Formed back in 2009 American hard rockers The Pretty Reckless may have undergone a few lineup changes in their time and even a name change but that hasn’t stopped them accruing an army of fans. It’s been nearly two years since Taylor Momsen and co were last on UK shores back in 2014 play the Brixton Academy on the back of their last album ‘Going to Hell’ since then the band have pretty busy having toured the US extensively before heading back into the studio. The outcome of which is the upcoming offering ‘Who You Selling For’ due out this week.
This time around the band is back for a one off intimate show at London’s Scala and as you’d expect the show is a sellout. In fact there’s barely any room to move throughout a venue packed full of impatient fans eager for the bands return. There’s a huge scream every time there’s a glimpse of the band being anywhere near the stage and it’s not long before the lights go down and the smoke machines kick in. Taking to the stage the band open with ‘Follow Me Down’ and the room begins to bounce… literally. The band are on absolute top form with guitarist Ben Phillips shredding through a brilliant solo during ‘Since You’re Gone’
Taylor then greets the audience with a “How the F**K ya doing London?” before going on to plugging the new album before leading into one of the new tracks ‘Oh My God’ which slots seamlessly into the set. The crowd seem to know the lyrics to both new and old tracks singing along to the former and ‘Make Me Wanna Die’ with equal enthusiasm. “Who’s drinking tonight?” Taylor asks before leading the band into ‘My Medicine’ and the drum heavy ‘Sweet Things’
It’s now time for Taylor and the guys to take it down a notch as we get a breather in the form of ‘Fucked Up World’ before she asks the packed room to put their phones down for just a minute, it’s been a constant flow of people filming since the set began and it might be nice for those shorter members of the crowd to get a glimpse of the band whilst they play ‘Just Tonight’ and we then get a lot rowdier with ‘Heaven Knows’ with the whole venue back to bouncing and singing along.
Coming towards the end of the set now and Taylor jokes that this is the part where they would leave the stage but their having such a great time why bother. The encore comprises of another new track ‘Take me Down’ and ends on the title track from their last album ‘Going to Hell’ all in all it’s been a solid performance tonight and the bands army of fans have certainly received the new tracks well. They now tour across the US so let’s hope we get to see them sooner rather than later back this side of the pond.
CHRIS LEE