Review by Val Tapia
Photos by Fred Kuhlman
Promoter: Live Nation (https://www.livenation.com/ )
Venue: Arizona Financial Theatre (https://www.livenation.com/venue/KovZpZAEk7lA/arizona-financial-theatre-events )
Date: August 16th, 2024
I have mixed feelings on the merits of a co-headline tour, which has been a concert industry mainstay for the better part of three decades— at least.
Of course, it makes ideal business sense. The audience is treated to not one, but two, headline acts in one night. For the most part, if the artists have similar-sized audiences (or record sales, take your pick), they’ll both rotate the closing slots each night. I imagine it keeps everyone’s ego in check as well. But I digress.
They also get the same amount of time onstage, usually 75-80 minutes per act. Unfortunately, with Halestorm and I Prevail, the nearly sold-out crowd (roughly 4800) at the 5000-seat Arizona Financial Theatre on Fri. Aug. 16 got two 65-minute sets from the aforementioned headliners.
Having said that, Halestorm in particular made the most of their set as the evening’s closer. Kicking off its eleven-song set with I Miss The Misery (from the band’s second, and arguably best album so far, 2012’s The Strange Case Of…), lead vocalist/guitarist Lzzy Hale, drummer Arejay Hale, lead guitarist Joe Hottinger, and bassist Josh Smith were musically on-point their entire set.
Despite Hale flubbing the first verse of …Misery, she was immediately back on track with Love Bites (So Do I) and I Get Off (from 2009’s self-titled debut). It’s difficult to take your eyes off frontwoman Hale, who respectfully channels her inner Pat Benatar with (to this writer’s ears) a little Chrissie Hynde as well. Yes, my friends, Hale is that good onstage.
Dare I say it, I think Halestorm could pull off a killer version of The Pretenders early 80s classic Middle Of The Road with ease. As most of their fans know, they’ve done their fair share of covers over the years— from Judas Priest to Lady Gaga.
To my thinking, covering The Pretenders would be right up their alley. I know, I’m getting off track here— forgive me.
Back to the show, Freak Like Me gets heads banging with the predominantly Millennial audience, followed by I Am The Fire, and the showstopping Familiar Taste Of Poison, which Hale dedicated to “each and every one” in the audience.
Vocally, she nailed it, while the band added a short jam, which extended the song to about 7 minutes. In short order, it went down a storm. Pun intended.
There was a drum solo from Arejay Hale, and a drum “circle” from the entire band that went over surprisingly well. Personally, I think drum and guitar solos in live shows are extremely outdated. However, I’ll concede that Hale’s drum solo arguably paid respect (perhaps indirectly) to the live concert experience of the 1980s, for those who weren’t “there” during that decade.
There was one new song in the set, a duet with I Prevail’s co-vocalist Eric Vanlerberghe called can u see me in the dark? Hale proudly introduced him to rousing applause.
Mz. Hyde (my favorite Halestorm song, for what it’s worth) and The Steeple concluded the fast-paced, no-nonsense set with the audience very satified overall.
As for co-headliner I Prevail, they rightly went on before Halestorm. Overall, they went over well with the audience. However, I think they’ve been listening to Linkin Park and Slipknot a little too much. As a result, it sounded like they more or less emulated them— with mediocre results in my opinion.
Songs like There’s Fear In Letting Go, Deep End, and a cover of Taylor Swift’s Blank Space were played— to the fans’ delight. But I just didn’t “get” them. That’s not intended as a put down at all. They simply didn’t hold a candle to Halestorm on this particular night.
The final verdict? Given this was a co-headline tour, I’ll give Halestorm four (out of five) stars. They need to be seen live to fully appreciate them.
As for I Prevail? I’ll say 2.5 stars for effort.
Halestorm
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2024, All Rights Reserved
I Prevail
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2024, All Rights Reserved
Hollywood Undead
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2024, All Rights Reserved
Fit For A King
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2024, All Rights Reserved
