I have never been so happy to be out of middle school as I was when I exited the Paradise on Thursday night after Taylor Momsen’s Pretty Reckless show. It was (naturally) an all-ages show, so come 11:00, angsty tweens and gangly Skrillex look-alikes poured out of the venue looking as though they had they had just seen a completely different band than I had, grins plastered across their faces as they dialed their mothers to come pick them up.
Taylor Momsen (previously of Gossip Girl and Grinch fame) formed The Pretty Reckless in 2009, gathered a handful of generic rock men to back her on guitar, bass and drums, and released the band’s debut album, Light Me Up. The album’s sound relies heavily upon world-weary power chords paired with predictable melodies: a perfectly marketable sound for that niche demographic of Warped Tour-goers and teenagers who maintain that no one, like, gets them. In fact, the only redeemable facet of the album (and thus far, the band’s entire sound) is Momsen’s voice, a soulful rasp that packs both precision and power into a single note.
This same voice is what saved the live show from absolute disaster as well. If anything, Momsen sounded better live than recorded, cracks in her howl only serving to add to the show’s overall aesthetic. Her bandmates’ skills were markedly less overwhelming: drummer Jamie Perkins seemed to fall a bit off-beat every few minutes, while guitarist Ben Phillips and bassist Mark Damon rendered some of the most, hell let’s just say it, boring melodies and solos I’ve seen all year. As Momsen herself puts it in the band’s hit single, it made me want to die.
This completely underwhelming craftsmanship on the part of Momsen’s backing band as well as cringe-worthy lyrical clichés made Momsen’s vocal achievements almost disappointing, simply because her talents were going to waste on such undeserving material. Perhaps she just needs some time to grow into herself and out of her teenage angst phase: we’ve all been there, and for the most part, we all grew out of it. Here’s hoping that Momsen does, although I, for one, am not holding my breath.
PTL DeviL • May 17, 2012 at 3:41 pm
You are way off base.
I was also at the Boston show, came from NY to see it, and the crowd was extremely loud and everyone was in to it….
There were very few people underage who had to call their moms or dads and in fact you are very wrong about that as well but even if there were… WHO CARES!!! Talking about cliche’s you need to stop using cliche’s in ridiculous reviews….
The only thing you were right about is how well Taylor’s voice sounds live. This is one of the few legitimate new rock bands around and they will keep getting better and better. Mark, Ben & Jamie mix quite well together, Jamie’s timing wasn’t off that night, the bass and guitar melodies and solo’s were not boring at all. Just because you didn’t like it or appreciate it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. Light Me Up is an amazing CD as well as the 3 new songs on the Hit Me Like a Man EP and when you consider Taylor was only 16 when she recorded Light Me Up… shows how talented she really is.
TO everyone else out there… go see the Pretty Reckless and ignore this writer!! You will certainly enjoy their show and love their music.
bd • May 9, 2012 at 2:45 pm
To do a review and comment section, you first need to know how to spell. As for Taylor, I prefer the “Grinch!”
D Bove • May 8, 2012 at 7:27 pm
first off it s pretty obvious you don’t appreciate their musical talent and influences and like you put it it was their first record that taylor thought would be appropriate at the time of the release. Second off i ws at that show with 9 other friends and she absolutely killed it. Have you ever heard of avenged sevenfold they play riffs like that constantly and they change their riffs each show they play!!!!!!!! Why do you find the need to bash on someone’s dream and lyrics to their lives, what you wrote was absolutely disgusting and you have no respect for someone’s talent at all. They are growing to become better musicians as we speak. Their new ep hit me like a man shows it all. One final thought, This band has toured with some of the best bands out their and they’ve only been around for three years. Theirs talent there you just are too miserable to see it
VR • May 8, 2012 at 12:42 pm
LOL, a hipster trying to review a rock show, cute.