Where: Jefferson College Gym (Watertown)
When: Saturday, November 30th
Who: Halestorm
Short Synopsis:
Hard rock group Halestorm rocked Jefferson college on Saturday, November 30th at the local gymnasium with special guest north country band Lake Effect Mud. Both groups displayed talent and force all night to a near sold out crowd. Admitting she was sick, Lizzy Hale could still hit most of her notes and perform exceptionally will proving that she is indeed the driving fist for Halestorm.
In Detail
Despite being cold (what's new for the end of November for the north country, right?), the weather turned out fairly descent last Saturday night for the Halestorm concert. The concert was held at the gym at Sunny Jefferson College Campus in Watertown, NY. Holding around 1,200 people, the small gym's openness provided an unique experience for both the band and the fans. The lead singer was all too overjoyed to playing to a small crowd at the gym. "This show reminds me alot of our beginning days when we would be playing High schools around our home town," the lead singer proclaimed.
Lizzy Hale made it obvious throughout the night that this was indeed their first time playing Watertown. "Before the concert someone was telling me about it, and I was like, where the hell is that?" she proclaimed, but then with a smile announcing that they were extremely pleased and grateful to be there. However, this isn't Halestorm's first time to Upstate NY. Being from Pennsylvania, the group annually plays Syracuse during almost every one of their tours.
The crowd was almost sold out in Watertown Saturday night, and ha d along waiting line before the concert. "We have been waiting outside for a few hours, since shortly before 5," a fellow concert goer explained that was near the front row. "I can't feel my fingers right now!"
Not normally functioned, the concert was brought together by Jefferson's student affairs and public groups who were all too happy and overjoyed. During the beginning of the show, several students came on stage from affairs and groups explaining this in detail and they were the ones that organized and set up the event.
Opening the concert was local group Lake Effect Mud, who've been making a name for themselves the past few years and even have a tune or two that now play on mainstream radio. Big muscular guys with rocking guitars, the group warmed up the crowd well enough to their metal sounding tunes. The lead singer often screamed into the mike providing a head banging time. Impressively, the band writes their own tunes and are not centered around playing covers like most bands in the area.
Up next was the main attraction, Halestorm. The group came on stage rocking hard to their hit tune 'Love Bites, and so do I'. The stage background set up was pretty impressive as the group displayed a huge lit up blue art piece that was their emblem. As soon as she graced the stage, Lizzy rocked out to the crowd playing her classic v guitar singing powerfully into the mike. From the beginning, she continued to tease the people in the front and second row making her famous faces and sneers. By the ninth song, one could tell the group was putting everything they had into the performance and all were drenched in sweat. Unfortunately, Lizzy announced to the crowd that she was sick, and was truly sorry because she didn't believe she was at her 100% best.
Indeed, the group sounded a bit off at several moments during the concert, but most of it was fairly descent. However, one could tell that they could have been alot better performance wise, especially Lizzy. Yet, despite being sick, she hit at least fifty percent of her high notes and keys well enough to provide a good time. Being at a gymnasium, the concert wasn't your top of the line sound and lighting show either. At the same time the crowd was graced by the fact the concert was happening at all, because such shows only happen around once a year at the college in Watertown.
The concert itself was unique because it was a chance for Lizzy to connect to the audience. "I have to tell you what it's like to be a girl in a male dominated rock world," she said, explaining to the audience what it was like being in her shoes. "Let me tell you, it's awesome! You get what you what, like almost all the time!" She also had the chance to let the audience know what several of the songs were about before rushing into them. Having only two albums, Halestorm performed most of their songs from both albums that night to the crowd. It was an impressive set list that even included a few special and rare songs as well as covers, not to mention of course all the group's hits.
Perhaps one of the driving forces of the night wasn't Lizzy herself, but actually her brother on the drums. He was absolutely crazy throughout the night, getting the crowd pumped up every so often. There was even a ten minute drum solo where he proclaimed 'This is the time of time of show where I kick your asses!' He had so much energy in fact that when the group came together for a hug at the end of the show, he almost fell over!
One of the better moments of the night came during the encore when Lizzy & the gang performed their edition of 'Get Lucky' by Daft Punk. The group has a covers LP out now, and the song performed live was pretty different sounding and somewhat bizarre in a good way. "This is going to sound a little Weird," Lizzy told everyone before playing the tune. It was Halestorm's hard rocked out version of the techno pop sappy tune.
Before leaving, the group promised everyone they would return to Watertown next year after completing their new album. Halestorm are an extremely girl centered and powered rock group, but even so, they greatly differ themselves from all the diva musical goddesses out there today. They are a hard rock band, and show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Because she was sick, Lizzy could have been better Saturday night, but the concert wasn't horrible by any means. It was better than average.
Grade: 3.5 out of 5 stars
***/*
or solid B
Set list:
1) Love Bites
2) Mz. Hyde
3. You call me a bitch like it's a bad thing
4. Dirty Work
5. Freak Like Me
6. Slave to the grind (Skid Row Cover)
7. Daughters of Darkness
8. Rock Show
9. Break in
10. Private Parts
11. Gold Dust Woman (Fleedwood Mac Cover)
12. Familiar Taste of Poison
13. Drum Solo
14. Dissident Aggressor (Judas Priest Cover)
15. It's Not You
16. I get off.
Encore:
17. Get Lucky (Daft Punk Cover)
18. I miss the Misery
19. Here's to us
Photos:
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