the lost horizon in syracuse, new york was lucky enough to be one of the venues the blue balls holiday tour blew through, and i was lucky enough to be there. fresh off a summer tour opening for three days grace, diamante has enough of a devoted following to be playing smaller venues, but soon enough, she’ll be headlining arenas on her own.
i’d heard a lot about diamante and the incredible show she puts on from my friend maggie, who’s out on tour photographing the band, and the first thing i have to say about diamante is that she has the most killer stage presence. from the moment she walked out on stage, decked almost entirely in blue (her hair, her nails, her jacket, the lights wrapped around her microphone stand), i could tell she was going to give a performance to remember. some of her inspirations include ac/dc, mötley crüe, and def leppard, and that shines through in both her music and her live performance. the stage is laden with headbanging, shredding, and solos.
it was clear from the get-go that diamante is an artist who cares about the people who listen to and love her music, and that everyone who was there to see her cares about her just as much. she’s clearly so grateful, stopping to thank her fans between almost every song for being there and for streaming or buying her debut album, coming in hot, released in june of 2018. diamante has been releasing music since she was eighteen, and it was incredible to be standing in the crowd, 23 years old, and watching someone my age doing what she loves and absolutely killing it.
this lyric from the title track of her debut album describes diamante perfectly: “ready or not, i’m comin’ in hot.” she’s on tour from now until december 19th; i’d highly suggest catching a show if she’s coming your way, because i don’t think she’ll ever play venues this small again. diamante can be found on twitter, instagram, facebook, and her website.