Never ones to sit still, the hardest working band in rock left Download Festival and Lzzy Hale and Joe Hottinger of Halestorm immediately went on an intimate acoustic tour of the UK. Tonight is the last of the England dates, bringing the pair to Islington Assembly Hall, with what might have been the sweatiest acoustic show ever.
With a large queue of eager fans even before doors open, the 890 cap venue very quickly fills up with very little room to breathe and one poor fan having to get help from security even before the band came on for the first of their sets (fortunately she was quickly helped and brought back to the front). Tonights two sets from the duo is at places heartwarming, others a bit horny, and as at any Halestorm show, full of rock and roll.
The early part of the first set is about celebrating yourself, starting with a message for the queers to let their freak fly before ‘White Dress’, a song about being unapologetically yourself, even if your family isn’t supportive, something a lot of queers know the experience of. Following up with ‘Do Not Disturb’ and ‘Like A Woman Can’, Lzzy is proud of her bisexuality and uses her platform to normalise and destigmatize that, and uplift women.
‘Familiar Taste Of Poison’ really allows Lzzy to show off her vocal skills, holding notes for what seems forever (in the best way, often outlasting the cheers that came from the crowd part way through each held note), and a cover of Little Big Towns ‘Girl Crush‘ is definitely one for the Lzzbians in the crowd. Then it was time to “take the relationship to the next level” with ‘I get off’, one of the lyrically dirtier songs in their repetoire.
A more intimate show than Halestorm are known for these days with their big arena tours, had Joe and Lzzy cracking jokes about the Download Ferris Wheel incident, another about when her and Joe were being confused for siblings by a bus driver, and recounting their early days when they would book themselves into doing shows in bars, where Lzzy would often get up on the bar, much to the bars chargrin as she is “spacially challenged and often knocked lots of drinks over”. ‘The Silence’ is a touching tribute to her and Joes (not her brother) relationship before the intermission between sets.
After the break, Lzzy recounts herself and Arejay (actually her brother), the drummer starting the band as children, and their parents being supportive from the start and not holding them back “if you want to do this, if you want to live your dream, go for it now, with all your heart, make all the sacrifices. School or the 9-5 that you’ll hate will always be there” before kicking into ‘Dear Daughter’, a heartfelt ballad thats an ode not just to her and Arejays parents, but also to a daughter, if Lzzy were to have one in the future. It’s just Lzzy for the first few songs after the intermission, shifting over to the keyboard while singing, keeping the audience captivated easily by herself. ‘Break In’ brings out the phone lights for a beautiful shared moment with the lighting guy making use of the disco ball to amplify the effect of everyones phone lights swaying.
The last section of the set brings out the rest of the big guns, no warm up is needed for the crowd participation part of “Rock Show” or “Mz Hyde”, the crowd easily singing their parts. ‘I Am The Fire’ hits just as hard done acoustically in the small venue as it did at their second stage headline set at Download with their full production, pyro, and two twelve string guitars.
‘I like It Heavy’ was dedicated to Ozzy Osbourne after a recollection of Back to the Beginning where backstage, big bands like Guns and Roses, Mastodon and Tool were nervous about performing with Black Sabbath!
Chris Turpin of Ida Mae + Mirador guested for their cover of Fleetwood Macs ‘gold dust women’, they then also add Sid Glover of Heavens Basement for ‘I Miss The Misery’ where the crowd provide the backing vocals, again unprompted. The three men on stage launched into a guitar-trio towards the end of the song, showing off their skills. Set closer “Here’s To Us” is a fitting finish to the night, after all the ups and downs in their journey to this point, they get to have nights like this, with their fans, with their family.
The Unplugged tour continues:
19/06 The Academy, Dublin
20/06 Limelight, Belfast
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