Halestorm – Loudwire Music Awards – Los, Angeles, CA – 10/24/17
Metal horns in the air, tongues out, makeup all over the place, leopard pants and mountains of hair all descended upon the red carpet at the Novo Theatre in downtown Los Angeles leading up to the 2017 Loudwire Music Awards held back on October 24th.
Unfortunately the late Joan Rivers wasn’t on hand to judge the best and worst dressed, although that would’ve certainly made for a grand spectacle.
It is worth nothing that despite the scorching hot weather all the performers and presenters were able to keep their cool while also managing to look great.
While this past February’s Grammy ceremony included a botched collaboration between Lady Gaga and Metallica, Loudwire hosted an unconventional and wildly entertaining awards show that featured sublime live performances, heart-felt tributes and more than a few intentional, as well as unintentional, laughs.
All of this year’s winners received a “Hand of Doom” award, each of which was cast from the actual hand of Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi.
Chris Jericho of Fozzy and WWE fame served as master of ceremonies for the evening. The front man, whose quite the showman himself, did more than an adequate job hosting the event, while also regularly engaging in humorous banter with the audience throughout the course of the night’s proceedings.
The live performances began with southern California’s own In This Moment and included a duet of their hit “Black Wedding” between vocalist Maria Brink and one of metal music’s reigning god father’s, Rob Halford of Judas Priest.
Some other notable performances included those from Ict-T’s Body Count, featuring Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Nothing More, with the help of Of Mice and Men’s Aaron Pauley, covering Audioslave’s “Show Me How to Live,” in tribute to Chris Cornell, as well as the stunning lights and visuals that accompanied Starset’s short time on stage.
Lizzy Hale and Halestrom also paid tribute to Cornell via the band’s unique take on the Soundgarden staple, “Fell on Black Days.”
Hale stuck around to take an unconventional run at the Runaway’s classic, “Cheery Bomb,” alongside 80’s rock legend and former Runaway Lita Ford, Heidi and Carla from Butcher Babies as well as Huntress’ Jill Janus.
Later in the evening Metal Song of the Year winner Power Trip would be joined by Hatebreed vocalist Jamey Jasta, as the two combined forces to deliver a crowd pleasing cover Motorhead’s “We Are the Road Crew.”
Perhaps the most talked about and unique performance of the evening came unexpectedly via New York thrash heroes Anthrax, as they offered up a surprising take on one of Kansas’ most recognizable hits, “Carry on Wayward Son.”
In addition to the live performances the show took some time to honor a few rock and metal legends.
Iommi accepted the Ultimate Classic Rock Courage Award, which was given to the Black Sabbath guitar hero to recognize his ongoing battle with lymphoma, as well as his lifelong determination to thrive as a professional musician despite an accident that severed two of his fingers while he was still a teenager.
The show’s proceedings came to close with the Loudwire Artist of the Year, Avenged Sevenfold, taking to the lighted stage to perform a few of their hits which included “The Stage,” “Nightmare,” “God Damn” and the eventual show closer, “Hail to the King.”
For a complete list of nominees and winners from this year’s Loudwire Music Awards check out the link below:
https://www.axs.com/complete-list-of-winners-of-the-2017-loudwire-music-awards-124626
All Writing and Photography: Karina Karinka (MetalKarinka)
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