ROCK N ROLL EXPERIENCE - Burn Halo 2/19/09

James Hart, former lead singer for 18 Visions, has a new band called Burn Halo. I was fortunate enough to see the bands first show EVER when they opened for what became known as the "Coke Show" on the 2 night stop in Baltimore, Maryland on the Avenged Sevenfold show. I remember seeing that particular show, the bands guitarist Joey Cunha came out during their line check & started riffing away on classic Motley Crue songs, & I remember him & the bands drummer, Ryan Folden, because they had the coolest hair ever that night & I heard people in the crowd saying, "omg, look at those guys, they are so pretty they look like girls!" Flash forward a few months later & Burn Halo returned to the Maryland area, this time at a much smaller venue, opening this time around for Black Tide & Escape the Fate.

What struck me as ironic at this particular show was the fact that ALL of the bands on this billing...whether anyone wanted to admit it or not, they all borrowed from, & notice I didn't say "stole", but borrowed from the past. Black Tide seriously rips off old school thrash metal ala Megadeth & Metallica, Burn Halo borrow riff-wise from Guns N Roses & Sponge...I'd compare the Burn Halo sound to retro rock from the late 80's & modern rock from the 90's...then you have Escape the Fate, who in all honesty, take ALOT both in looks & sound, from the 80's metal scene & trust me, I'm old enough to be able to spot it a mile away...it's not a bad thing, but I can't help but wonder if the kids in attendance even realized that they were seeing stuff their parents probably checked out back 20 years ago!

I was at this show to check out Burn Halo, so that's the band I'm focusing on in this review...much like the previous show I'd seen from the band, Joey came out early, ripped into the "Hells Bells" lick by AC/DC shortly before the band came out, & when the band took the stage the excess of rock n roll was abundant...James sporting a ratty leather jacket, his messy brunette main bouncing abundantly, Ryan's head never stopping while he pounded the drums, Aaron looking like Austin Power's long lost son, Allen holding down the rhythm guitar parts while Joey played blistering leads...this was the real deal, a rock n roll extravaganza, although it might have been on a small scale, the overall vibe was a rock n roll party...the sorta atmosphere that Paul Stanley from KISS used to talk about back in the day in his live show rants!

The band ripped through a nice portion of their debut release & a few minutes after their set they were all hanging out in the merch area to meet & great with their fans! The band were super cool, very down to earth, hung out, took pics, signed t-shirts, & they look the part of the rock star, but attitude wise they were more down to earth than your next door neighbor!

I felt like the Burn Halo set delivered a strong, dynamic show...the blue prints they followed for their live show might have been laid out oh so many years ago, but regardless, there's not alot o' bands delivering a good live show like Burn Halo do, they came, they saw, they rocked!