Halestorm, London

A month ago I went to see Halestorm performing at the Roundhouse in London. Halestorm are a rock band, fronted by Lzzy Hale, and they’re great! I found out about their music through the Evanescence fanbase, as many Evfans also like Halestorm, and Amy Lee (lead singer of Evanescence) and Lzzy Hale seem to be close friends, sometimes performing together.

First of all there were two support acts – Wilson and Nothing More. I’d looked them up before briefly and listened to a few of their songs. I wasn’t too keen on Wilson, but Nothing More had a really interesting, unique sound, so I was looking forward to seeing them. Wilson’s performance was pretty decent – they were better than I had expected – and Nothing More were freaking amazing.

Although I felt as though Jonny [lead singer, Nothing More]’s mic could have been turned up more, as you couldn’t always hear what he was saying, the performance was brilliant. Nothing More had so much energy and you could feel the emotions that they were putting into  their songs. It was great recognising some of their songs such as ‘This Is The Time’ and ‘If I Were God’.

Nothing More also performed a really cool bass solo, as they all gathered around the one instrument and worked together to create an interesting sound. They also used a gadget to hold the bass, spin it around and rotate it, and it’s really cool that they help to make and design their own gadgets, such as this, for use on the stage.

Then of course the main act, Halestorm, came out to perform. The setlist was mainly songs from their first two albums, as their latest third album, ‘Into The Wild Life’ hadn’t come out then. Some of the latest singles from it were performed though, such as ‘Apocalyptic’ and ‘Amen’.

I really love Arejay’s drumming as he is always moving and puts so much energy into the performances. He was also jumping and standing up to play.

They performed:
1. Mz. Hyde
2. It’s Not You
3. Freak Like Me
4. Amen
5. You Call Me a Bitch Like It’s a Bad Thing
6. Daughters of Darkness
7. Apocalyptic
8. Rock show
9. I Hate It When You See Me Cry
10. Drum Solo
11. Mayhem
12. I Get Off
13. Love Bites (So Do I)
14. I Miss The Misery
15. I Like It Heavy
16. Here’s To Us

I really enjoyed the performance of ‘I Hate It When You See Me Cry’ as Lzzy performed this just using her guitar and voice, without the other members, and she really showed off her vocals and got into it.

Well, ’twas a freakin’ amazin’ show and I’m so glad to have finally seen Halestorm (and now know about Nothing More)!

Asking Alexandria Concert, London

Last Thursday I went to see Asking Alexandria performing at The Roundhouse. Asking Alexandria are an English metalcore band, consisting of Danny Worsnop (vocals), Ben Bruce (lead guitar), James Cassells (drums), Cameron Liddell (rhythm guitar) and Sam Bettley (bass guitar).

When I bought tickets, the support acts hadn’t been announced, so I was very happy when I heard that they were to be Secrets, Crown The Empire and The Ghost Inside as I’d heard of them all before (although am only a fan of Crown The Empire).

I’d wanted to watch all support acts, but I’d come straight from college to try to get there as soon as possible and despite being there an hour early the queue was already really long. It took us a while to get let in, so I missed Secrets.

Nevertheless, I arrived just in time to see all of Crown The Empire, the main support act I’d wanted to see. They were really good, and I love Andy Leo’s vocals which sound just as good live as recorded. The amount of energy that they put into their performance was admirable, as they kept the crowd moving, jumping, singing along and moshing. However, I must admit that I’m not as much of a fan of their new album ‘The Resistance: Rise Of The Runaways’ than their previous one ‘The Fallout,’ so I wish they could have performed more of their older songs.

Then The Ghost Inside came on and performed a few songs. They were quite impressive and you could feel the songs vibrating through your body, but I personally prefer songs with more clean vocals which aren’t purely shouting. I enjoyed their last song the most, ‘Engine 45’ as I recognised it and it’s also quite catchy.

 Then there was the big wait as Asking Alexandria’s stage was set up. They came on to the dramatic opening of ‘Don’t Pray For Me,’ which built up the anticipation, and the audience cheered and sang along as the vocals began.

The setlist was:
1. Don’t Pray For Me
2. Run Free
3. Breathless
4. Break Down The Walls
5. To The Stage
6. Dedication
7. Someone, Somewhere
8. Moving On
9. A Prophecy
10. The Final Episode (Let’s Change The Channel)
11. Not The American Average
12. Killing You
13. The Death Of Me
14. Poison

There’s been a lot of talk recently as fans have been saying that Danny ‘can’t scream anymore’ after breaking his vocal cords and having to get them fixed. From the performance I saw he can definitely still scream, but he just doesn’t do quite as much of it and has a different style.

I like how Asking Alexandria seem to get a different sound with each album as this means that their albums aren’t exactly the same and their sound develops. Now, Danny has more of a classic rock voice which definitely suits the new songs. It’s also interesting to see him incorporate this new style into their old songs such as the classics ‘The Final Episode’, ‘A Prophecy’ and ‘Not The American Average’.

It was great how energetic the crowd was, although I was a bit disappointed that I wasn’t near a big mosh pit, as I’ve never been in one and wanted to give it a go. Despite being between two when Crown The Empire were performing, there were more on the other side when Asking Alexandria were playing.

I was very impressed with the performance AA gave, as Danny was very much in tune, and each member was full of energy. In between songs, Danny and Ben gave random comments and joked with each other, and it was a very enjoyable show. I feel as though they have improved live and their new style may make it easier for them to give consistent performances. I’m very glad I went.

Black Veil Brides

Normally I don’t do much with my life, but yesterday I went to see Black Veil Brides at the Roundhouse, London, and they were rather good.

I went with my sister and father (who weren’t very enthusiastic) but I did have quite a good time. I understand that often people don’t like Black Veil Brides for their image or claim that they have a ‘generic music style’ but I love a spot o’ Black Veil Brides, so I don’t really care what people say.

There was quite a great gathering of people, often dressed in band merchandise and wearing war-paint, which was pretty much what I had expected.

As I’m not used to the ways of concerts, I didn’t arrive miles early – only about 15 minutes before the support acts started – and then I had to join a massive queue, leading all the way down several roads. This meant that I missed the first support act, but got in in time to see most of the second, ‘Heaven’s Basement,’ who were quite good.

After this, there was the expected anticipation for Black Veil Brides to come on stage, and so they did. There they were, Andy Biersack, CC, Ashley Purdy, Jake Pitts and Jinxx, and my seat was actually rather ok. That is, ignoring the irritating pillar in the way. All the same, the show was amazing, and I took a few photos throughout – I wanted to have at least one fairly reasonable picture of each member.

BVB are very good at performing live, and although my father wasn’t too amazed by Andy Biersack (why, I don’t know), he did admit that the drumming and guitars were pretty impressive. It was a great show! And I bought the tour t-shirt – the design is cool, and it’s a nice souvenir of the night.