“You’re Not Alone Tonight”: Halestorm and Bloodywood in Oberhausen
Known for their constant touring while also managing to drop yet another album every three to four years, US-American band Halestorm has once again gone on another run through North America and Europe on their nEverest tour, named after the 2025 album ‘Everest’.
Since their self-titled debut album in 2009 and their incendiary follow-up ‘The Strange Case Of…’, they have carved out a space in the scene that no one can truly take from them and have gained a loyal fanbase. At Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen, Germany, this was made obvious by the queue forming more than an hour early, despite the absolutely pouring rain.
Support for this stretch of the tour is Indian folk-metal band Bloodywood, who released their album Nu Delhi this year. The trio, were clouded in dense fog and a sparse amount of light. They appeared suddenly on stage and immediately launched into their popular song ‘Gaddaar’. Bloodywood is known for combining traditional Indian sounds and instruments with hard-hitting nu metal, pioneering something new and exciting.
In fact, the crowd, some of them already wearing Bloodywood merch, could not have been more excited. Bhadula (vocals) and Katiyar (guitar, flute) effortlessly parted the audience with just some simple gestures, inciting them to mosh. These are performers who know how to play a crowd like they do their instruments: with a lot of passion and their utmost attention. They offered thanks to everyone dancing and showing their support, especially their European fans, as metal doesn’t have the same kind of reach in India. The recent album’s title track, ‘Nu Delhi’,describes their mission best, with Kerr rapping: “Divided by the blood, united by the spirit, Delhi rocking for the world and everybody in it”.
After just seven of their most popular songs, they left the audience breathless, sweaty and ready for more.
Main act Halestorm started their first song, ‘Fallen Star’, bathed in red light and with a classic but nonetheless deserved curtain drop, followed by excited screams from their already warmed-up crowd. Singing along to every word and with looks of adoration toward Lzzy Hale, fans of all ages and backgrounds raised the already high noise level by a few extra decibels. “I wanna be blown away, I wanna feel the walls shake”, Hale sang on ‘Mayhem’, their third song of the evening — which they were definitely trying to make happen.
With ‘Freak Like Me’, arguably one of their most popular tracks, they heated up the crowd even further. Hale, who has been a frontwoman in the male-dominated metal scene for more than 20 years and has since come out as bisexual (and proud of it), declared that it’s the beauty and power of music that connects so many different people living different lives, saying, “We think that we are alone sometimes in this world, but I’m telling you, you’re not alone tonight”.
Giving everyone a short respite from hard-hitter after hard-hitter, the band went into the rock ballad ‘Like A Woman Can’, proving that their talents lie in more than just face-melting riffs, strong bass and intricate drum parts. This slower but still intense energy continued with ‘Darkness Always Wins’, picked up again with ‘Takes My Life’, and built the crowd up for the title track ‘Everest’. Based on their performance alone, no one would have guessed that they were already 11 songs in — Lzzy Hale showing a stamina unachievable by normal standards. With a beautiful, heartfelt riff by Hottinger, matching the vocalist’s desperate tones, this song proves its worth as a title track.
After a much-applauded drum solo by Arejay Hale, who previously won Best Drummer in 2013, the band went on to perform some of their older songs.
‘I Miss The Misery’ and ‘Love Bites (So Do I)’ even got the last row to fervently scream and dance along. The band came together as a group, and Lzzy Hale thanked their fans for making their dreams come true, telling the crowd that their continued love and support were what kept them going. She thanked “those who have seen us before, those who’ve seen us for the first time, and those no longer with us” equally. The set ended on a strong note with ‘I Gave You Everything’, with the crowd not even taking a second to breathe before going straight into a “HALESTORM! HALESTORM!” chant — the band never even leaving the stage.
The three-song encore finished with their song ‘Rock Show’ — a perfect ending for an energetic concert like this one — as Hale sang, “I’m lookin’ at the front row, heart and soul, we both know it’s where we gotta be”.
Halestorm proves that diversity in the rock scene is key and has made their concerts a place where everyone is welcome. It’s on bands like this — and on us, as rock music enjoyers — to make gigs and the scene itself a place for all.
