The Pretty Reckless
Special Guests: The Cruel Knives
Venue: O2 Guildhall, Southampton.
Date: 2nd November 2022.
Review By: Ryan Payne
One of the most popular bands in rock and metal graced the city of Southampton for a sold-out show, alongside British rockers The Cruel Knives. The Pretty Reckless are a couple of nights in on their UK tour, supporting the brand-new album “Other Worlds”, which is set to be released 2 days after this show.
The Cruel Knives
First up, we had the only support band of the night, The Cruel Knives, grace the stage. After speaking to a couple of members of the public, it was fair to say that these guys were a band that no one had really heard of, besides the few fans that recognised some of the members from their previous band, Heavens Basement. The boys played a 30-minute set, filled with some very adrenaline fuelled hard rock that had a few heads turning throughout. The band played with enthusiasm and the singer tried his best to entertain a crowd that didn’t seem very interested in seeing them. The sound for their set was great, everything could be heard perfectly and the mix of everything made for a great experience to watch. I only wish to see them playing smaller venues to a crowd that would appreciate them more 
(3.5 / 5)
The Pretty Reckless
Next, and finally, we had the night’s main event: The Pretty Reckless. The band were greeted with cheers and screams as the room exploded into noise as the band’s singer, Taylor Momsen, came onto the stage. With the rest of the band dressed in black and the lighting essentially making them invisible, it was clear to see the intended focus was on her as she graced the stage in a white dress and an attitude that the crowd ate up from the moment, she walked in. Unfortunately, looks aren’t everything as the bands show was really let down by the sound throughout the performance. Whether it was the sound of the overpowering vocals dominating everything, the wall of sound created as the mix bounced off the walls around the venue or a chaotic mixture of the two, a couple of songs into the set, and it became a real struggle to watch, especially for someone who didn’t have a huge knowledge of their back catalogue. The O2 Guildhall is notorious for its horrendous habit of making most band’s sound like a big barrage of noise due to the acoustic in the venue being awful. That being said, the band played a great collection of songs that spanned throughout their career, including their biggest hits “You Make Me Wanna Die” and “Heaven Knows” that had the whole room singing along (3.5 / 5)
