“I don’t think you’re fucking ready!!!” And I truly wasn’t. Welcome to the review that wasn’t supposed to happen! This is one of the few concerts I have booked for the summer that I wasn’t supposed to work. I was just supposed to enjoy my vacation and ideally not be voiceless on the TTC or looking like a lobster at the end of camping out in the sun for the day.
All these photos were taken in between me dancing, screaming, and singing, on my cell phone in portrait, for me to later print as keepsake Polaroids instead of the usual landscape photos from my professional camera. But Halsey’s show at Budweiser Stage on June 10th was so incredibly magical and well put together that it deserves a review. And for my last trick, that’s just what I’ll do.
I usually put a little blurb at the beginning of my reviews if I know I’m going in biased. Usually, when I work a show, I only know a handful of songs or I briefly heard the artist mentioned in passing. But Halsey? I’ve been listening to them for over a decade. Back in the day when I wasn’t allowed to have social media (sorry, Mom and Dad), I followed them on Tumblr (I still do), and I would preload one song from my likes to be played on repeat all day because my school’s free Wi-Fi blocked Tumblr from loading (BADLANDS would be learned from Tumblr the following year in a nearly identical fashion).
I would sit on my high school’s linoleum floors, popping my neon yellow Skullcandy wired headphones in (with exactly three knots around the headphone jack or they wouldn’t work), with my back against the lockers and wait for the later buses with my friends on them to roll up. To this day, BADLANDS still tastes a bit too much like Earl Grey tea and smells a little bit too much like vinyl bus seats, industrial floor cleaner, and Secret clear gel vanilla deodorant. But it feels like home to me.
I am now 25, almost 26, and I still have dyed hair (I chose cotton candy pink for this concert to match my BADLANDS vinyl). There is so much life I have lived since I started listening to Ash: I escaped my hometown, I’m still bad at love, I’ve continued traditions, I don’t let anyone hold me down, and I still see 3 a.m. sometimes. Ash is also juuusssttttt under 5 years older than me, so when they start producing an album, by the time it arrives in my hands, I am the age she was when she was experiencing it. Which is a truly bizarre experience, because it feels like they are living the same life as me and know intrinsically how I am feeling.
So when Halsey announced a North American tour with only one Canadian stop in Toronto, I knew I would be making the trip. I’ve also seen them live at Budweiser Stage in 2022 for the If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power tour (in the 300s) and Dublin in 2020 for their Manic tour (in the back of the pit ’cause I decided to go sightseeing).
I got to the For My Last Trick tour line around 1 p.m. and ended up being the 100ish person in line for the pit (they stopped counting after 102). I can tell I’m getting over queuing all day for concerts because I chose to sleep in and have a well-balanced breakfast over getting there before the sun came up. The fans in line were phenomenal. There were several fan projects, including a Gays for Halsey Canadian pride flag, two projects for “Lucky” (what we were grateful for signs and stars to hold over flashlights), and so, so, so, so, so many friendship bracelets.
My only claim to fame is doing some frankly very cool graphic eyeliner shapes all around both eyes and being the first person at the venue to buy the Toronto exclusive Halsey merch shirt. The rest of the magic was from the crowd, Ash, and their incredible team.
I had posted online hoping that one of the songs we’d get would be “Ego.” Both fortunately and unfortunately, I didn’t get to hear it. Fortunately, because we got: “Lie,” “Gasoline,” “Colors (Rock Version),” “1121/Die 4 Me,” “Closer (Rock Version),” “Experiment On Me,” and “Is There Somewhere.” But unfortunately, I’m afraid that now I might never get to hear “Ego” live. Ah well, hard to complain with a lineup so jam-packed with heavy hitters (and honestly she could have covered “Baby Shark” and I would have been like, wow, spectacular, do it again).
The show itself was a masterpiece. Each set had a distinctive theme and aesthetic. There was an overarching theme of the Golden Age of Magic and Alice in Wonderland throughout the set design and merch. The show was split up into several parts with distinctive themes and wardrobe changes.
Alice Falls Down the Rabbit Hole introduced the show simply, with Halsey at a piano in a flowy blue dress with a Peter Pan collar and puffy sleeves, also featured in the videos shown between sets. Alice Meets the Rabbit was a throwback to classic burlesque, with a menagerie of practical props and the aesthetic of pin-up girls, promising a blossoming starlet. Alice is Too Big had a heavy nod to BDSM and leather culture, especially in the queer community.
I was too close to the barricade to hear anything but overwhelmed bisexuals screaming at the top of their lungs. But as I was leaving the venue, I heard many disgruntled parents chastising the content of the show. And all I have to say is: my parents didn’t let me go to the BADLANDS tour for a reason, lmao.
Alice Feels Too Small saw leather switched with lace and the same red lighting and anger, but this time with the stage on fire. Alice Has Had Enough gave a nod to the whimsigoth movement and the 1970s, with a flowy dress with cap sleeves and a giant movable moon.
In Act 2, the show gave the biggest nod to Tumblr and BADLANDS when Halsey came out in a short black ruffled dress and earmuffs. In a move I’ve never seen before, there wasn’t a single setlist on the stage in front of Halsey while they were performing. She admitted that during the tour, she often changed the surprise songs onstage and on the fly.
Instead of handing out setlists, after the credits rolled, Ash tossed pieces of a bouquet into the crowd. I ended up with quite the stash of souvenirs at the end of the night: a face smeared with glitter, three friendship bracelets (“Room 93” in a blue that perfectly matched my nail polish, “I’m not fucking playing Closer,” and “Soft and Slow”), a poker chip with the Halsey swirly question mark, a piece of the eucalyptus from the bouquet Ash tossed offstage, countless Instagram handles, a group chat with some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and raccoon eyes after all my graphic liner smeared together (very on-brand for Toronto).
From the bottom of my heart, thank you to the halseychella gang, Halsey’s entire team, and of course Ashley herself. You all made me so, so, so, so, so happy! Although I attended this concert at 25, I did this for 15-year-old me. I’m so glad we made it.
Setlist
Act 1: Alice Falls Down the Rabbit Hole
- Darwinism
Alice Meets the Rabbit
2. Bad at Love
3. Alone
4. Lucky
Alice is Too Big
5. Dog Years
6. I Am Not a Woman, I’m a God
7. Control
Alice Feels Too Small
8. Lilith
9. Angel on Fire
10. Lie (Surprise Song)
Alice Has Had Enough
11. Panic Attack
12. Graveyard
13. Only Living Girl in LA
Act 2: The Show
14. Lonely is the Muse
15. Gasoline
16. Colors (Rock Version)
17. You Should Be Sad
18. 1121/Die 4 Me (Surprise Song)
19. Closer (Rock Version)
20. Experiment on Me (Surprise Song)
21. Nightmare
Encore
22. Is There Somewhere (Surprise Song)
23. Without Me
24. The Great Impersonator
Review & photos – Ashtyn Turner
Share this :
