If I had to pick out a guilty pleasure in my music taste, Hair/Glam would probably come first. Despite all the criticism it gets, this genre of music, especially when played live is so fun and energetic, I always see it as a big party! I knew that this reckless love show would not be as special as the one back in 2014, reason being the Spirit album released back then was and still remains my favourite Reckless love record if not one of my favourite hair metal album. Since the tour promoted “Invader”, the set would have less songs from spirit, nonetheless I remained excited about the show!
The show opened with the Finnish Santa cruz, a cheery band with what seemed to be a very young frontman. The music was a nice mix between Hair/hard rock and even some more modern metal influences, the songs were all varied and full of energy, although a little generic to the style they were going for. The band itself was also really energetic as expected at a Hair metal show, a few in the crowd seemed to know them which gave a very good atmosphere, the band enjoyed to involve the crow and were a good pre-taste for the headliner, as they are only beginning, I hope the next records will be more technical as I think it would give the band a more recognizable signature. (8/10)
Next up finally came Reckless Love, opening with “Animal Attraction” (my favourite Reckless love tune) doing a good job of getting me in a full on cheese mood for the rest of the show. They played a few tunes from the newest album which were a nice way to discover the new songs. The crowd was having as much fun as they should at such a gig, a lot of singing and jumping!
Of course as expected of a tour promoting the latest record “Invader” only 3 songs off the Spirit album were played: “Edge of our dreams”,” Night on fire” and” So happy I could die”. I could honestly not tell which one made me feel the best as they all filled my heart with such glittery joy I found myself humming the songs not even 5 notes in and singing the lyrics with a smile my face could barely keep in.
Just like the last time I had the chance to see Reckless Love, the energy Olli puts in the show was still jaw-dropping; between high kicks, jumping, twisting, running, you do spend a lot of time after the show wondering where he gets enough stamina to do all this and still have an impeccable voice, but again, this energy is part of what makes the crowd give all their energy to the show, and this made such a great atmosphere. The band ended as it always should with “Hot”, though they decided to not waste time leaving the stage and coming back for an encore which I thought was quite unusual but also a good thing. I believe this is how they could play a song between “Night On Fire” and “Hot”, a tune off the new album called “We are Weekend” which seemed very fitting to our mood though it was played on a Wednesday night. I will not question Hair metal power, it works, we just have to accept and enjoy it!
I would say I definitely preferred the tour for the Spirit album, the only reason for this though is the fact I am such a big fan of this album, otherwise there is nothing I can complain about from this gig, great atmosphere, great energetic performance, great songs, all that make a perfect hair metal night full of smiles, dances and leopard prints, hopefully the next night will be soon enough for more partying, and maybe more “Spirit” tunes! (10/10)
Photos by Gary Cooper – more on Flickr: Reckless Love / Santa Cruz
