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It’s Halloween weekend and the perfect weekend for The Pretty Reckless’s Death By Rock And Roll Tour to come into town. The sultry ‘Death By Rock And Roll’ title track kicks off the set after a high impact support slot from The Cruel Knives. ‘Death By Rock And Roll’ sets the cogs in motion, as it’s a heavy-duty badge of rock and roll honour. All eyes are on vocalist Taylor Momsen, who wears a short, orange satin cami-dress under a leather jacket, with elbow-length fishnet gloves and tights. Taylor uses the second song, ‘Since You’re Gone’, to slide up to her bandmates Ben Phillips on guitar and Mark Damon on bass. The sludgy ‘Only Love Can Save Me Now’ sees the lights darkened; Taylor takes off her jacket before holding onto the drums and flailing back and forth at a side angle to the crowd. She walks to the mic stand, takes the mic and prowls the stage, leaning back to power out any particularly impressive long notes. After ‘And So It Went’, the third song from the band’s latest studio album, Taylor advises the crowd that they’re going to take it back to the very beginning. The compelling ‘Make Me Wanna Die’ is a crowd pleaser, powered by heavy drum beats courtesy of Jamie Perkins. The energetic ’Miss Nothing’ is another favourite; one to gyrate along to.
In the spirit of the spooky season, the band play a couple of spooky numbers, the disturbing ‘Sweet Things’, very heavy metal in its deliverance, with murky, thunderous drums. Taylor screams, before guitarist Ben adds a couple of male vocal lines.
“Where are all my ladies at?” Taylor asks, before telling the crowd that the next song is for “anyone who has ever been fucked over by a man”. It’s ‘Witches Burn’, a slightly slower-paced song, which really shows off Taylor’s powerful vocals. The strong woman shows her supremacy as she stalks the stage. She cavorts in front of the drumkit, before stepping up onto the riser at the side of the stage and extending her arm to wave her mic from side to side in front of the crowd. Putting on a pointed witch hat, she really is the queen of Halloween. She throws the hat out into the crowd at the end of the song, for one lucky fan to grab on to and keep.
Taylor straps on a guitar for the authoritative ‘My Medicine’, another funky favourite from the band’s debut album, ‘Light Me Up’. ‘My Bones’ has a trudging, ritualistic beat, while ‘Going To Hell’ sees the stage full of red lights – really embodying a fiery hell.
‘Fucked Up World’ wraps up the night, with Taylor grabbing a tambourine, Ben throwing a towel out into the crowd, and Jamie starring in a drum solo that stretches the song out to a 9-minute epic. It’s a powerful rock and roll ending that sees the band firing on all cylinders. After the past couple of years, this was definitely the medicine that rock fans needed.
This review appears in issue 107 (December 2022) of Black Velvet with different photos
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