HALESTORM / I PREVAIL – LIVE AT THE AMP IN BRIDGEPORT

By Kat Gullage

Halestorm and I Prevail bring their unnamed co-headlining tour to The AMP in Bridgeport with Hollywood Undead and Fit For A King as support acts.

Months ago my adult kid sent me a text. “Hollywood Undead is coming to CT!” Minutes later: Kid’s coworker: “Didja tell your Mom Hollywood Undead is coming?” Kid: “Yeah. She responded “Got the tix! See ya then!”

Pre-gaming was a must because drink prices at the AMP are offensive. $26.50 for a cocktail in a small plastic cup half full of ice. $16.95 was the cheapest beer I saw. $6.50 waters. Drinks are cheaper at Fenway. The kid and I hit a local joint I like, Brick & Barrel. The staff was welcoming and took good care of us as we filled up on food and drink and enjoyed our rare parent/kid outing. Went to pay and the bartender said “You’re all set. The guy at the end of the bar picked up your entire tab.” Excuse me? A random act of pure kindness? The kid and I were overwhelmed and grateful for the generosity. Our night was already off to a great start!

The opener, Fit For A King from Dallas, Texas were already on stage while we made our way through security. It was the empty-your-pockets then walk through metal detectors. Kid zoomed through. I had to be pulled aside and wanded before I got green lighted. We found our seats quickly as attendance was light at this point. We had rear floor seats but it didn’t matter because only the pit peeps and first few rows were there. FFAK were a quartet on this night with Ryan Kirby (Lead Vocals), Daniel Gailey (Lead Guitar), Trey Celaya (Drums) and, thankfully, Ryan “Tuck” O’Leary (Bass/Vocals).

The band performed eight tracks. Two singles and six songs from four of their seven studio LPs. FFAK was fired up and kicked it off with their single “Keeping Secrets”, which garnered the attention of the fans. A cut from The Path, “Breaking the Mirror ” was next, followed by two from The Hell We Create, “Falling Through The Sky” and ”End (The Other Side)”. Considering FFAK has had their share of employee turnover, the band plays well together. They are a recipe that seems on-trend, hard rock accompanied by a mix of smooth melodies and undecipherable growls.

The sound was loud and in your face, the band kept their foot on the gas throughout the whole set. Ryan K has a decent voice but I much prefer the non-screaming parts. It was Tuck that kept me wanting to watch the whole set. This mofo is singing and playing bass and catching decent height while jumping on stage. Title track “Deathgrip” was on deck followed by another The Hell We Create cut with “Reaper” and their single “Technium”. The set wraps with “When Everything Means Nothing” from Dark Skies. Into the metalcore trend? Need a dose of screamo mixed with energetic potential talent? Check em out.

Remember back in 2008 when everyone was raging to Hollywood Undead’s track “Undead”? Well, they released seven albums since then! This was it, the main reason the kid and I came to the gig. We had been jamming to them for weeks to get primed. The pit filled up, along with all the floor seats in front of the main aisle. Upper level seats began getting snagged by their owners in a polka dotted fashion. We weren’t the only ones there to see Jorel “J-Dog” Decker (Vocals+), Dylan “Funny Man” Alvarez (Vocals), George “Johnny 3 Tears” Ragan (Vocals+), Jordon “Charlie Scene” Terrell (Vocals+), Danny Murillo (Vocals+) and Matt “The Cat” Oloffson (Drums).

The band emerged faces out, the masks and bandanas shed long ago. They delivered a high octane set of twelve songs from five of their eight LPs. A cut from Five kicked it off with “California Dreaming”, followed by “CHAOS” from Hotel Kalifornia before getting the crowd jumpin with “Riot” off Notes From The Underground. The band bounced all over the stage. Back to the original beats for “Everywhere I Go” off their debut Swan Songs, another cut from Notes with “Renegade” and a visit to American Tragedy for “Comin’ in Hot”.

I’d estimate the venue to be forty percent full at that point but one hundred percent of the attendees were gettin off on this set. My kid was singing every word to every song. “Another Way Out”, also from Notes, led to a snippet of Rammstein’s “Du Hast”. “Ruin My Life” from Hotel and “Hear Me Now” off Tragedy led to a cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” – Hollywood Undead style. Not sure Mr. Cash would approve but I liked it. They closed it out with another Tragedy cut “Bullet” and then the track everyone was waiting for “Undead”.

If you liked Hollywood Undead back in the day, their live show will not disappoint. Something I found interesting about them, and the reason for the “vocals+”, is that they switch instruments/positions (except for the drums) depending on the song. They carry six guitars, two each for the three guitar players that don’t play at the same time, plus two basses.

Michigan’s Grammy nominated I Prevail was next on the bill. As a co-headliner their fans swelled the venue to maybe sixty percent capacity. They had this large backdrop and stage risers that were LED screens splashed with lyrics and awesome graphics. Seeing how the openers had nothing of the sort, this really made I Prevail stand out. The digital intro story went a tad too long. The band has three studio albums but their set was made up of cuts off of Trauma, basically half of the True Power LP and one infamous cover. Nothing from Lifelines on this night.

Brian Burkheiser (Clean Vocals), Eric Vanlerberghe (Unclean Vocals – aka incoherent snarls), Steve Menoian (Lead Guitar), Dylan Bowman (Rhythm Guitar), Jon Eberhard (Bass) and Gabe Helguera (Drums) stormed the stage and threw down “There’s Fear in Letting Go”, “Body Bag” and “Self-Destruction”. Their fans ate it up. Then time came for IT. The cover song that gave rise to their popularity and went certified platinum. Their metal cover of “Blank Space”. My kid screamed “Oh my God, Taylor Swift” and the crowd went wild. The I Prevail tracks continued with “Deep End”, “Visceral”, “Breaking Down” and “FWYTYK”.

The floor in front of the main cross aisle is one hundred percent full and those fans are wild for these guys. Behind the aisle I counted forty people actually paying attention. The set winds down with “Judgement Day”, “Choke”, “Hurricane”, “Bow Down”, and closes with “Gasoline”. The band translates well live and are beloved by their diehard followers. I prefer Brian’s smoother vocals to Eric’s unclean incantations, but I realize that this is metalcore so ya gotta have the mix of the two.

We were lucky to see Brian live as he had surgery for Eagle Syndrome in May. A few years before he experienced emergency vocal rest after a severe vocal cord injury. I can’t believe after all of those throat issues that Brian is back on stage and freaking singing his heart out night after night. Dude’s an inspiration and the I Prevail junkies let him know how grateful they were to have him back. Although my take on them was “meh”, my kid immediately added several of their tunes to her setlist. Check em out for yourself and see whatcha think.

Next to Hollywood Undead, Halestorm was the main attraction for us. I was so psyched to see a formidable display of female rock & roll bad-assery with my own daughter. Grammy award winning Halestorm never disappoints and this night was no exception. Lzzy Hale became the first female artist to win the award in the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance category (2012).

Halestorm has five studio albums and their too short set of ten songs touched on all of them. An extended intro flaunts Lzzy’s pipes as they launch into “I Miss The Misery” and their Grammy winning song “Love Bites (So Do I)”, both off of The Strange Case Of LP. Lzzy switches out Gibson guitars like some change costume, shiny silver, glittery pink, and everything in between. Halestorm’s “I Get Off” included a perfect segue into a piece of Heart’s “Crazy On You”. She acknowledged the fans “We’re all freaks tonight!” before serving up another slice of The Strange Case Of with “Freak Like Me”.

Lzzy flashed her blues chops, but lost some crowd momentum with Into The Wild Life’s “Gonna Get Mine”. The singer dedicated the next one to both the band’s devoted fans, known as Freaks or Lzzbians, and Halestorm virgins. She showcased more vocal prowess with a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Halestorm’s “Familiar Taste of Poison”. Lzzy’s cohorts are Joe Hottinger (Lead Guitar), Josh Smith (Bass) and her brother Arejay Hale (Drums).

It was Arejay’s turn in the spotlight and he churned out a drum solo that included a comical giant set of drumsticks. Each member of the band ended up with a drum on stage and the solo transformed into a drum circle. Back to business with another Into The Wild Life track, “Mayhem” which included an attempt at Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption”. Halestorm and I Prevail conveniently released a collaborative single prior to this shared headlining tour, so Eric Vanlerberghe came on stage to assist in “can u see me in the dark?”. The compact set wrapped with “Black Vultures” from Vicious and “The Steeple” from Back From The Dead.

Certainly longed to hear more, but that was it, no encore. Halestorm has been the same quartet for two decades now and Lzzy’s voice is a treasure. We don’t have enough female fronted mayhem so please support ‘em. Lzzy probably has to work a thousand times harder just cuz she has tits. Love Halestorm? Time to revisit them. New to Halestorm? Time to get your freak on.

Thanks for your support rockers and readers! More to come!

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