please forgive me for the rambling that will take place in this post as I attempt to convey the experiences I had seeing Halsey at her first headlining UK shows. Let's see how this goes, shall we?
First things first let's go to the day before the Islington show, where I met up with 5 of the Halsey Squad to begin our camp out. Given how fast the shows sold out, and the fact the venue had been upgraded, we'd anticipated a strong turnout for campers, but in fact we were the only 6 people, and so our night of playing the Seven Second Challenge, watching Boobah YouTube videos and running away from foxes began. The morning of the show fans turned up in mini groups and the atmosphere came to life, we cosied up in Starbucks and this is a PSA for you to NEVER DRINK A PEPPERMINT LATTE! We had a little issue with the queue being unaware there was an O2 priority queue but resolved any doubts we had about our campout being worthless and our tiny hearts grew as we raced to the barrier for the show.
Inside the crowd began to buzz, the pre show playlist had everyone singing like a choir on amphetamines and the support act, Matt Wills increased the energy as he incorporated New Americana lyrics into one of his songs, though he needs to work on his wine sharing skills!
It was a fortunate thing that the air conditioning seemed to be on the highest setting because Halsey's set rocked through everyone's bloodstream and with each beat, grind, licking of the microphone and falling to her knees, becoming a sweaty mess was the natural reaction.
As her team set up the stage and the set list came into view, the realisation of what was about to happen unfolded. BADLANDS was about to come to life in front of us, and I have never been more excited for a live performance.
The opening track, Gasoline ignited the crowd. It's one of my favourites and felt like the right opening choice for her first ever UK show. Not being a single and not having any music video or following like that of her earlier songs, such as Hurricane, it showcased the intensity of the fan base. The crowd echoed every line that rolled from her lips and even the photographers seemed to have grasped the wild reaction. She left no time for us to catch our breaths as she pounced into Hold Me Down, which sucked even more energy from the crowd as she fell to her knees in a position that has become so iconic for her sets.
There were breaks in between songs in which Halsey engaged with the crowd to thank us for getting her a top ten record, having never even performed in the UK. She gave us anecdotes of her time recording the album in Wales, before she jumped into Castle which had just as a physical performance of Hold Me Down, as Halsey grabbed her neck, mimicking lyrics from the song. She also went on to talk about how her label had told her she couldn't release Badlands on the same day worldwide, 'You can't release your album like that, you've never even fucking been to England,' but as defiant as she is, Halsey had her way, because she believed in the power of her fan base. Lots of artists will thank their fans for any achievements they gain, but Halsey's appreciation felt genuine, the fire of the fan base helped bring her vision to life, and the reaction every song had from the crowd made me feel like I was witnessing the beginning of something bigger than I could've imagined.
There was a moment when Halsey teased us further, asking 'You know the song ghost right? Good because this song is Haunting.'
When Halsey went into Control I felt my heart rate increase. Every single thing about that performance was a thousand times better than I could have anticipated. The green lighting made me feel like I was on a ghost train, where Halsey became a shadow on stage, and there was a small Frankenstein feel to the performance.
Then came Ghost, the very first song that she released and she let the crowd serenade her with the first verse before diving into it herself. It was a moment in the set where the crowd got to show her just how long they've waited to scream these lyrics in her presence, and it was truly the loudest crowd I've heard, where at times the vocals of a twenty year old on stage were drowned out by 800 passionate and adoring fans.
The thing I learnt about Halsey is that she isn't a social media star. Everything I've known of her shows I've seen on Twitter and Tumblr and it seemed to me like she was an enigma. She talks in interviews of how Taking Back Sunday shows inspired her stage presence and seeing this come to life infront of me was incredible. She doesn't just stand there and sing, she drops to her knees, plays with the microphone, bends over backwards, stands on barriers and soaks her fans (thanks for that little shower of sweat btw!). Halsey is entertaining to watch, she brings BADLANDS to life and it's something everyone should experience.
Colors was beyond what I'd expected. I knew it was THE crowd favourite, but the part that is anthemic for the fanbase was loud and filled with dedication. We wanted Halsey to know that we knew every lyric she'd ever written.
Hurricane was broken down in the middle for Halsey to completely own the hearts of the fans and declare that 'NOBODY CAN EVER CONTROL YOU,' and my lil emo heart cried.
She closed the set Young God, after the crowd cried her name for an encore. An example of one of her most sexed up songs, her movements mirrored this, as her hands fell between her thighs as she screamed 'If you wanna go to heaven you should fuck me tonight.' She then repeated that verse around three times in which everyone swooned and screamed, not wanting the show to end! That was the thing with Halsey's show, I wanted her to play every song she'd written at least 12 times and then do it all over again. She is petite and you wonder where the fuck does this voice and energy come from? This little lady from New Jersey has her crowd under a spell which they never want to be broken.
I'm glad that we got to have such an intimate show at Islington because KOKO was the show we decided to party for. Having filled ourselves with cocktails and tequilas after a day in Camden, where we graffiti'd a wall for Halsey, we arrived at the show, standing at the back ready to let off party poppers and imitate her Hold Me Down actions! I facetimed Georgia who couldn't come to the show and quite sadly can only remember flashes of Halsey being on stage!
I am so excited for when she returns for a full UK tour and am extremely happy that I got a chance to see Badlands come to life! Halsey is a forced to be reckoned with and it seems if you want to knock her down there's a strong force of fans standing before her!
No comments
Let me know your thoughts on this post