Film photo by Max Callahan
“There are very few people like me, who look upon rock and roll as a kind of religion.”
-Joan Jett, 1988
Without hesitation, this is exactly how Taylor Momsen, front woman of hard rock band The Pretty Reckless, embodies her passion for rock music today. The group triumphantly celebrated three sold-out shows at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, and I had the privilege to embark on a journey to Night 2, and as incredible as it was in performance, so it was in commitment to getting there.
I’m from Massachusetts, so a little snow never (usually) hurt anybody up here. The night my roommates and I set off for the Big Apple though, Mother Nature almost pulled a fast one. While driving down the interstate, we slid on the ice and snow. Unable to see, frightened from the first slide and being closer to home than New York, we turned around and headed for home for at least some sleep.
Something was eating away at me, heading back in the opposite direction. Every travel for live shows, for me, is like completing my own mission. A new lesson is learned with the new miles conquered. I needed to learn my lesson from The Pretty Reckless show. I couldn’t let this be the end. So banding together with my roommates (ABSOLUTELY PUN INTENDED), we set off on what I believe is my most devoted act to live music yet. At 5am we were all heading to bed, at noontime we all were waking up again, and by no later than 2:15 we were back on the road we had just tailspun on 14 hours before.
9:00p.m. Ticket: scanned. Coat: checked. Shot of tequila: smooth sailin’. Taylor Momsen? Hitting. The. Stage. The second that I saw her platinum blonde hair, my jaw dropped. Then I heard her soul capturing wails… and I seriously got emotional. This is a woman… a woman in the 21st century that has given her life to rock and roll. In an industry and specifically a genre in said industry such as music where it is so heavily influenced and run by men, it is so refreshing to see a woman get up on a stage and use her undeniable talent to not only entertain but also remind audiences that this field is not a game just for the dudes. Oh, yes, chicks can sure as hell be rockstars too. It’s also important to note that it isn’t even just her talent that wowed me for years to come, it was the sense of control she had on that stage: obvious to navigate that sheis the focal point and she knew all eyes were on her. She grabbed that power by the balls and showed everyone that her place in rock and roll is for real. As the focal point of the performance, Taylor had a really beautiful way of connecting with the audience. She told stories, engaged us by taking a vote of where we were all from, playfully bickered with her instrumentalists, she was an act from the moment she walked on stage until the moment the show was over.
One piece of the show I really had respect for and loved was the use of sound cues, or soundbites throughout the set. As a now ex-theatre student, it’s now more prevalent to me than ever that you can always leave theatre, but theatre will never leave you. Most of us first experienced Taylor Momsen as little Cindy Lou Who in Jim Carrey’s live action ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ and then afterwards as Jenny Humphrey in ‘Gossip Girl.’ After watching evidence that Taylor and her band still pay tribute to clips from films, shows, and other performances by encorporating them into the set, whether as an intro or outro to a number, was something so promising for my own past self to experience. It was a unique interpretation for a rock show, and electrifying to witness as I never knew what sound bite was coming next.
Film photo by Max Callahan
The band behind Taylor shocked me way more than I had expected them to. Aside from Momsen on vocals, The Pretty Reckless is composed of Mark Damon on bass, Ben Phillips on lead guitar and backing vocals, and Jamie Perkins on drums. I really loved watching the way this group communicated, musically, in front of an audience. There were moments throughout the show where Momsen would leave the stage, allowing Damon and Phillips to come together and literally play off each other’s backs. It was super fun to watch how much fun they had on stage playing together. Phillips can shred to melt your face off and Damon has iconic moves as he plays that make it just about impossible to take your eyes away. I loved hearing the contrasting vocals Phillips provided underneath and aside Momsen’s. Their voices coincide so beautifully together to create some of the most haunting hard/metal rock music of our generation. Perkins, their drummer, was a little more mysterious though, which I thought added an extra layer to the band. Undeniable talent he has, but I also don’t think I ever saw his face, which ironically, worked for me. I didn’t even need to. He made his presence perfectly known in his drumming all night long, especially in his kickass solo that lasted almost 10 minutes.
Now having been on the first of soon-to-be many crazy journeys that The Pretty Reckless will send me on, I am more than ready for the next. This show was also a huge check off of my bucket list as a fan: to go to New York City as my own person, without my family, and to see a show with my roommates. As we walked out of the Bowery, into the bitter cold and walked down the streets of Manhattan, full of glee, I gazed up at all the buildings in the night sky and knew this was only the beginning of trips to the city I’d catch for some good rock and roll. The Pretty Reckless have already announced a return date to my area, amongst other festivals later this year, and I will be doing whatever I can to witness that bottle blonde babe, Taylor Momsen, wail in my face again. This new 2020’s era of TPR is so kickass to watch evolve and if you haven’t given their latest albums, ‘Death By Rock And Roll’ and ‘Other Worlds’ a listen yet, I would highly recommend doing so. As a female, I have found so much liberation within their last two releases, and seeing them live finally made the adoration for the entire band come full circle. If our world is looking to fierce femmes like Miley Cyrus and Hayley Williams to carry on the torch of kickass music and believing in the power of your own voice, then Taylor Momsen sure as hell is right up there with them. The next wave of rock and roll is here, and Momsen is one of the leaders of the pack. I can’t wait to see where The Pretty Reckless goes with all of this momentum next.
“𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫
𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝
𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫
𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝”