It’s been a while since HALESTORM released their album “Into The Wild Life” in 2015. After a successful tour they released two great EP’s, but the fans have still been waiting for a new album and, of course, a tour. Now the wait is over: HALESTORM is back on tour with their brand new album “Vicious” and I attended the show in Cologne!

The waiting is finally over and HALESTORM are back on the road!

With a very extended tour with over 20 dates, HALESTORM is traveling across many European countries and cities to make their fans happy. For sure, HALESTORM is not alone on tour: for their gig in Cologne, they had DEVILSKIN from New Zealand on board as the opening act for their show.

DEVILKSIN from New Zealand opened the evening with a powerful show.

DEVILSKIN is not very well-known in Germany or in Europe, but in New Zealand they have opened the shows of big names like SLASH, MÖTLEY CRÜE, and ALICE COOPER. They have already played smaller clubs here, but with HALESTORM they got the chance to perform for a bigger circle of metal and rock fans. In the past, media have compared DEVILSKIN with HALESTORM, so maybe this connection was the perfect match for the New Zealanders. For sure, it’s a personal thing, if you see the comparison or not. I wouldn’t agree with that statement but for sure DEVILSKIN rocks and know how to do to an amazing show.

The evening started at 8 PM with a very powerful show by DEVILSKIN. With the first song, you already knew: this band rocks and this band fits perfectly into this evening! It doesn’t always happen, that an opening act gets so much power back from the audience but if you didn’t know that this was “only” the supporting act you could think this was the headliner. Not only because DEVILSKIN were allowed to play a 60-minute set, but also because of the reactions of the audience. It’s hard to describe what happened during this show but it was just amazing. The audience and DEVILSKIN had a very good connection and both sides gave everything to rock the Live Music Hall in Cologne. The 60 minutes of their set felt like only a moment and I was sad when it was over. Hopefully, DEVILSKIN come back very soon because I really think they won many new fans on this tour.

High temperatures, sticky floors, wet walls and HALESTORM’s mighty frontwoman Lzzy Hale in action.

After a short break, HALESTORM started their show at 9:30 PM. Like a real rock band, they had an impressive start. You knew: You won’t go home without giving everything all the power you have to this band and this show! The Live Music Hall is a venue made for rock bands: a small cub with a sticky floor and with so many people inside, you can feel water on the walls due to the rising temperature.

HALESTORM started the evening with a new song called ‘Skulls’. It was brave to start a show with a song that never has been released as a single or with an official video. But HALESTORM knows how to rock and how to start a show and ‘Skulls’ was perfect for this – a powerful song for a powerful start of a powerful show. And the crowd loved it! It was an amazing atmosphere during the whole show with a lot of energy from both sides.

No matter if HALESTORM played an old song or something from the new album “Vicious”, the fans celebrated them all like their favorite songs. When HALESTORM played their ballad ‘The Silence’, frontwoman Lzzy Hale showed that she is not only great on guitar but also an outstanding singer, which sometimes gets lost in the loud rock sounds on stage. Goosebumps everywhere. The ballad didn’t destroy the energy and power in the venue. Furthermore, it charged the batteries of the audience to restart on an even higher level of power after that song!

HALESTORM fans didn’t go home disappointed.

The fans loved every single song and if you take a look at the setlists of the past shows you see HALESTORM doesn’t have a list that they play every single night. They change the songs and add new ones from time to time. It’s nice for everybody, who attends more than one show.

For the fans, I don’t think that there is anything to criticize. With DEVILSKIN, HALESTORM had a powerful opening act. The selection of the songs from both bands were perfect and the fans really loved every single one – smiling faces everywhere! The concertgoers were sweaty but it was a rock concert. You have to give everything to make it special and that’s what all fans did during the show. Amazing evening. No more words needed!

If you want to see all photos, please visit my Flickr.

HALESTORM is still on tour:

Are you going to see HALESTORM live in this year or have you been at one of the past shows? Where? Tell us in the comments!