Review of Halestorm with Silverstone and Aranda

Last evening November 29^th 2009, I attended the Halestorm concert at Buster's Billiards and Ballroom in Lexington, Kentucky along with opening acts Silverstone and Aranda. Here are my thoughts on the performances.

Buster's is a transformed tobacco warehouse near Rupp Arena, a locale where the city is seeking to revive the abandoned and dilapidated buildings into a thriving business zone once again. It is quite roomy though a tad drafty, but tastefully transformed into a pleasant venue, though they could benefit from serving food.

Silverstone started the night with what can only be described as thunder. Their sound is a soup mixed with Korn, Godsmack, Alice in Chains and a variety of others that boil into a extremely tasty noise. With a short set they succeeded in impressing with a solid performance, with only a minor glitch when the lead guitarist's cable accidentally came unplugged, easily shrugged off and the performance flowed.

Aranda came to the stage as a wolf in sheep's clothing. A family band from Oklahoma City, their sound is infused with a wide variety of musical styles, clearly evident as the performance progressed. The band does not really have a lead singer as the two brothers Gabe and Dameon Aranda shared vocal duties and effectively harmonized bringing yet another enjoyable aspect to their production. What really stood out was Dameon Aranda's obvious love and passion for what he was doing. By the time Aranda relinquished the stage, they had acquired a building full of new fans.

A few minutes later from seemingly nowhere and everywhere a powerful, soulful and ungodly ranged female voice bathed in past pains flowed from the monitors, an unforgettable intro into Halestorm's opening number "It's Not You." The band progressed through their set flawlessly, Lzzy Hale being a amalgam of Janis Joplin and Joan Jett rolled into one, and that voice... How can that sound be created in such a tiny body? Arejay Hale was equally entertaining as I have never witnessed a drummer have that much fun ever. After performing their hit song "I Get Off" which brought the crowd to a fever pitch the coup de grace came as the boys from Aranda joined Halestorm onstage to perform Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" and Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused." The joining of their forces was truly an overwhelming show of talent. I would recommend any of these bands to see!