The Pretty Reckless – Manchester Ritz – 24/01/17
It’s been well over 2 years since The pretty Reckless (8.5) were touring here in the UK in support of their album ‘Going To Hell’, but finally off the back of their new album ‘Who You Selling For’ which only surfaced few months ago, they are back and ready to take on the UK for another round!
Tonight we head down to the Manchester Ritz for their final UK show of the tour which is unsurprisingly sold out, so the place is absolutely buzzing with anticipation minutes before the band are set to hit the stage. After a short delay the lights drop and the sound of sirens, orgasms, and trickling water fill the darknessfrom the intro to ‘Follow Me Down’, as a tall thin silhouette appears centre stage bursting into a blur of headbanging hair as the riffs kick in. Taylor’s voice is bang on point from the first note and the grittiness in her voice on record transfers to her live performance incredibly well.
‘Since Your Gone’ follows closely with Taylor gliding around the stage through the red lights and smoke like she’s emerging from Hell, posing with both guitarists back to back as they fire through the song. The attitude from the lyrics and vocals come across strongly as she soars around full of confidence. As good as the set opening is, it’s exactly what we have seen the last time they were here so it’s all a little familiar at parts, and it’s a recurring theme at times throughout the set. However tonight the band as a whole do seem more on form and keep things interesting with a few tricks, as well as making sure the crowd are thoroughly involved throughout. ‘My Medicine’ is a perfect example, as Taylor armed with her electric guitar plays and sings through the track and has the whole venue singing along in the breakdown, which sounds fantastic!
The set has a mix of new and old material which has the band swinging from one album to another for the most part of the night. From newer tracks such as ‘Who You Selling For’ and ‘Oh My God’, all the way through to ‘Light Me Up’ and ‘Zombie’ from the debut album, the set list is constantly changing from its energetic rock to its more chilled out sing-alongs, and it keeps us well on our toes.
As ever the furious ‘Make Me Wanna Die’ gets a fantastic response and sounds perfectly polished live as you would expect, and it’s still up there as one of the highlights of the show. The back end of the show features the big singles from their previous album, the self titled ‘Going To Hell’ and ‘Heaven Knows’ take the show to its ultimate height with a powerful performance of both including some squealing guitar solos, before the leading single from the brand new album ‘Take Me Down’ ends the set fantastically with it’s infectious riffs and chorus you can’t help but sing along to.
An encore seduces the band back to the stage for one final song in the form of ‘Fucked Up World’, which has Taylor armed with her tambourine as she sings along with the crowd for one last time. However a 10 minute drum solo mid song did seem a little unnecessary and brought the climax down a little, especially when the time could have been filled with a track like ‘Miss Nothing’ which was absent from the set tonight, but The Pretty Reckless do try to make their live shows a little different so you can’t blame them for being somewhat creative.
Another satisfying show from the New York rockers that leaves us wanting more much more, and hopefully they wont leave us waiting another two years before they return again to rock our socks off!
Check out our live photos of The Pretty Reckless in Manchester here!
