The lights dim down and the curtains swing open. A loud static booming noise echoes through the room as the anticipation of the crowd grows more and more.
On Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. at the House of Blues, Ashley Frangipane (known as Halsey) held her first performance in Florida. Lines opened at 8 a.m. and wrapped around the venue and around Pleasure Island Lake.
The opening act was a band called Flor. They performed for about 30 minutes and sang their six songs, including “Back Again,” “Get Behind This,” and “Ocean,” all part of their new album, Sounds EP, which was released on Feb 10, 2015. Their hit single is called ‘Heart’. Flor gave a pumped up and crazy vibe, which was a perfect opening for this show.
The concert opened with “Gasoline.” This song is about how people seem to conform to society’s standards. The chorus goes, “And all the people say ‘You can’t wake up, this is not a dream, you’re part of a machine, you are not a human being, with your face all made up, living on a screen, low on self esteem, so you run on gasoline.’ ” This explains how people hardly seem human anymore and are almost machine like. It explains how people are insecure, so they use distractions to repress those feelings.
The lights were purple, blue, and pink and flashed frequently. There were four screens on the stage that showed static clips of her music videos, or gifs that fit the overall theme of BADLANDS. The sound was able to be heard throughout the entire venue. It even boomed so much that people could feel their bodies shaking.
Halsey performed “Control,” “Young God,” “Colors,” “Drive,” “Haunting,” “Castle,” and more from her new album, BADLANDS, and “Is There Somewhere,” and “Hurricane,”from her previous EP, Room 93. With 21 songs total, she only excluded four.
Halsey left the stage three times during the concert to get the crowd riled up for the next song. Her band played electric noises to raise suspension, and lights flickered on and off.
At one point in the concert she stopped to talk to the audience. “BADLANDS was my escape from my life at the time I was writing it. I would just wake up and write more songs- it was all I did. I hope that if you can’t deal with what’s going on in your real life, then you sit at home and you listen to BADLANDS, she said. “Because that record was never for me. That record was always for you guys.”
The closing song, “New Americana,” is about this new era, how different life is in this generation, and self-acceptance. It also is about how pop culture has shaped a nation. It was surprising when the concert ended because it had only been an hour, and people thought it was only an intermission when it was over.
Though the show was short, the time was filled well. With a dance-filled, pumped up, crowd interactive performance, Halsey’s fanbase will only grow from here.
The Hilights
Artist: Halsey
Tour: BADLANDS
Location: House of Blues
Cost: $20
Note: Sold Out
Rating: 4.5 stars