The Pretty Reckless Run Wild At Brixton Academy

The stage is what makes or breaks a band. There are no do-overs, no overdubs, no ProTools to iron out those imperfections. It’s just you, your songs, and (especially if you’re an opening band) an audience to win over.

Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless (Kalpesh Patel)

The Pretty Reckless, who’ve been doing this since 2009, know the score, especially when they’re playing to fans as rabid as Stone Sour’s. So, no time for ballads like You and House On The Hill. Instead, the 50-minute opening set is packed with a succession of their heaviest songs, each performed with a matter of life or death intensity rarely attained on their studio albums.

Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless (Kalpesh Patel)

The ringing of church bells sets the tone as the quartet muscle their way into the savage Follow Me Down, which makes the most of Taylor Momsen’s classic rock rasp and guitarist Ben Phillips’ ability to lay down riffs of Tony Iommi proportions. Since You’re Gone, built on another Birmingham-circa-1970 grind, has Momsen prowling across the stage looking every bit the vintage rock star in her black leather trench coat.

Ben Phillips of The Pretty Reckless (Kalpesh Patel)

Oh My God, which on current album Who You Selling For? contains traces of Motörhead, sounds even more aggressive tonight, with drummer Jamie Perkins and bassist Mark Damon earning their keep, while Phillips’ solo channels the Judas Priest twin-guitar attack of KK Downing and Glenn Tipton.

Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless (Kalpesh Patel)

Momsen, who sings and headbangs with equal ferocity, gets a slight breather on the sludgy, menacing Hangman, before the bluesy stomp of Prisoner pushes the singer to her knees and her sultry vocals to the limit. Debut single Make Me Wanna Die, which borders on ‘80s heavy metal tonight, turns the Brixton Academy into a sea of chanting as the singer incites hysteria with a few choice words, some gesturing, and an outthrust microphone.

Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless (Kalpesh Patel)

Sweet Things, which begins with the spoken introduction to Peter And The Wolf, is all thrashing guitars and belted vocals, except for two quieter interludes where the barnstormer becomes an emotional duet between Momsen and Phillips.

Taylor Momsen & Ben Phillips of The Pretty Reckless (Kalpesh Patel)

Heaven Knows, cut from the same cloth as Hangman, is big on soulful vocals, handclaps, and a monster beat, while a fire and brimstone Going To Hell is fittingly accompanied by thousands of hands raised in the classic devil horns gesture as Momsen, in full banshee mode, leaps across the stage.

Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless (Kalpesh Patel)

She straps on a guitar for the feel-good hard-rock boogie of Take Me Down, which sounds not unlike latter day Marilyn Manson covering a Creedence Clearwater Revival song. It’s a glorious finale from a band who’ve truly laid out their soul on stage, and delivered an earthshaking show in the process.

Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless (Kalpesh Patel)

It does however, seem strange to see The Pretty Reckless playing a support slot on the very Brixton Academy stage that they themselves headlined in storming fashion almost exactly three years ago while promoting second record Going To Hell. But given tonight’s performance, I’m sure they’ll be itching to take back the top slot again before too long.

Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless (Kalpesh Patel)

Live review of The Pretty Reckless @ Brixton Academy by Nils van der Linden on 4th December 2017.

Photos by Kalpesh Patel. Kalpesh has more music photography up on his flickr stream here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/somethingforkate


https://rockshotmagazine.com/205287/royal-blood-have-it-all-figured-out-at-alexandra-palace/

The Amazons performing at Brighton Chalk on 1st December 2023

Seagulls And The Amazons Delight In Brighton

We’ve been following the career of Reading rock band The Amazons for years here at RockShot HQ. When their eponymous...
Glastonbury Festival 2023 (Kalpesh Patel)

Taking Children To Glastonbury Festival – Looking Back At 2023

With tickets to the 2024 edition of Glastonbury Festival now sold out across the two primary sales, those with little...
RHEA (Press)

RHEA Are Creeping Through Your Head

RHEA are living proof rock & roll is alive and well! The Belgian 5-piece still cherish the mighty riff, but on...
rlyblonde - aka Carina Allen (Caroline Safran)

Brooklyn’s rlyblonde Shares Your Angel

rlyblonde – the project of Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist Carina Allen – has dropped her new single, Your...
The Beaches @ HERE at Outernet (Nick Allan)

The Beaches Have London Blaming Their Ex

Canadian quartet The Beaches brought their Blame My Ex Tour to London and delivered an electrifying, sold-out...
Collette Cooper (Rankin)

Collette Cooper Presents Darkside Of Christmas, Chapter 2

Following on from 2022’s impactful album Darkside of Christmas Chapter 1, multi-talented singer, writer, performer and...
Urban Voodoo Machine @ Signature Brew, 2023.11.11 (Pauline Di Silvestro)

The Urban Voodoo Machine Celebrate 20 Years In Glorious Style

This show by the The Urban Voodoo Machine was jointly celebrating the bands leader Paul-Ronney Angel's birthday and 20...
Charles Esten - Nashville In Concert @ Royal Albert Hall (Kalpesh Patel)

Charles Esten Announces European Headline Tour

Multi-talented singer/songwriter and actor Charles Esten has announced that he will be returning to the UK/Europe in...

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share Thing