by Emma Jenkins
– Guest Columnist —
December 6th, 2014 at Rock City, Nottingham, England —
Tonight’s main event was preceded by The First, a band hailing from Cambridge, who has had successful year touring. The First certainly bring the energy and enthusiasm for a Rock City gig, but do seem a bit at odds with the mainly glam rock audience. Enjoyable to watch, they played their biggest songs to date including “Shark attack” and “Monster.” They certainly had a raw energy but maybe lack the slickness for a glam gig. The audience, however were mainly receptive so they certainly may have made a few more fans tonight.
It is a blisteringly cold night in Nottingham and Rock City could certainly do with some warming up, but that all changed when Reckless Love bound onto the stage sporting big hair and cheeky grins, to the backing track “Boys are Back in Town.” Amid whoops and cheers, they launched straight into “Night on Fire.” Straightaway, arms were held aloft, fists were punching the air and fans happily sang along. “So Happy I Could Die” and “On the Radio,” all good party tunes were to follow. Charismatic lead singer Olli Herman enjoyed his banter with the crowd, telling the audience that he is so happy to be back in Notts, so happy in fact that he could die! It has been over a year since Reckless Love were in these parts and this tour is what Olli calls the ‘Last Blast from the F**king past.’ It’s a night that covers a mix of songs that span back to their debut album Reckless Love.
Returning back to that album they launched into “Badass,” Olli donned sunglasses sporting a mean and moody look, but these were pretty soon discarded. Swiftly they move onto the infectious “Dance,” a song that they tried make as un-heavy metal as they could. Although live, it does have a rockier edge. Credit is given to Pepe for not only his incredible guitar playing but also to his song writing skills and then, it’s a return to the big tunes of “I love Heavy Metal” and “Back to Paradise.”
With the 6th of December being Independence Day in Finland, Reckless Love had two reasons to bring the party to Nottingham. And bring the party they did, finishing the set with “Born to Break your Heart” and the explosive “Beautiful Bomb.”
“Animal Attraction” sees the boys return for the encore. The night of course would not be complete without an introduction of each member of the band; Pepe on guitar, Jalle Verne on bass and Hessu Maxx on drums, and then shout-outs to the crew for lighting, sound and merchandise. The lighting, it has to be said was incredible throughout the gig, very atmospheric. It created a big venue feel with that great club vibe. Temperatures are then set to high as Olli sheds his second shirt of the night and they launch into “Hot.” It was indeed getting hot as the crowd responded energetically by bouncing and singing along to every word. Everyone appeared to be on a major high, but the Finnish boys weren’t done yet. A bit of teasing of the crowd and the night was finished off with the crowd pleaser “One More Time.” It didn’t seem as though Reckless Love are were ever going to leave the stage, they were having way too much fun. The venue finally managed to boot them off stage by putting up the house lights, turning off their microphones and blasting out some music. And even then, Reckless Love couldn’t resist a cheeky little dance before they finally departed.
Indeed, it was a f**king blast from the past, the band promise to return with new material in the future. Overall it was a 90 minute energy packed, fun filled gig packed with big tunes and catchy choruses. No ego, just good times. These guys are no pretenders, they know what they are doing and they are doing it well.
