The Moshville Times - The Pretty Reckless / Heaven’s Basement

Ahead of the release of their third full-length studio album Who You Selling For on 21 October, US rock band The Pretty Reckless played three small warm-up shows in Paris, Berlin and London. I was lucky enough to be able to head down to the London show on Monday night… and it was amazing!

Rock fans both young and old lined the streets around the 800-capacity Scala in Kings Cross as they eagerly awaiting for the doors to be opened. This was a relatively last-minute show announcement for a band that you would usually expect to play a much larger venue (I have previously seen them play Shepherds Bush Empire and Electric Ballroom)…but this was no ordinary TPR show.

Opening the show were UK hard-rock band Heaven’s Basement, who were a brilliant choice of as they got the packed crowd off their feet from the very start. Although their set was only six songs long, they certainly did not disappoint and got everyone well and truly in the mood for what was to come.

Restless fans began singing some of the The Pretty Reckless’ songs to encourage them to venture out of the dressing room and start their set, and they didn’t have to wait too long until the all-too-familiar “flashing of the torch towards the sound-desk” signalled the start of the main event. First on stage were Ben Phillips (lead guitar), Mark Damon (bass) and Jamie Perkins (drums), closely followed by front-woman Taylor Momsen; looking the part in chunky black buckled boots and a long leather jacket.

They band opened their set with “Follow Me Down” from their 2014 record Going To Hell; with Momsen showcasing her trademark raspy vocals as the crowd went wild. The sea of hands thrust towards the stage were not left hanging as Taylor leant across the narrow photopit to connect with the fans.

As well as playing tracks from Going To Hell, the band also treated die-hard fans to a selection of tracks from their debut album Light Me Up (2010); including “Since You’re Gone”, “Make Me Wanna Die”, “Going Down” and (one of my personal favourites) “Just Tonight”.

Not content with providing a solely vocal performance, Taylor picked up her guitar for “My Medicine”, and shook her tambourine during “Fucked Up Word”.

While the band were unable to play the majority of the tracks from their album, they did play two of the three tracks that have already been released; “Take Me Down” and “Oh My God”. If these are anything to go by then Who You Selling For is set to be another great album.

The band ended their set with one of their most well-known tracks; “Going To Hell”. They are now heading back to the US to begin touring the new record towards the end of this moth, but Momsen promised they would be returning to the UK in 2017.

Set List: