Devil's Gate Music
Related Articles
“Let’s dance like no one’s watching, sing like no one’s listening”. Couple that thought with a hugely infectious chorus, and you have three minutes of sheer delight. A band worthy of further investigating. And now for something completely different… Avatar. What a show! From the minute Rews left the stage, Big Top music was piped into the venue. A massive sign with ‘Avatar’ spelt out in white light bulbs was raised into place, as Avatar crew, dressed in smart uniforms, readied the stage for the arrival of his majesty, the King. Avatar file onto the stage one at a time, with The Greatest Showman (up yours, Jackman!) Johannes making his grand appearance last. The King himself, guitarist Kungen, sets the evening in motion with some fine windmilling and we are off on the crazy train! Did you ever watch Batman Returns and wonder what happened to The Penguin’s circus performers/gang members once he croaked? Well, four of them are here in Avatar (Five if you count bassist Henrik Sandelin, who is on a leave of absence due to family matters). “The resident stage ghost will play invisible bass for the time being.” Jaws drop amongst the crowd as those unfamiliar with the Swedes wonder what the hell they are witnessing. Johannes himself points out the faces that those watching Avatar for the first time are making. What they are witnessing is Vaudeville meets Hammer Horror at a party over at Tim Burton’s house, where Johnny Depp has cracked open the Absinthe. Couple that with fast, melodic death metal playing at full volume, and sweet baby Jesus, what a full on assault of the senses! An Avatar show works best in the dark. As good a festival band they are, as soon as you put them in a darkened theatre, the show takes on new meanings. Everything is gloriously over the top, right down to the choreographed role of the uniformed crew member who carefully waits on the King as he changes his tunic before launching into ‘The King Welcomes You To Avatar Country’… or when he brings on a solitary effects pedal for fellow guitarist Tim Öhrström, places it down like he was placing Cinderella’s glass slipper for her to try, stands to attention as Öhrström pulls off a face-melting solo, then carefully picks it up and retreats to his post in the wings. An incredible show, and one that provided a hot topic of conversation afterwards in the bastion of thought-provoking debate… the gent’s lav. Oh Halestorm, how the UK has missed thee. Unless my maths are wrong, it’s been three years since Halestorm last played a headlining tour in the UK. Sure there have been festival slots, the “Carnival Of Madness” dates, and the astonishing “Evening With Halestorm” shows, but this is the first run of headlining dates since March 2015, and the place is heaving! With the incredible new album ‘Vicious’ making waves everywhere, Halestorm are on fire right now. After what seems like an eternity since Avatar left the stage, the house lights drop and the noise level rises considerably. Halestorm have been mixing up the set on these dates, so much so that they could open with anything. It is funny, however, when the guy in front of me closes the page on his phone that is set to Setlist FM. Yep, it’s a totally different opener from the previous night. Here, the band crash into the title track of the new album, and we’re off and running. Lzzy Hale will always get the loudest screams no matter what, and when she appears front and centre, the screams are deafening. Male, female, young, old, Mz Hyde herself has that instant appeal to all demographics. Wearing a fuzzy red jacket that oozes Marc Bolan, she begins to unleash the almighty voice that his her trademark. The new material sounds killer and, as you would expect, the vast majority of the set is culled from ‘Vicious’. ‘Black Vultures’, ‘Skulls’ and the “controversial” ‘Do Not Disturb’ are all greeted with loud approval. The vinyl version of the album finally gets released later this week, and as Hale points out, it has four extra tracks on it. As they are mixing up the setlist each night, tonight we get treated to the first live performance of ‘Golden’, and what do you know, cellphones are lighting up the room with people going live on Facebook. The guy in front of me started off the evening on Setlist FM and has now progressed to Facebook live. Me? I’m watching bassist Josh Smith and thinking that if only he was wearing a red scarf, we all would be Negan. Mixed in with the new material, are what you could call Halestorm staples. ‘Love Bites (So Do I)’, ‘Amen’, ‘Mz Hyde’, ‘Freak Like Me’, and an incredible version of ‘I Am The Fire’. Nothing from the debut album, but to be honest, airing ‘Familiar Taste Of Poison’ might have caused the intensity to drop down a notch or two. Arejay Hale still manages to make a drum solo fun and interesting. No golf umbrellas this time, just the oversized drum sticks. Then there is the guitar work from Joe Hottinger and Lzzy Hale. Halestorm are a guitar band first and foremost, and this pair treat the crowd to some fretboard fireworks. When they get together and go for some improvisation and spread out the songs, the results are real standout moments. The solo that Hottinger unleashes on the highlight of the evening, ‘Killing Ourselves To Live’, further cements his reputation as a guitarist who grows in stature by the day. The pair appear on the edge of the stage for the encore, with Hottinger clasping an acoustic guitar. Hale sits down next to him as they peel off a stunning rendition of ‘The Silence’ from the new album. Stripped back and bare, it proves that sometimes the best moments are the quietest. With the clock quickly ticking towards the dreaded 11pm curfew, the rest of the band come back on for ‘I Miss The Misery’ and the traditional set closer; ‘Here’s To Us’. The latter features tour manager Detroit coming on with four cups with what looks like Jägermeister, and in true Halestorm fashion, the band toast the crowd and neck the booze. This one time in Glasgow, they used Buckfast for the toast… I use that to clean my drains! Halestorm, meet the big league. Big league, meet Halestorm. You two will be seeing a great deal of each other. Halestorm finish up this UK run in Bristol on September 29th before heading over for European dates throughout October. All dates can be found here. Review: Dave S Images: Dave J [gallery type='flickr' user_id='132278830@N06' view='photosets' photoset_id='72157673751523018' media='photos' columns='3' tag_mode='any' sort='date-posted-desc' per_page='46' layout='square' caption='title' thumb_size='s' main_size='z' ] ]]>
