Black Stone Cherry / Shinedown / Halestorm

Southern rockers reveal an arena-sized heart

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Clearly used to large venues, HALESTORM [7] have enough class and power to win over anyone still unfamiliar with Lzzy Hale and her crew.

SHINEDOWN [8] fully use their short stint to rouse everyone. Led by the commanding presence of vocalist Brent Smith, they come across with real conviction. BLACK STONE CHERRY [8] belong on the big stage. Yeah Man begins with an effective portion of The Doors’ Roadhouse Blues, while Chris Robertson’s vocals and Ben Wells’ guitar combine beautifully on new song The Rambler.

John Fred Young whips out a harmonica to give his drum solo an extra frisson and there’s much amusement when Chris forgets the words during Soulcreek. He redeems himself with a solo acoustic slot to perform Things My Father Said, becoming choked with emotion when dedicating this to his late grandfather, and asks everyone to hold up a light in memory of a lost loved one.

Lzzy Hale powers through a thrilling set

Lzzy Hale powers through a thrilling set (Image credit: Kevin Nixon)

Lzzy Hale guests on Peace Is Free before Blame It On The Boom Boom ends in an onslaught of high-spirited chanting. But the band still have one twist left. They break into Ace Of Spades with full audience participation, ending the night with one more moment of emotionally packed magic.

Malcolm Dome
Malcolm Dome

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021.