DON’T GO IN THE FOREST 2026 TOUR
OUT OF THE SHADOWS… INTO THE DARK
THROUGHOUT UK & EUROPE IN AUTUMN 2026
AVATAR PRE-SALE STARTS TODAY & ENDS MAY 25TH @11PM
GENERAL ONSALE STARTS TUESDAY 26TH MAY @ 10AM
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE: https://avatarmetal.com
TOUR DATES SUPPORTING METALLICA
SUMMER 2026 INCL LONDON STADIUM – JULY 5TH
NEW ALBUM DON’T GO IN THE FOREST OUT NOW
LISTEN & BUY HERE
Following a monumental summer that sees AVATAR supporting Metallica on their global juggernaut and lighting up some of Europe’s most iconic festival stages before heading Down Under to Australia, the Swedish theatrical metal titans are ready to end the year on their own terms. AVATAR are thrilled to announce a headline tour across the UK and EU this late Autumn 2026.
AVATAR ON TOUR – ‘DON’T GO IN THE FOREST ‘26’:
20/11 — Wolverhampton, England — KK’s Steelmill
21/11 — Southampton, England — O2 Guildhall
22/11 — Cardiff, Wales — Depot
24/11 — Dublin, Ireland — National Stadium
25/11 — Belfast, N.Ireland — Limelight
27/11 — Norwich, England — UEA
28/11 — Newcastle, England — Northumbria Uni
29/11 — Edinburgh, Scotland — Corn Exchange
01/12 — Amsterdam, Netherlands — Gashouder
03/12 — Oberhausen, Germany — Turbinenhalle
05/12 — Budapest, Hungary — Barba Negra Red
06/12 — Prague, Czechia — Sasazu
08/12 — Innsbruck, Austria — Musichall
09/12 — Linz, Austria — Posthof
10/12 — Ulm, Germany — Roxy
11/12 — Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg — Rockhal
12/12 — Zürich, Switzerland — Komplex
13/12 — Frankfurt, Germany — Zoom
15/12 — Padova, Italy — Hall
16/12 — Ljubljana, Slovenia — Cvetlicarna
17/12 — Zagreb, Croatia — Boogaloo
18/12 — Bratislava, Slovakia — Majestic Music Club
19/12 — Wrocław, Poland — A2
Lead singer Johannes Eckerström says, “A Europe in November. A Europe in December. Cold, wet and dark. We all know what it’s like, and we know exactly what you’ll need. The first European leg made us feel very lucky to be doing this. This time around, we will do everything within our power to make you feel lucky to participate. We live by but one ethos: Better than ever. I really want to see you, and you really don’t want to miss this.”
The tour kicks off on 20th November in Wolverhampton, UK and runs through until 19 December in Wrocław, Poland. The Danish death metal band Neckbreakker will be support on all dates. Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, May 26 at 10am local time from here: https://avatarmetal.com
AVATAR ON TOUR – ‘DON’T GO IN THE FOREST ‘26’:
20/11 — Wolverhampton, England — KK’s Steelmill
21/11 — Southampton, England — O2 Guildhall
22/11 — Cardiff, Wales — Depot
24/11 — Dublin, Ireland — National Stadium
25/11 — Belfast, N.Ireland — Limelight
27/11 — Norwich, England — UEA
28/11 — Newcastle, England — Northumbria Uni
29/11 — Edinburgh, Scotland — Corn Exchange
01/12 — Amsterdam, Netherlands — Gashouder
03/12 — Oberhausen, Germany — Turbinenhalle
05/12 — Budapest, Hungary — Barba Negra Red
06/12 — Prague, Czechia — Sasazu
08/12 — Innsbruck, Austria — Musichall
09/12 — Linz, Austria — Posthof
10/12 — Ulm, Germany — Roxy
11/12 — Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg — Rockhal
12/12 — Zürich, Switzerland — Komplex
13/12 — Frankfurt, Germany — Zoom
15/12 — Padova, Italy — Hall
16/12 — Ljubljana, Slovenia — Cvetlicarna
17/12 — Zagreb, Croatia — Boogaloo
18/12 — Bratislava, Slovakia — Majestic Music Club
19/12 — Wrocław, Poland — A2
SUPPORTING METALLICA — SUMMER 2026
24 May — Frankfurt, Powerstatione Bank Park
11 Jun — Budapest, HU — Puskas Arena
19 Jun — Dublin, IE — Aviva Stadium
5 Jul — London, UK — London Stadium
ADDITIONAL FESTIVAL DATES — 2026
7 Jun — Trondheim, NO — Trondheim Rocks
20 June — Dessel, BE — Graspop Metal Meeting
2 Jul — Ballenstedt, DE — Rockharz Festival
15 Aug — Sullingen, DE — Reload Festival
22 Aug — Göteborg, SE — Göteborg Brinner
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND DATES – 2026
26 Aug – Adelaide – Lion Arts Factory
28 Aug – Melbourne, – Northcote Theatre
29 Aug – Sydney – Manning Bar
30 Aug – Brisbane – Princess Theatre
1 Sep – Auckland – Powerstation
AVATAR ARE:
Johannes Eckerström — Vocalist
Jonas Jarlsby — Guitarist
Tim Öhrström — Guitarist
Henrik Sandelin — Bassist
John Alfredsson — Drummer
ABOUT AVATAR
As a strange light in the sky beckons you towards something forbidden, far away, you see a robed, horned ferryman, rowing across a restless sea at the end of days. Back home, a strange sound rolls through your house. It comes from the basement. The news talks about a beautiful corpse, lauded for her magnificent demise on a dance floor by men who could have fixed her. You catch the last broadcast from an outpost succumbing to flames on a distant moon. Its inhabitants try to outrun their own madness. Outside there is a place you’re not allowed to go, no matter how intoxicating the gaze of the eyes among the trees.
You lay awake at night, yet you dream a thousand dreams more real than any waking moment.
Strange times call for a strange band. With a life-long commitment to the misfit arts, Avatar delves deep into the collective subconscious. They travel beyond the realms of flesh and far past the spiritual barriers broken in past works. No matter how many times they were warned, they keep treading deeper into the woods. There is sense to be made out of the senseless. They lay a soft gaze upon terrifying, almost shapeless inner landscapes, and they have a damn good time doing it.
Don’t go in the forest is a warning said by others, heeded as a challenge for a certain kind of freak who just can’t fight the urge to seek truth and feel alive. It is a collection of strange tunes emerging from a circus tent in a meadow in a faraway valley. You can only ever get there by accident, walking a path impossible to remember and map out. Two eyes closed, one eye open.
Formed by John Alfredsson and Jonas Jarlsby as teenagers, soon joined by Johannes Eckerström, Henrik Sandelin and Simon Andersson, Avatar started an evolution that would see a group always looking to connect what you hear with what you see. Once Andersson left and Tim Öhrström joined, they had all the ingredients to a brew so potent it would forge their names into the souls of millions. More than a band, Avatar has evolved to concept art. In order to keep going with the same drive as they had on day one, they make sure that what is made must be done. Every single time must matter more than ever before. No matter how far they get, they are sworn to remain underdogs. There is so much to do, to try. So many ways to rediscover the simple yet sublime power hidden inside an electric guitar.
It’s all about trying new things, on and off stage. Choirs, brass instruments, Moogs, piano, cellos and violas. As long as it all worships at the altar of the riff, the possibilities are as vast as the universe. Don’t Go In The Forest once again stretches, bends and breaks the boundaries of what Avatar is and can be by providing both the most introspective as well as their most explosive moments. It is all done in a way that can only be achieved after a lifetime in servitude to the madness where all your gathered experiences are used to be reborn. In other words, by embracing discovery as the core tenet for what they do, every new release is as fresh and exciting as their very first time in a rehearsal room.
While the studio experience is becoming a more and more powerful tool for self expression, it is on the stage where Avatar truly comes alive. Every testimonial makes the same claims in all caps. Avatar is a MUST SEE experience. Every album cycle has provided record breaking milestones. A few of the more recent ones being kicking the door in on Latin America, first with Iron Maiden, and then with sold out shows all throughout Mexico and beyond. They have also become the talk of countless festivals across Europe and the United States, being a surefire stage closer and show stealer everywhere they go, all while setting attendance record after attendance record for their headline shows.
From Australia to Brazil. From Scandinavia to the Mediterranean Sea. From the Pacific Northwest to the Deep South. Everywhere they go, their unique blend of suggestive theatrics and unabashed, unapologetic good heavy metal times, they have proven that there is only one Avatar and everyone else is playing for second place. Their impact is shown with chart toppers such as ‘The Dirt I’m Buried In’ reaching heights that are hard to imagine from a band that has stepped into the craziest era in music history, taking matters into their own hand with their own independent label, Black Waltz Records.
For centuries the circus would come to town. Now, for the first time in history, the gravitational pull of Avatar is so strong that the town is coming to the circus. A circus deep in the forest. A forbidden place. A taboo you are destined to break.
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