PITTSBURGH — It's a routine question a singer will ask a concert crowd: "How many of you have seen us before?"
Lzzy Hale asked that question Monday to a nearly sold-out Stage AE — except she didn't say it out loud; she sang it.
In a lilting voice, Hale also melodically sang the natural follow-up inquiry, something like, "How many of you are seeing us for the first time?" Hey, if you had a singing voice as amazing as Hale's, you'd sing every chance you could, too.
Her powerful pipes brought a clarity and conviction to the bevy of empowering songs she belted out Monday night as frontwoman for her central Pennsylvania hard-rock/metal band Halestorm.
With younger brother Arejay Hale on drums, Halestorm charged through a well-crafted set launched by the blistering, pummeling new song "Black Vultures" then the 2013 Grammy winning "Love Bites (So Do I.")
All Joan Jetted up in black leather with a pair of clear, glam-rock high heels, Hale produced a voice that soared and growled, whatever the song needed, including a soulful, triumphant tone she took on "Amen," celebrating and proclaiming personal freedoms.
Hale played a bunch of increasingly cool-looking guitars, including a double-necked beauty on "I Am the Fire." Bandmate Joe Hottinger made it a twin guitar attack, as he and Hale picked moments to pierce, blast and shred, but always adhering to a clean and sturdy hook, rather than overpowering listeners with a maelstrom of noise.
Near the set's halfway point, the lights went dark and the band disappeared, not for a costume change, but to allow a white piano to be rolled to center stage. Playing that piano while standing, Hale sang a towering version of Adele's "Someone Like You," which flowed seamlessly into Halestorm's "Dear Daughter" with its inspiring chorus: "These are words that every girl should have a chance to hear: There will be love, there will be pain, there will be hope, there will be fear, and through it all year after year, stand or fall I will be right here tor you."
Lest the show got too sentimental, Halestorm then cranked up the power again and rocked through "I Get Off" and "Freak Like Me," dedicated to concertgoers who identified themselves as freaks. The drummer, Arejay, played a solo and sang a verse of The Offspring's "Why Don't You Get a Job?" that lit up the crowd.
Halestorm finished strongly with "I Miss the Misery," with its catchy hook that pulls your body forward, finishing with a lengthy dual-guitar jam that kept building in intensity, entertaining thoroughly without getting self-indulgent.
For the first outdoor rock show of the season, Halestorm set the tone for what promises to be a memorable summer for live music fans.
It was a show led by the ladies, with support acts Stitched Up Heart, New Years Day and In This Moment all female-fronted.
Technically listed as a co-headliner, In This Moment played a good-sized set loaded up on theatrics. Singer Maria Brink was in high priestess mode, starting in a long black cloak and thorny headdress, flanked by two female helpers with black crosses painted across their Kiss-white faces. She ditched the cloak to reveal a long, white flowing gown that a wind machine gave extra motion to as smoke billowed everywhere. More metalcore and percussive, with the guitar buried in the mix, In This Moment had a few catchy songs, including "Black Wedding," which borrowed a vocal riff from Billy Idol's "White Wedding," and a cover of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight," which was menacing (though not to the level of the original.)
In This Moment ended with "Whore," a song where Brink defiantly takes on the naysayers and people who thought they could control her. It was a message that resonated with fans, who cheered loudly, even before a bunch of gigantic inflatable orbs were pushed into the crowd to be batted around joyfully, because after all, it was an outdoor show.