Helloween’s 40 Year Anniversary Tour Ends at HOBLV

May 2, 2026 – Power metal, anyone? This is yet another genre that I didn’t dive too far into outside of like, Dragonforce when I was young. But I’ve always admired the musicianship melodic elements. It was a busy Las Vegas night, I was admittedly worried about the event going on at Allegiant, those almost always jumble up traffic and parking. To my surprise, there were minimal issues for me getting to the House of Blues to see HELLOWEEN perform a massive set to celebrate FORTY YEARS of their existence. Can we just sit in this for a second? That’s a long ass time. Along for the ride was Beast in Black, coming all the way from Finland. Oh, this was also the FINAL night of the tour. 

There was no shortage of attention on this event… walking through the casino you could see all sorts of fans wandering around, and approaching the venue, you could see the line drag all the way through the casino. This is always a great first sight to see. By the time everyone got in and found their places, it was PACKED. 

Beast in Black

An unfamiliar name to me, Beast in Black, but they brought a massive presence to the stage. I did look up a little bit about these guys prior to heading out, and one of the first things that caught my eye was that Daniel Freyberg is currently a touring member. Daniel played with Children of Bodom and well, that band has always held a special place in my heart. 

Anyway, it was hard to keep focus on any one person in Beast in Black. Their overall chemistry was contagious and I found my vision unwillingly bouncing around the stage from member to member. Vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos kept the energy high with all of his vocal sentiments, bassist Máté Molnár and Daniel Freyberg were both electric in all of their movements, and Atte Palokangas on drums could be seen sitting behind them with the biggest smile I think I’ve ever seen on a drummer. Apparently he’s a trick drummer as well so he was doing all sorts of fun stick tosses, the grin never fell, and I couldn’t help but smile back. Musically, Beast in Black are a mixture of a number of things, and though they consider themselves heavy metal, they have some really fun elements of danceable pop/rock that really creates a unique experience for the listener. I definitely caught myself dancing a bit through their set! 

While the North America run is done for them, Beast in Black have an extensive amount of headlining tour dates through the rest of the year in Europe to support their upcoming fourth record. 

Helloween

Forty years of Helloween…. Where to begin!? My familiarity is minimal, but like I said above, I’ve always had a pretty deep appreciation for the melodic elements of power metal. I like melody in general, okay? For some basics, Helloween hails from Germany. Their current stage line up consists of SEVEN members. Yeah. You read that correctly. Seven. Including three guitarists, and two main vocalists. (three if you want to get technical) Things you don’t see every day really so it definitely deserves some recognition. Especially given the impeccable musicianship that exists between this bunch. There also doesn’t seem to be too much of a substantial change in the lineup outside of shifts made in the early 2000’s with Sascha Gerstner and Daniel Löble, though Kai Hansen seems to have been in and out through the years. Those things aside, longstanding time in a band is always a feat that I praise.

This tour was a celebration of their 40th anniversary, and they took us on a musical journey through all of those 40 years. 

Lineup:
Michael Weikath – guitars, backing vocals
Markus Grosskopf – bass, backing vocals 
Kai Hansen – guitars, lead vocals
Michael Kiske – lead vocals 
Andi Deris – lead vocals 
Sascha Gerstner – guitars, backing vocals 
Daniel Löble – drums 

As far as my own impressions go… One of the things that always, always stands out to me first with some of these kinds of shows is the height of the drum riser. Generally, the raised riser indicates that there will be some fun stage production going on, and well, I love that shit, too. Along with the high drum riser, lighting fixtures sat symmetrically on the stage, and a back screen that, when it didn’t have specialized graphic videos, showed “The Keeper”, a type of mystic messenger that carried us through different pieces of the show. Added touches to the overall visual presentation was heightened with the added LED screens across the riser, and stairs along each side that the band members all seemed to take turns taking place upon. 

Highlights include a grueling and intense drum solo, (Seriously? I mean, I’m not complaining at all, but holy shit, dude. That was so cool.) A sweet acoustic rendition of “In the Middle of a Heartbeat”, because Andreas Deris was absolutely sure that some people wanted to step out and have a cigarette by this point. (And as I’m recalling this I’m just hearing Skwisgarr from Metalocalypse talking about grandpa guitars in reference to literally anything acoustic, so, fitting I suppose for some types of metalheads.) And a little bit of crowd teasing about “last songs”, which was pretty funny. “Only in America…” But the ending before the encore featured Kai saying good morning to the crowd, taking a little cheeky jab at the country act performing at the stadium across the way, and then engaging in a fantastic back and forth vocal exercise with the crowd before pummelling into “Heavy Metal (Is the Law)” 

Before the actual last few songs, another appearance from The Keeper and some really fun Halloween graphics flooded the screens. Afterall, it is Halloween at the Helloween shows. *wink*

There was a consistent energy that stayed high all the way through the two hour long set, the pumpkin heads definitely came out to play, and it was apparent everywhere you looked around. Helloween is just one of those bands with that consistent and dedicated fanbase and we are here for it! Also, I don’t think I should have to say this, but two hours is a long set, and for these guys having been around the amount of time they have been and their performance showed no real slowdown, yeah. These guys are cool. And they’ve definitely held their own and are still standing the test of time. 

SETLIST:

1. March of Time
   The Keeper
2. The King for a 1000 Years
3. Future World
4. This Is Tokyo
5. We Burn
6. Twilight of the Gods
   The Keeper
7. Ride the Sky
8. Into the Sun
9. Hey Lord!
10. Universe (Gravity for Hearts)
11. Hell Was Made in Heaven
12. Drum Solo
13. I Want Out
14. In the Middle of a Heartbeat
15. A Tale That Wasn’t Right
16. A Little Is a Little Too Much
17. Heavy Metal (Is the Law)
    The Keeper
18. Halloween
    Encore:
19. Eagle Fly Free
20. Power
21. Dr. Stein
22. Keeper of the Seven Keys (Final Chorus only) 

Until next time… 

PHOTO CREDIT: Live photos by Courtney Ware for ZRockR Magazine – @2026 – All Rights Reserved.