Halestorm & I Prevail: storm delays have never dampened their energy

Thursday, July 11th was a stormy afternoon at Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana, causing some complications for Halestorm & I Prevail’s concert that night. With lightning in the area causing an hour-and-a-half-long delay, fans were finally allowed to file into the venue and rushed to find their seats before the show began. Due to the extent of the delays, Fit For A King had to drop off the bill for the night, allowing Hollywood Undead to keep their opening spot and both headliners to have full-length sets.

Hollywood Undead cut straight to the chase, bringing out their full energy and hyping the crowd up from the moment they got onstage. Within moments the crowd was jumping with flailing arms, matching the constant movement of the band. Playing their hit song “Everywhere I Go” only helped the crowd gain even more energy, turning the venue from a concert into a full-fledged party. Beach balls were tossed into the crowd to be thrown through the air, matching the array of decorations on the stage designed with the theme of their last album titled “Hotel Kalifornia” in mind.

Before I Prevail even took the stage, their captivating set design grabbed the fans’ attention. Huge LED screens covered a riser with descending staircases on stage, splitting it into two stories. Behind the riser, instead of a typical curtain or banner, was yet another screen projecting a video of a hooded figure while occasionally skipping to a blazing inferno as smoke billowed in.

I Prevail’s set was bass-heavy in a way that you could feel, with wild guitar riffs to go along with it and setting a powerful tone to the music. Vocalists Brian and Eric complemented each other well on stage, each having choreography-like body language to emphasize the opposite’s turn singing and keeping the energy flowing even during simpler moments in the music. A particular callback moment between Eric chanting “If you don’t know the Devil-” and the crowd shouting “-then you don’t know me!” got the fans riled up, with fans on barricade particularly taking advantage of the free space in front of them to properly headbang to the music.

While watching crew members set up for Halestorm, I took note of drummer Arejay Hale’s unusual setup with his drum kit. It consisted of at least 8  drums, just as many – if not more – cymbals, and a microphone on a swivel stand allowing him to bring it to him when needed. Halestorm brought their full energy to the stage, as always, despite the storm delays, their tour bus also broke down and they needed to take multiple flights to get to the show, as noted by vocalist Lzzy Hale within the first few moments of being onstage.

Lzzy was nothing short of a rockstar on stage, commanding the crowd from the moment she stepped out. All it took was for her to make a simple rock and roll hand sign on stage as she approached her mic, and the full venue of roughly 20,000 fans mirrored it back to her. Along with her powerful presence through her body language, her live vocals are something I truly have not heard anyone else to be able to compare to, all while seeming completely natural and effortless on her part.

Arejay later on got the chance to show off the full potential of his drum kit, with a feature lasting what seemed to be well over a minute long. This drum feature was well received by the crowd, causing cheers so loud that at moments I could not hear him playing at all over the excitement. The crowd wasn’t only cheering loudly for Arejay, though. If anything their cheers were only warm-ups for just how loud they could be during any of Lzzy’s belting vocal moments where the musicians behind her faded away and let her voice ring out all on its own.

Tour for Halestorm and I Prevail has just kicked off, so if you’re in the area of any of their future stops I highly recommend writing them into your schedule – it’s a show you won’t regret, even if you have work early the next morning.

Listen to more of Halestorm here: