I’ve been listening to Halsey for almost 10 years now so I’m lucky to call myself a long-term fan, however I had never seen her perform live before – until this night! 

I’ve grown up listening to her music, and she inspires me in a lot of ways: musically, fashion-wise and even poetically and all of these things have been vital in pivotal moments in my life. 

It’s not often that Halsey tours in the UK so I’m very grateful to have been able to catch her this time around! 

The album Badlands, released in 2015, was one of the examples of music that pioneered my personal favourite aesthetic – Tumblr grunge. When the album was first released, Halsey toured in the UK and Brixton Academy was one of the venues she played at.

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the album’s release, she played three nights in London, in the same venue she originally performed in 10 years ago! Halsey doesn’t play many shows in the UK so she used this tour as an opportunity to play a mix of songs from all her albums so there was something for everyone.

She also had no support act for this tour so she could play her own music for as long as possible which made the atmosphere from the fans so strong from the get-go! 

The whole show felt like an out of body experience that I had imagined for myself over the years but never believed it would come true.

Singing along to songs like Colors with thousands of other fans was so joyous and it was amazing to experience how the lyrics of a song can bring so many people together, just like the album did when first released. Halsey also surprised us with a special guest, Julia Wolf, and they sang her song In My Room together which was well loved as there’s a big crossover within their fanbases.

It was also really emotional for me to see two of my favourite artists perform one of my favourite songs together, especially since it was exclusively at my show which made it feel that much more special!

During the show, Halsey had been letting fans in the crowd pick a song to add to the setlist every night of the tour, so each show was unique!

Night 3 in London picked Honey which is one of my personal favourites off of her most underrated album If I Can’t Have Love I Want Power. 

It was really special singing an openly LGBTQ+ song with so many other people, making the show a really safe space for everyone.  

The show ended with a fan favourite, deep cut Is There Somewhere and she came down to the crowd’s barrier to be as close to the fans as possible – singing lyrics like “I fell in love tonight” directly looking into all the fans’ faces.

When walking out of the venue it was so packed, but everyone was smiling, chatting and laughing with each other about how incredible the time we just had was.

Halsey took us back in time 10 years and brought us all so much closer together at the same time. 

Her music has made me feel less alone and being surrounded by others who share the same feeling is something I’ll never forget.  

Image credit: Saffron Pennycooke