HALESTORM's AREJAY HALE On Supporting IRON MAIDEN In Europe: 'I Was Very, Very Pleasantly Surprised By How Well That Tour Went'

During a recent appearance on The DJ Force X podcast, HALESTORM drummer Arejay Hale spoke about his band's May/June 2025 European run of shows as the support act for British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That was crazy. [Laughs] It ended up being a really, really great tour for us. I didn't know what to expect, 'cause a lot of times when you tour with a legacy band like that… I've heard the term 'treadmill touring' where it's, like, okay, it looks great to open up for like a massive band like that, but you're not really getting any new fans 'cause they're just there to see that band and they don't really care about opening acts. But we were pleasantly surprised that a lot of the people that came out to the IRON MAIDEN shows were very receptive to us. And a lot of 'em, even on [our November 2025 U.K. headlining] tour, have come to our meet-and-greets and said, like, 'I never heard about you guys until I saw you open up for IRON MAIDEN.' We're, like, hell yeah, we'll poach some of those fans, we'll steal some. And I think it's because, especially in Europe, they're still viewed as this lifestyle band."

Arejay continued: "You go to these cities [in Europe] on off days and then you go into the stores, maybe you're just walking through a mall or something and you'll see IRON MAIDEN shirts everywhere. And I feel like that it's different in the U.S. In the U.S. they're probably viewed as this kind of old-timey band. But over [in Europe] they're still very relevant. And their audience was very vast in age range. It was cool to see the more mature fans coming out to the shows and loving it, but then there was also kids and teenagers and everything of the like. And even the IRON MAIDEN guys were a little surprised that their fans were really liking us 'cause they are very dedicated to IRON MAIDEN. It's not an easy task to support a band like that. And it actually worked out really well. I was very, very pleasantly surprised by how well that tour went."

HALESTORM's music has earned multiple platinum and gold certifications from the RIAA, and the band has built a reputation as a powerful live music force, headlining sold-out shows and topping festival bills around the world, and sharing the stage with icons including HEAVEN & HELL, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett and JUDAS PRIEST. Additionally, Lzzy was named the first female brand ambassador for Gibson and served as host of AXS TV's "A Year In Music".

"Love Bites (So Do I)", from HALESTORM's second album in 2012, won the Grammy Award that year for "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance".

In 2019, HALESTORM was nominated for "Best Rock Performance" Grammy for the song "Uncomfortable".

HALESTORM worked with producer Dave Cobb on the band's latest studio album, "Everest", after making three records with Nick Raskulinecz.

In November 2025, HALESTORM shared a new two-track bundle of singles, the retrospective ballad "How Will You Remember Me?" and the sultry tribute to bisexuality "Like A Woman Can". Recorded live from the road on the Pennsylvania-bred and Nashville-based quartet's recent "nEVEREST" tour, the songs are taken from "Everest", out on Atlantic Records. Lending orchestration to the tracks are tour buddies and Finnish symphonic metallers APOCALYPTICA.

Awarding "Everest" four stars, The Times declared, "There is fantastical appeal throughout." The Daily Star concurred, reminding fans about the band’'s upcoming tour with their four-star review, stating "headlining arenas in November, every track here is sure to get phones out en masse."

"Everest" came hot on the heels of HALESTORM's fiery European tour with metal icons IRON MAIDEN. The U.K.'s Metal Hammer said of opening night, "Before all that, it falls to HALESTORM to take on the famously unenviable task of warming up an IRON MAIDEN crowd — a task they ace pretty effortlessly, in fairness. Decades in and arena headliners themselves at this point, the Pennsylvania rockers also have the ace in the hole that is Lzzy Hale, whose screams, croons, cries and shrieks reaffirm her status as one of the best singers of her generation. Half of their support set is comprised of tracks from imminent album 'Everest', and you can understand why they're feeling confident about it: the new material sounds excellent."

After wrapping the IRON MAIDEN tour, the band had the honor of performing at BLACK SABBATH's "Back To The Beginning", Ozzy Osbourne's last show.