Avatar’s return to Australia and New Zealand is getting heavier, with Sydney metal outfit Pyrefly and Wellington veterans Bulletbelt confirmed as supports for the Swedish band’s upcoming tour.
Pyrefly will open the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane dates, joining Avatar as they make their way down the east coast later this month. The Sydney band have been steadily building their name in Australia’s heavy scene, combining modern metal weight with big melodic hooks and a live approach that doesn’t leave much room for standing still.
Their inclusion makes plenty of sense. Pyrefly have already taken their music onto the Good Things Festival stage and supported international heavy acts, while cultivating a community around the band that places inclusivity at its centre. For anyone arriving early at Northcote Theatre, Manning Bar or Brisbane’s Princess Theatre, there will be no gentle easing into the evening.
Across the Tasman, Bulletbelt will handle opening duties when Avatar reach Auckland’s Powerstation on September 1. The Wellington band have been part of New Zealand’s metal landscape for years, touring through Europe and Japan and landing music on the soundtrack to cult horror-comedy ‘Deathgasm’.
Bulletbelt are also preparing their sixth studio album, having already tested some of the new material on the road. Their Auckland appearance puts two very different generations and corners of heavy music together on the same bill.
The tour brings Avatar back to Australia three years after their 2023 visit, this time with tenth studio album ‘Don’t Go In The Forest’ in tow. That record continues the theatrical metal the band have spent years refining, where riffs and hooks are only part of a much larger visual world.
Led by Johannes Eckerström, Avatar have long treated the stage as more than somewhere to simply reproduce the records. Costume, character and theatre are woven into the band’s live identity, but underneath all the face paint sits a metal band with ten albums behind it and a clear understanding of how to work a room.
The 2026 run begins at Adelaide’s Lion Arts Factory on August 26 before moving through Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and crossing the Tasman for Auckland on September 1.
Tickets HERE.
Avatar 2026 Australian and New Zealand tour
Wednesday 26 August – Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide
Friday 28 August – Northcote Theatre, Melbourne – with Pyrefly
Saturday 29 August – Manning Bar, Sydney – with Pyrefly
Sunday 30 August – Princess Theatre, Brisbane – with Pyrefly
Tuesday 1 September – Powerstation, Auckland – with Bulletbelt
