Though candour has always been Halsey’s calling card, on January’s album Manic, the singer-songwriter from New Jersey opened up like never before, laying bare her struggles with break-ups, bipolar disorder and miscarriage.
The 25-year-old took the precise same approach last night, peppering an immaculately staged set with all manner of thoughtful touches and illuminating admissions. “I pride myself on making mistakes and writing songs about them so you don’t have to make them,” she told the sell-out crowd. Most striking was when she alluded to a suicide attempt, thanking fans for giving her “a second chance at life”.
A curious mix of steeliness and extreme emotional vulnerability, it was a performance that seemed to mirror her personality eerily effectively. The heavier aspects of her genre-hopping catalogue were accentuated by a tight, three-piece band, while Halsey’s movements were framed by skilful lighting, including stark, floor-to-ceiling video screens and three lighting rigs that rotated to provide aerial platforms to perform on. The effect of the latter was particularly impressive during Walls Could Talk, when Halsey sang in the rafters of the arena as balls of flames exploded below.
Even in the presence of such ambitious staging and spectacular pyrotechnics, Halsey’s connection to her audience remained by far the most impressive aspect of last night’s show. Listening to the arena bellow back the chorus of set-closer Without Me, nobody could doubt her affection was utterly reciprocated.
