From The Pit To The Crowd – Halestorm with In This Moment and New Years Day – Amway Center – Orlando FL – December 14, 2018

Photo by Talon Kane Photography

The Amway Center in downtown Orlando has been the host to some major musical acts such as Daryl Hall and John Oates, Stevie Nicks, and most recently Billy Joel. And they’ve even hosted some rock acts like Red Hot Chili Peppers. But, on December 14th, rock and metal fans were in for a treat with three great bands of Halestorm, In This Moment, and New Years Day. There was a huge buzz for this show and the media was out in full force that night, including The Photo Pit, to cover the event. There were so many photographers that they split us up into two groups to photograph the bands.

The Amway Center had a large crowd that evening on the floor and in the seats surrounding the arena. First on stage was New Years Day. The rock band from Anaheim, CA formed back in 2005 and released two EPs in 2005 and 2006. In 2007 they released their first studio album ‘My Dear’. The band went on the road to support the album and became very well known for their great live performances. The band continued to release studio albums and EPs as their popularity grew including getting multiple appearances on The Vans Warped Tour. Their latest studio album, ‘Malevolence’ was released in 2015 with great success. It debuted at #8 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart. It also peaked at #45 on the Billboard 200. Their latest EP ‘Diary of a Creep’ was released in 2018. It features one original song while the rest are covers, with one of them featuring Lzzy Hale the vocalist for Halestorm. And now Ash Costello (vocals), Nikki Misery (rhythm guitar), Frankie Sil (bass), James Renshaw (drums), Austin Ingerman (lead guitar) were touring with both In This Moment and Halestorm ready to rock the Orlando crowd.

They opened up with “Kill or Be Killed” from ‘Malevolence’ with Ash showcasing her amazing vocal talent. Nikki, Franki, and Austin were bouncing all over the stage playing hard and enjoying themselves. James was smiling from behind the drumkit having fun and enjoying it all. They followed up with “Fucking Hostile” by Pantera, which appears on ‘Diary of a Creep’. Ash spoke to the crowd to get them more animated telling them to throw their hands up high and put up their horns. Ash with her bright colored hair had no qualms showing off her headbanging skills, easily whipping her head and hair about during their songs. New Years Day finished their set with “Epidemic”, “Skeletons”, “Scream”, and “Defame Me”. The Orlando crowd gave them a solid round of applause and cheers when they finished their set.

Next up to the stage was In This Moment the metal band from Los Angeles, CA. Forming in 2005 the band worked on their own to form a fanbase through MySpace and caught the attention of Century Media Records who signed them to a record deal. In 2007 they released their first studio album ‘Beautiful Tragedy’. The band started touring with artists such as Five Finger Death Punch, Papa Roach, Mudvayne, and even was invited to the Ozzfest tour with Megadeth, Rob Zombie, and Ozzy Osbourne. When they released their fourth album, ‘Blood’, the band decided to record a show live at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, WI and changed this up from their regular performances. Their set included choreography, set props, and dancers, which is one of the things they are so well known for today. In 2014 the band signed with Atlantic Records and released their fifth studio album ‘Black Widow’. On July 21, 2017, the band released their sixth and most current studio album ‘Ritual’. The album peaked at #23 on the Billboard 200 and #3 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Album chart. In This Moment are Maria Brink (vocals), Chris Howorth (lead guitar), Randy Weitzel (rhythm guitar), Travis Johnson (bass), and Kent Diimmel (drums).

As the lights dimmed and fog poured out onto the stage, one by one the members of In This Moment made their way on stage. Maria wearing her large pointed crowd and covered in black robes with two Blood dolls by her side as they started to perform “Blood” the title track from the 2014 album. The crowd was already excited to see them and hearing this song made them scream in delight. The followed up with “River of Fire” from ‘Ritual’. I enjoy hearing this song live as Chris, Randy, and Travis lay down some seriously heavy guitar riffs while Kent smashes away on the drums. Maria’s vocals are amazing as usual but in this song, she really shows off her range and skills. The band went back to ‘Blood’ performing “Adrenalize” and then back to ‘Ritual’ with “Roots”. Maria left the stage so the guys could play out their “Monster Jam” instrumental. The most impressive piece is Kent’s drum solo performance. The speed, strength, and sounds he produces off his drumkit are captivating. So much that my young daughter watched with amazement and played air drums along with him. They followed with their version of Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” from ‘Ritual’ and then played one of my favorites, “Big Bad Wolf” from ‘Black Widow’. The band closed with “Oh Lord” from ‘Ritual’ and took a brief break before Maria came back out on stage with the podium and dunce cap on her head reading “WHORE” to give her soliloquy before they performed “Whore” from ‘Blood’. The crowd cheered loudly for In This Moment as they wrapped up their set, which they absolutely deserved for such an amazing performance that night.

Last and certainly not least were the headliners Halestorm. The rock band from Red Lion, PA had members Lzzy Hale and her brother Arejay Hale writing music together since 1997. It wouldn’t be until 2004 when they had the full band together and by the next year signed a deal with Atlantic Records. After releasing the ‘One and Done’ EP in 2006, by 2009 the band released their first and self-titled studio album. The album peaked at #43 on the Billboard 200 and #4 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart. The album was eventually certified Gold. The band released their second studio album, ‘The Strange Case Of…..’in 2012. The band was nominated and won the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Grammy for the single “Love Bites (So Do I)” of their second album. In 2015 they released their third studio album ‘Into The Wild Life’ which grabbed the #1 spots on the US Rock Album, US Rock, and US Hard Rock Charts. The album peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200. Now, the band is touring on their fourth studio album, ‘Vicious’, which was released on July 27, 2018. The album secured #8 on the Billboard 200 and the #1 spots on the US Top Rock Albums and US Top Hard Rock Albums charts. Halestorm is Lzzy Hale (vocals, guitar, piano), Arejay Hale (drums), Joe Hottinger (lead guitar), and Josh Smith (bass).

The moment the lights dimmed the Amway Center erupted knowing Halestorm was coming to the stage. They immediately jumped into “Black Vultures” from ‘Vicious’. The hard rocking song immediately had the crowd on their feet and those on the pit floor were jumping with the music. Lzzy’s vocals sounded superb hitting those long drawn out notes with the sound only she could replicate. Joe was ripping away on the guitar with Josh strumming away on bass and Arejay smashing the drums away nearly knocking his cymbals off. They followed up with “Love Bites (So Do I)” and “Mz. Hyde” both from ‘The Strange Case Of…’, which are both favorite songs of mine. The vocals Lzzy resonates in “Love Bites (So Do I)” are incredibly impressive. They followed with “Uncomfortable” from ‘Vicious’, which is different pace from their other songs. But, those vocal notes Lzzy holds out just blows you away. She is truly one of the most talented rock vocalists out there today.

They performed “Do Not Disturb” also from ‘Vicious’ and “Amen” from ‘Into The Wild Life’ which both slowed down the pace and each where Joe got to show his excellent guitar skills. The band stopped as Joe, Arejay, and Josh walked off stage and a grand piano was brought out for Lzzy to perform “Dear Daughter” from ‘Into The Wild Life’. The ballad resonates a wonderful and positive message for young girls and Lzzy performed it beautifully. And then they got back to rocking with “Skulls” from ‘Vicious’ and followed up with Arejay performing a drum solo. The intensity, speed, and power he puts into his playing is so much fun to watch (and yes my daughter was air drumming along with him too). He sang a few notes to get the crowd to sing back and then sang a portion of The Offspring’s “Why Don’t You Get a Job?” before pulling out the oversized massive drumsticks to play.

Halestorm was ready to rock again kicking off “Freak Like Me” from ‘The Strange Case Of…’ and “I Am The Fire” from ‘Into The Wild Life’. Joe and Lzzy then sat down on a box in front of the stage to perform “The Silence” from ‘Vicious’. Joe played an acoustic guitar for the song that was simply beautiful. I feel their live rendition is much better than the one on the album. Lzzy poured her heart out singing this song and you could absolutely feel it with every note. They followed with “I Miss The Misery” from ‘The Strange Case Of…’ which got the crowd rocking again. Halestorm wrapped up their set with “Here’s to Us”, also from ‘The Strange Case Of…’, and said farewell and thank you to the Orlando crowd, who provided them a huge round of applause.

I truly enjoyed seeing these three bands on tour together as it made a nice dynamic of a few different styles of rock and metal. Each of them performed well and made it a very fun and entertaining evening. Though we may not see these three play together again soon, I look forward to seeing any of them come back through Orlando again.