The Pretty Reckless Live at The Bowery Ballroom- NYC 12/13/22

On December 13. 2022, I attended the last of three sold-out nights of The Pretty Reckless (TPR) at The Bowery Ballroom in New York City. This was a smaller and more intimate shows that ones that they usually play. As they are a native NYC band, they wanted to play some for their hometown fans. This is a concert that TPR had tried to play multiple times since their excellent album Death by Rock N' Roll had come out back in 2021. But, between COVID and bunch of other shit, they had to cancel and reschedule a bunch of times. Until, they finally got what at first was two nights. With both of those sold-out, they added a third night, which in turn sold-out, as well! 

I actually missed it, due to a myriad of reasons. But, for once, in these last couple of years, shit turned in my favor, and I found a really good deal on a ticket for the Tuesday night show. And, so I went to see one of my personal favorite bands for a third time (fourth if you count the time I saw Taylor Momsen play a little acoustic show in Best Buy in Union Square, NY).

They got onstage a little bit after 9PM and rocked the house, hard! At first, lead signer Taylor Momsen came on with a biker stage. But, it didn't take long for her to reveal her sexy one piece dress. She looked gorgeous, but that goes without saying. Her voice sounded incredible. And, as she always does she ruled that stage. Energetic, charismatic, sexy, and badass, she is a true rock star. Backed up by her immensely talented bandmates, they played rocker after rocker. The audience was red hot and loved everything the band did. They left and came back for the encore, at which point Momsen donned a plaid shirt perfect to play their kick ass cover to Soundgarden's classic "Loud Love". By the time the show ended, we all had had a fucking killer time!

Setlist:

Death by Rock and Roll

Since You're Gone

Only Love Can Save Me Now

And So It Went

Make Me Wanna Die

Turning Gold

Sweet Things

Witches Burn

My Medicine

My Bones

Going to Hell

Heaven Knows

Take Me Down

Encore:

Loud Love (Soundgarden cover) 

Rockin' in the Free World (Neil Young cover)

Fucked Up World

Did of you guys catch them on either of these three nights? Or did you catch them on another part of this tour? Let me know in the comments section below.

Also, I would like to wish you all a very Merry (and warm!) Christmas/ happy holidays, whatever it is you may celebrate!

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Killswitch Engage Live at Bowery Ballroom NYC 3/7/16

Starting this past Sunday, metalcore founding fathers and gods Killswitch Engage did a sold-out NYC residency tour. I got to go as press and catch the second date of it, as they played in the Bowery Ballroom. This show took place last night (March 7, 2016). And, it was killer! From all I hear it was even better than the show they played the night before at the Gramercy. In fact, it might just be impossible for any other venue they will be hitting to top in it's epic awesomeness.

The opening act was Brooklyn natives, Candiria. I think it's very cool that KsE picked them to open for them at this venue. They've been around since 1992 and are still kicking ass. This is my first time seeing them live,  but I definitely would see them again. Their music is very unique. It mixes metalcore, jazz, and rap in quite an exciting and original manner. The resulting sound is a mix of crunching breakdowns and changing tempos accompanied by vocals that range from screaming to signing to rapping. They played a fun set and got the audience moving. Candiria have an album coming out this year from Metal Blade Records, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for it.

Killswitch Engage came on after. And, holy shit did they own that stage! From the get go it was clear the band was ready to tear shit up. Everything was full throttle from them, and they sounded perfect.

They opened this amazing set with "A Bid Farewell" and played many classics and fan favorites from their discography including, "Rose of Sharyn", "Self Revolution", "The End of Heartache", "Always", and more. When they played "Life to Lifeless" lead signer Jesse Leach got into the crowd and sang with them!! It was such a fucking awesome moment! They also played new songs from the upcoming album Incarnate (which comes out this Fri, by the way), including the killer track "Alone I Stand" which they live debuted for us.

Playing in a smaller venue like this allowed them to be close to the audience and interact with them; the way that they did. It also allowed the audience to get on stage and sign with the band, stage dive, and even take selfies (the later of which was eventually nipped in the butt)! But, it really made for a fun and crazy experience. I don't remember seeing any band letting people on stage during the whole entire concert! I honestly didn't think that that even happened anymore. But, it's thing like this that made this show so fucking awesome and unforgettable.

And, yet despite the continuous stage diving and large mosh pit, no one got injured. To be honest if I wasn't photographing for this site I would've stage dived, myself. I did do a little bit of jumping and moving around though. It was impossible not to, what with the killer music that was playing! The last song they played was the classic and amazing "My Curse". This was a concert for the ages, make no bones about it. And, Killswitch Engage once again reminded why not only are one of my personal favorite bands in the world, but one of the best metal bands anywhere on this planet.

 

 

 

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