Halestorm

The Halestorm show was clearly a sell-out, the ubiquitous queue never seemingly ending snaking well past the entrance in both directions meant that viewing space for this show was going to be at a premium in a venue that is not very forgiving for good viewing vantage points.

Despite that everyone managed to cram themselves in up the stairs flanking the main floor area which suggested there was going to be very little room to manoeuvre a steady pint up or down for the entire night. After levering myself into a suitable space I prepared for the night ahead.

Rews were the first on hailing from London and Belfast and turned in a set somewhat reminiscent of a female Royal Blood, well, being a two-piece outfit there is always going to be the obvious comparisons. As like most bands do their sound came across far heavier than that on their studio release ‘Pyro’ which given their stage mates for tonight’s show is a positive as it gave the crowd a decent warm up to proceedings. They seemed comfortable and competent and after producing a relatively short but high energy drum bashing, guitar fuelled set Shauna Tohill and Collette Williams seemingly picked up a few new fans along the way. The highlights for me were ‘Shake Shake’ and ‘Can you feel it’ both songs transposed from their original recordings to the live show well.

The circus was only just about to begin of course, with lead in music that could have you thinking you were in the big top as the crowd anticipated the arrival of Avatar.

The ringmaster Johannes Eckerström hits the stage regaled in full make up and they immediately push on with ‘Hail the Apocalypse’ their musical stylings very much avante garde melodic death metal and certainly not in the same vein or genre as Rews before them. From the start it is clear that they have a hardcore following down the front and some with full make up and Avatar etched into the side of their heads. They did not over saturate the performance with tracks off their new album ‘Avatar Country’ not least due to the fact that every track has the word ‘king’ in the title! In truth, the music is not without melody in some parts but it may not be to everyone’s tastes. Johannes played very much to the crowd with lots of referencing to Bristol we love you and Bristol your great etc and the whole set went down well if not passing in a blur for some. They rounded off their set with ‘Smells like a Freakshow’ and that was the overall divine pleasure in the proceedings, a freakshow for some but indeed a visual and audible delight for the paying masses.

Then onto the band that everyone turned up to witness, Halestorm with Lzzy Hale rocking the look of Joan Jett dressed in a short skirt, crop top, leather jacket and boots which the most devout wearer of heels would have issues even standing up in. The other notable outfit was perhaps an odd choice by her brother on drums Arejay sporting a short sleeved pink jacket, pink shorts and pink tie combo with shades, at this point reminiscent of someone from an 80’s teen flick, however this guy can twirl and flick drumsticks around like no other it seems. They kick off with ‘Vicious’ which stirs up the crowd and gets everyone moving about and then onto ‘Mz Hyde’ and this is a band clearly polished in their playing and performance if not a little static on stage at times, that does not deter the crowd however. Lzzy’s voice has appeared to get even more raspier over the years, certainly since the last time I caught them live and she interacts with the crowd whilst almost screaming the introductions as ‘I Am The Fire’ which goes down a storm and virtually has the whole crowd singing along. They of course play more tracks from their album which goes down well but what really incites the fever in the 02 is the back catalogue, ‘Love Bites(So Do I)’ just hits the right spot with its pace and intensity and crunching guitars before unleashing ‘Amen’ which gets the requisite Amens coming back from the crowd with ‘Skulls’ from the new release sandwiched in-between.

They take things down a few notches as Lzzy addresses the crowd imparting some stories of being on the road and she and Joe Hottinger then get down to the balladic tune ‘The Silence’ an intimate moment between them and the fans which is lapped up. ‘Vicious’ the title track from the album gets the rocking back on track before ‘Freak Like Me’ whips the crowd into a frenzy. ‘It’s Not You’, ‘Killing Ourselves to Live’ and ‘Black Vultures’ follow before heading off and into the realms of encore time. ‘I Miss The Misery’ clearly the obvious choice for this part of the show and the singing along does not end as the bustling throng join in full voice to this anthemic track. They close their last date in the UK this time around with the powerful ballad ‘Here’s to Us’ where they pull on stage Rews and Avatar with Lzzy milking the crowd with all the thanks being dished out, asking the crowd to make some noise for anything and everything, something they were happy to do.

This sees Lzzy looking her most mobile on stage having got rid of the shackles of her guitar and really unleashing her vocal range. All in all, Halestorm played a tight, well-rehearsed set which should probably be expected as this was their final show of the UK leg of the tour, in the end all in attendance witnessed a mixed show of differing genres but that’s what keeps rock and metal interesting and this more than satisfied the paying punters.

RD