For all the array of colorful lasers and rocking songs on display last Thursday night at Tech Port Center + Arena when Halestorm, The Warning and New Years Day rolled into town, there was an interesting prop missing that would’ve set this tour apart from all others, and yet been perfectly appropriate.
A row of empty wine glasses.
When you have one of the premier voices in rock in the form of singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale — someone this writer could listen to sing all day — whose octaves could send wildlife scurrying for shelter, you can’t help but wonder how many glasses her vocal cords could shatter.
Well, maybe next tour.
The absence of said accompaniment certainly did not lessen the quality of show put on by the headliners and their support acts (see 55-photo gallery below). As Hale herself said prior to introducing “. . . Strange Girl” and invoking a piercing prelude scream on “I Miss the Misery” (ATM Facebook Live footage here) — “Gentlemen, I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but you are surrounded by some badass bitches tonight.”
That point was certainly difficult to argue.
Hale’s emotion pours from her being into your soul when she sings, particularly on rockers such as personal favorite “Love Bites (So Do I)” and slower tunes such as the trio of songs she turned into a piano medley: “Break In,” “Dear Daughter” and new track “Raise Your Horns” (ATM footage below).
While Halestorm’s latest album is Back From the Dead, from which the group performed six of its 11 tracks, the all-original lineup of Hale, her brother drummer Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger and bassist Josh Smith has hardly been dormant, particularly in Texas.
It’s been fun to watch the group grow and evolve from a 2008 performance opening for Staind at the Austin Music Hall, to supporting Alice In Chains in 2009 at the AT&T Center for Bone Bash, a 2010 stop in Corpus Christi on the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival (watch our bus interview from that show here), to the 2012 Mass Chaos Tour with Staind and Godsmack at the Alamodome, to the 2015 River City Rockfest to a headlining gig at the Aztec Theatre in December 2018.
At Tech Port, the band’s maturity, enthusiasm for playing alongside one another more than 14 years later, and musicianship were exhibited more than ever. Arejay Hale provided another riveting drum solo culminating with his patented oversized sticks (how the hell did he twirl one of them?), while Smith held down the low end and Hottinger traded riffs with Lzzy Hale, who saved her best vocal for last on “The Steeple” despite having sung for nearly 90 minutes by that point.
Had the wine glasses been on stage even before Halestorm hit the platform, it’s no stretch to say the crowd’s reaction to The Warning may have shattered them as well. Although the numbers may have approached 1,000 for this weeknight show in the 3,100 capacity indoor venue, the dedicated faithful were blown away by the three sisters from Monterrey, Mexico, who were making their San Antonio live debut, making one wonder when the last time was that a support act elicited that much excitement from an audience.
As Lzzy Hale eloquently referred to them, her “sisters from another mister” took the stage by storm and may have even stolen the show.
The Villarreal ladies — singer/guitarist Daniela, drummer Paulina and 17-year-old bassist Alejandra “Ale” — brought the heat and energy and kept the fans riled up with one energetic song after another. Most of the tunes came from new album Error, which dropped June 24, including “Disciple” and “Evolve” (ATM footage below).
Daniela’s own unique voice along with her electrifying guitar playing teamed with Paulina’s intensely upbeat drum playing and Ale’s bass thumping on other tracks such as “Z,” 2018 title track “Queen of the Murder Scene,” “Money” and their cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” It was the latter that spawned a following for the band in the first place in 2014 thanks to YouTube and the ability to go viral, in turn leading to a complimentary endorsement and reaction from none other than Kirk Hammett that enabled The Warning to take part in the Metallica Blacklist tribute album. Watch ATM Facebook Live footage here.
It would be a crime if The Warning wasn’t brought back to town sooner than later by local promoters. If any of them were on hand to see the band play on this night, it’s likely a safe bet they’re already working on it. Fingers crossed. The Warning’s overall performance needs to be seen to be believed.
New Years Day, meanwhile, opened the festivities, once again supporting Halestorm in the Alamo City as they did four years ago at the Aztec.
Fronted by original vocalist and band founder Ash Costello, the group from Anaheim, California, got things started with its bold, but mostly unrecognizable, version of Pantera’s “Fucking Hostile” and “I’m About To Break You” (ATM footage below) as well as new single “Hurts Like Hell.”
Costello also made a San Antonio appearance earlier this year with her side project The Haxans at Paper Tiger.
For at least one night, Lzzy Hale, The Warning, and Costello demonstrated that with every passing day, metalheads and music reviewers don’t need to distinguish musicians by gender anymore. In fact, there’s nothing wrong with retiring the term “female-fronted” for a more politically incorrect one.
Yep. “Badass bitches” works just fine.
