In November 2024, Italian-French rock band Halflives got to support Smash Into Pieces on their Manifest Europe Tour. One of those shows took place in Melkweg in Amsterdam, and on the 24th of April, Halflives returned to the Dutch capital to play their own headline show. This time, they were playing the upstairs room of the venue – a quaint little hall perfect for upcoming artists.
At 20:00, the doors to the venue opened, and the fans slowly trickled in, taking their time to get a drink and look at the merchandise the band had brought with them. The pre-show playlist fit really well with the night’s vibe, as it consisted of a bunch of great rock and pop punk tracks – think of music by Linkin Park, Paramore, and Bring Me The Horizon. After about an hour of jamming along to the songs playing over the speakers, it was finally time for the three-piece to take to the stage. Drummer Gloria Simonini and bassist Marco Montipò came on first, their respective drums and mic stands both completely covered in fake ivy. At the back of the stage, a lit-up backdrop could be found, showcasing the band’s logo – an ‘H’ with a broken heart for the dash – surrounded by a bunch of fake potted plants. The intro that played before the first song got the fans to clap along eagerly, amping up the energy immediately. Lead singer Linda Battilani joined her bandmates to dive right into the night’s first song, ‘No Way Out’. Her voice stood out a lot more in the song’s chorus than during its verses, but this was no longer noticeable the rest of the evening. The band continued with one of their older songs, ‘Fugitive’, during which Battilani took a fan’s hand while singing the lyrics “so take my hand”.
Battilani, who is quite short, moved around the stage a lot right from the get-go and even had her own little platform at the front of the stage to rise above the crowd. “Are you ready to watch the world burn?” she asked the fans, “because I am not!” – an introduction to the song ‘everybody knows it’. In multiple of their songs, Halflives talks about the state of the world and the anxiety it induces. This particular song is a very catchy one, and so despite being dark in content, it’s very enjoyable to clap and sing along to – especially during the “la la la” in the chorus. The band has only played three songs so far, but their energy is through the roof, and it is clear how excited they are to be here. Battilani states how “even though things are kinda happy”, referring to how she is feeling about playing the show, “it’s about to turn nasty because here is ‘Snake’!”. Both ‘Snake’ and ‘jealous.’ included some choreography, with Battilani and Montipò dancing together during the latter.
Just a few weeks ago, Halflives released their EP How Much Can a Heart Take Before It Breaks – Battilani mentioned how that title sounds “kinda emo” and that it was “never a phase”. One of the tracks from this EP, ‘Perfectly Broken’, was written about “making friends with the demons in your head”. For this track, Battilani grabbed her own guitar to play and had the crowd waving along to this slower song. She kept the guitar during ‘Mayday’ – faster paced and making the audience jump. One fan held up a little sign asking Battilani for a guitar pick, which she immediately gave them. After the song, a piano intro started playing over the speakers to guide the band and listeners to ‘Oblivion’ – a slowly building rock ballad. The audience was asked to hold up their phone lights and wave them around as Battilani sang the first chorus and verse, Montipò and Simonini joining in on their instruments later in the song. Battilani left the stage after this track and did not come back on by the time the next track started. “Amsterdam, are you ready to start a revolution?” she shouted, yet she was nowhere to be seen. It turned out that she was amongst the crowd, but as she is not so tall, it took a second for the audience to find her. It made for a cute little moment; the fans eagerly sang, danced, and jumped together with the singer.
Battilani made it back onto the stage for the next song. Before playing it, she asked the audience if they wanted to teach her the days of the week in Dutch. Battilani called out each day in English, with the audience repeating the words back in their native language. While she stated that some days were “close to German”, she decided to keep the words in English during ‘Rockstar Everyday’ after all – Dutch is just a tad too hard for those natively speaking Italian. Battilani taught the audience the lyrics to the song’s chorus, and everyone excitedly sang along every time it was repeated. “You’re my everyday rockstars,” she told the crowd, before throwing one of Simonini’s drumsticks at the end of the track. Halflives ended their set with the queer love song ‘Dynamite’ and a banger from their latest EP, ‘Eat Sleep Work Die!!! Repeat’ before going off stage, prefacing the encore.
As soon as the band returned to the stage, Battilani ranted about the current state of the world because “the world we live in sucks”. This is how she introduced ‘Permanent Damage’, which was followed by the slightly older song ‘Victim’, released in 2021. Finally, the band ended their set with ‘Immortals’, but not before Battilani gave one final speech. She spoke out about how, as minorities, today’s society makes them fear for their lives and their future. However, as the song goes, she stated, “let them burn us, because we will rise up”. In the end, ‘we’ should not fear them, ‘we’ freaks, misfits, outcasts will have to be strong together and show them our strength. A powerful and important message to end the night with, especially considering how many people’s rights are currently being taken away all over the world by the far right.
