Halestorm, Lita Ford & Dorothy

The long awaited Halestorm concert went down at The Knitting Factory Spokane last night October 17, 2016, to a sold out crowd. This show was a reschedule from a show that was canceled last year due to Lzzy Hale's illness. I even had friends from Seattle drive the 5 - hour trip to see this show since they were not making a stop there this time around. Also on the bill is rock legend and former Runaway, Lita Ford, and Dorothy.

Opening the show was a band I had never seen live before and unfortunately I still haven't. I missed Dorothy's 30-minute set as I was running late to the show. As I arrived at the Knitting Factory she was out in the lobby signing autographs for fans and snapping a few fan photos. Born in Budapest, Hungary before she moved to San Diego at three years old, Dorothy, who moved to Los Angeles several years ago, has been singing since she was six years old. Dorothy overcame stage fright to become a hardcore rocker, the singer and her blues-rock band of the same name — which also features Mark Jackson on guitar, Greg Cash on bass and Zac Morris on drums — sharpen melodies with an edge.

Lita Ford & Patrick Kennison (Close Your Eyes)

Second up was rock queen and former member of, "The Runaways," Lita Ford, with her new lead guitarist and friend of mine Patrick Kennison who joined the band the fall of 2014. With Marty O'Brien jamming on bass and Bobby Rock bashing the drums, and when I say bashing the drums I mean literally bashing them. He was hitting that drum kit so hard it kept tipping over but they were prepared for it and had the kit tied off to catch it before it tumbled over. together they make up a rocking lineup of musicians who will blow your mind and put on one hell of a show.

I was looking forward to seeing Lita perform as I had not seen her live and I was eager to see my friend, Patrick Kennison tear up the guitar on stage with Lita Ford. Lita met the late Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead, one night at The Rainbow in LA and together they wrote the song, "Can't Catch Me," which she dedicated to him at the show and mentioned how much she missed him. A friend and I back when we were young teenagers almost were the real-life Runaways, we were going to take off to Los Angeles and become part of the band, we never quite made it that far but we would have been perfect additions to the group.

Lita Ford (Can't Catch Me)

Lita Ford (Larger Than Life)

I had a chance to catch up with my friend Patrick after Lita Ford's set and I was impressed how awesome he belted out Ozzy's part in, "Close Your Eyes" he had big shoes to fill and he filled them. He was joking with me how he is the broke Ozzy. I had heard other concert goers really saying great things about Kennison's vocal abilities and everyone was blown away including myself how Patrick tears up the guitar on stage, such a crazy good performance. Patrick is also lead vocals for the band Heaven Below and formerly of The Union Underground based out of Los Angeles. It was a real treat to see the rock goddess Lita Ford and my friend Patrick Kennison rip up the guitars together on stage.

I noticed we even have matching neck bling, the star necklace.

What can I say about the headliners Halestorm? Everybody already knows Lzzy Hale has the best vocal around and her range is off the hook. She told the crowd a little story before starting one of the songs on how she put a band together at the age of 13 and the rest is pretty much history. Halestorm is from Red Lion, PA, and members include lead vocalist and guitarist Lzzy Hale, her brother drummer and percussionist Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger, and bassist Josh Smith. Lzzy Hale and Halestorm belted out 17 songs in a set lasting almost 2 hours. They opened the show with Love Bites (So Do I) Mz. Hyde, It's Not You, Apocalyptic, Amen, I Get Off, Freak Like Me, Jump the Gun, The Reckoning, Dear Daughter, I Like It Heavy, Drum Solo, then continued with I Am the Fire, Here's to Us, Dissident Aggressor(Judas Priest cover), Mayhem, and closed the show with I Miss the Misery.

Halestorm (It's Not you)

This was an incredible concert with 3 great rocking bands performing for a sold out crowd. Everyone was enjoying themselves and there were also a few crowd surfers making their way to the front of the stage. I overheard a few concert- goers saying how the show was over- sold and people were packed in the Knitting Factory like sardines, but all in all it was a rocking good time. Until the next concert, take it easy and keep it real but most importantly Rock N Roll.**Peace**js**