An Evening with Halsey

Saturday, October 24, 2015 Halsey brought her Badlands tour to Boston along with her friends in Flor as an opener. Despite it being a cold day, the line was long and everyone was excited to see her play the songs off her debut record.

Flor opened the show with several songs at about 7 pm and, although no one knew who they were, the crowd seemed to enjoy it and move to the music. Standing in the crowd, I realized that Halsey fans are more diverse than fans of other pop artists. I have to admit Halsey picked a good band to open because they were quite talented.

As soon as the show started, Halsey came out to an epic light show to match the mood of the opening song, “Gasoline” which was a way to immediately get the crowd pumped up and screaming every word with her. The light show behind her was so pretty and the swirling colors matched the mood of every song. For a song like “Strange Love”, the lights were red for aggression and lust. She played every song on her album plus “Is There Somewhere?” from her first EP Room 93.

Hearing my favorite songs live was so cool. Halsey must have repeated at least 5 times that she wasn’t sure what everyone saw in her but she was so thankful to get to do what she does for a living. She actually mentioned that this was a “special time” because the next time she returned to Boston she’d be playing arenas meaning the TD Garden.

During the song “Is There Somewhere?” Halsey jumped into the crowd and stood on the barricade letting the crowd sing the chorus. Throughout the entire show the crowd screamed the words back to her, feeling her emotions in the words. Her first single, “Ghost”, Halsey only actually sang half the song because the fans sang the rest. You could tell she was genuinely excited to be playing these shows. Despite battling bronchitis, she hit every note with such force. All she had to say was “I don’t like them innocent...” and the crowd roared and then yelled every line until Halsey said, “This song is called Ghost” and started the song over. Despite having to try and see around everyone’s phones in the air, it was easy to see everyone enthralled by the 21 year old. Mixed among the aggression of the fast songs were ballads such as “Drive” and “Roman Holiday.” “Drive” is a beautiful song with a very different energy than the faster stuff it was surrounded by on the set list.

I am so excited to see Halsey amp these songs up from a small club to the stage at Madison Square Garden; which is almost sold out. She closed her entire set with an encore of “Young God” and between her costume with a hood and the dark lighting, she proved she knows how to entertain and put on a show. Ending her set that way really completed a spectacular night.