Simon Rushworth
@ Nottingham Rock City, November 27 2011
The mighty Reckless Love arrived in Glam Central, Nottingham, on the second night of their Animal Attraction tour to a sold out gig and not an inch of space in the packed venue.
Indeed, it is becoming very obvious to all that this band is destined for great things in the future.
The evening kicked off with Newport band The Dirty Youth – an unlikely choice of support, given their very metal but very un-glam sound. Thankfully the band features Danni Monroe who, with her flame red hair and gritty vocals, more than made up for the obvious clash of styles.
Fight, from the band’s debut album Red Light Fix, was the pick of a solid bunch with Requiem Of The Drunk and Trend Setter proving there’s more to TDY than initially meets the eye.
Building up a bigger fan base on the back of their well-received Download Festival show earlier this year, the band draws comparisons with Paramore and Bullet for my Valentine and the vocals sound heavily influenced by artists such as Gwen Sefani. That said, TDY have a sound all of their own and any doubters were swiftly turned.
Next up – the mane Attraction…..and boy was it Animal! Flying Finns Reckless Love launched straight into the title track from Animal Attraction and the pace rarely relented.
Lead vocalist Olli Herman is one of the most charismatic frontmen on the planet and he had the Nottingham crowd eating out of the palm of his hand with both his performance and on-stage banter.
The blond bombshell managed to cover every inch of the main stage before climbing up into the rafters on one side and then onto the bar itself at the other. As a tactic to involve absolutely everyone present it worked an absolute treat.
Then came the usual shirt stripping routine – always likely to cause quite a stir among the ladies in the audience – and probably some of the men too!
On a night when ‘total triumph’ was the obvious catchphrase the only disappointment was that drummer Hessu Maxx was sitting so low down. It was impossible to see him unless he stood up – so at times it looked like there were only three people on stage!
The setlist included key cuts from Reckless Love’s new album including Born To Break Your Heart, Dirty Dreams, Radio and, of course, the standout song Hot which had the whole room jumping to its catchy chorus.
Even bigger things beckon for the rising stars of the glam metal scene.
Diane Goodrum