheartedly. Trent keeps running on stage and slapping that bass for each track while Andrew on lead guitar maintains his sturdy stance, both doing what they do best. I have always loved the face make up art on each member of this band, they all have their distinct style and it just ties in so well. Sticks being the only one who doesn’t adorn the face paint. KJ addresses the crowd how they love love and then unleashes their rendition of Madonna’s Like a Prayer. This is an ace up their sleeve that they do so well and now with duelling guitars, the crowd goes ape shit. Pyrefly ended their show with The Void playing a tight and fierce 30 min set that got the crowd warmed and revved up.
Now after a short break the venue gets packed, with everyone eagerly awaiting for the circus to begin. The stage is bathed in blue and backing raindrop sounds fill the venue. The intro chant of Captain Goat begins and the band all cloaked up enters the stage with vocalist Johannes carrying in a big blue lantern setting the mood and synchronising with the lights as the center of the crowd begins rowing. This was immediately followed by Let It Burn, the cloaks were off, the lights were bright and Johannes with his signature clown face and ear to ear grin was on full display, the band headbanging harder than the crowd. Now this was the very first Avatar song I listened to from the Black Waltz album, and that album cover with Johannes clown face has been plastered into my memory ever since. Every video, every poster of him with that grin is Avatar for me and never once did he falter on delivering that devilish smile with tongue out all night! He’s an incredible and eccentric frontman and delivers in spades. That being said, drummer John is equally eccentric, and while he doesn’t adorn face paint his expressions more than make up for it and the both of them form a dynamic duo on stage. Johannes does address the crowd many times during the night in true Ringmaster fashion, occasionally drinking from a Jerry can, when the rest of the band are off stage, telling tales and making the crowd laugh and cheer. Guitarist Tim starts the intro to Bloody Angel and the crowd begins to clap, and the rest of the band enters the stage with Johannes adorning his iconic red coat, hat and staff and bringing all his theatrics to the forefront. Death and Glitz brings the dancy vibes and ends with John standing up with sticks in a frozen stance. This was until a figure emerges onto the stage with what looks like a ski mask and a cymbal on his head, peels a banana and John smashes the cymbal. This is where I feel that the band are just having so much fun on stage with these kinda antics that just work in their favour. The siren sounds and red lights glow as the band stand in attention and perform Colossus after which they dive straight into Torn Apart with the lights flashing blue now and all band members swirling their hair round and round.
Johannes then begins playing keys, when someone in the crowd shouts ‘do a shoey’ to which Johannes without missing a beat shouts back ‘I can also yell made up Swedish words’ to everyone’s delight. And also reminds us that the Opera House is made up of Swedish tiles, our Avatar fun fact of the night. But jokes aside, the band plays the beautiful Howling at the Waves and ends it with the beautiful melody of just the vocals and guitar. After the next track, the band disappears and creepy sounds fill the venue and a single red balloon emerges traversing from one end of the stage to the other on some remote controlled device serving as the perfect intro before the band unleashes the title track of their latest album and the name of this tour itself, Don’t Go in the Forest. At this point I was surprised that no one had crowd surfed yet, so i decided to be the first one to do it and man it was glorious. Felt this flowed perfectly into the next track Tonight We Must Be Warriors. Now there was a bit of back and forth between Johannes and the crowd, negotiating how many songs would be part of the encore until everyone agreed that two songs would satisfy bringing the circus back on stage. And they saved some of the best for last with Smells Like a Freakshow and Hail the Apocalypse bringing their crushing theatric set to an epic close.
Johannes really reminds me of the Joker but in a metal band with such an infectious smile and by the end of the night almost every audience member had the same clown smile on their face, grinning from ear to ear, not just as if they went to see a circus but were in fact a part of it. Avatar performed a long and tasty 1 hour 45 min set ending with some epileptic lighting and then cuts to black stating ‘Avatar will be back’.
written by TNT & Photos by Daniel Farr – Farski Photography
Avatar
Pyrefly
