There are few better examples of what hard work can achieve in the music industry then American rockers Halestorm. The origins of the band can be traced back to 1997 when siblings Arejay and Elizabeth Lzzy Hale were just ten and thirteen years old. Their hard work and dedication paid off in 2013 when Halestorm won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock / Metal Performance for their track 'Love Bites...(So Do I)''taken from 2012s 'The Strange Case Of....
Having toured their second record as vigorously as ever, they have finally found time to create album number three. Entitled 'Into The Wild Life' the album is set for release on April 13th in the UK. Never ones to miss an opportunity to hit the road the albums imminent release is what brings the band and a packed crowd to Norwich's UEA LCR venue on a cold Monday night (a cold Monday which has ironically seen a couple of hail storms!).
Support for the tour comes from American bands Wilson and Nothing More. But with Nothing More unable to come over for the first two dates of the tour Norwich and Nottingham are treated to some home grown talent in the shape of The Fallen State. Stepping up to the plate with a passionate and polished performance this young band certainly has the potential to make an impact on the heavy rock scene. Songs such as 'Great Unknown' and 'Burn It To The Ground' have the audience up and moving from the get go.
Detroit noise makers Wilson will open on this tour but are promoted to main support for the purposes of the first couple of shows and fill this space with ease. Wilson prove tonight that they are a band that brings it live with a balls to the wall onslaught of metal mayhem. They are definitely a band that gives it 110% onstage even if, as is the case tonight, they are feeling far from it off the stage. Tonight vocalist Chad Nicefield is clearly under the weather but that doesn't stop him delivering his best to the clearly appreciative crowd.
It appears to be Wilson's band motto to have fun and that's what they do tonight, ensuring that the crowd does too along the way. Nicefield and co employ all the tricks of the trade tonight to guarantee the crowd are suitably warmed up for our headliners and I'm sure in doing so they will have picked up some new followers along the way.
This is an approach which has paid off in style for headliners Halestorm a band whom I'd suggest have picked up a large portion of their dedicated fan base through a prolific succession of impressive support slots. Support slots should now be a thing of the past for the band however as they have emerged as venue fillers in their own right as demonstrated by the busy LCR tonight.
As touched upon earlier siblings Arejay on drums and vocalist Lzzy have been in this for the long haul, starting out making music together at a very young age. It wasn't until the additions of Joe Hottinger on guitar and Josh Smith on bass around 2003-2004 that the Halestorm we know and love today took shape. Since then the band have honed their craft on the road and perfected it in the studio with two exciting albums already under the belt.
Their Grammy moment catapulted them on to the big stage and now with the imminent release of 'Into The Wild Life' it would appear that the sky's the limit for the band. Anticipation is high for the record and from the handful of tracks previewed tonight it's easy to see why. The likes of 'Apocalyptic', 'Mayhem' and 'Amen' all fit seamlessly into a set packed with fan favourites.
'The Strange Case Of...' is clearly the album that took the band to the next level so there's no surprise tonight that it's leant heavily on in the set list with the likes of 'Mz. Hyde' and 'Freak Like Me' coming early in the show and setting the pace for the evening. Its obvious tonight the talent that each individual member of the band possess but also that collectively they bring out the best in each other.
As the show progresses tonight the band display their dexterity in switching between the heavier songs like 'It's Not You' and 'Rock Show' to their mellower moments such as 'Break In' and 'Familiar Taste Of Poison' all of which are greeted in the same enthusiastic manner by the audience.
Drummer Arejay has become something of a cult figure amongst fans and he gets to lap up some adulation midway through the set with one of his customary drum solos that finishes with the introduction of novelty over sized drum sticks much to the delight of his fans.
Throughout the show tonight the consistency in quality remains both in the material on offer and the performance of it. When you are able to close your main set with the back to back blitz of 'I Get Off', 'Love Bites (So Do I)' and 'I Miss The Misery' you know that youre on to a winner. And with the encore of new track 'I Like It Heavy' and older favourite 'Here's To Us' the band send the crowd home happy.
It's been another stop on the bands road to world domination tonight and with the amount of effort that the band put in to be the best it's becoming harder and harder to see how they will fall short of this objective.
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.