'Ticket's There' – Irish and International Music Blog

Is there anything better than glam metal? Def Leppard did it best (not open for debate), Guns N’ Roses made it dangerous and Bon Jovi tried to kill it; but 2011 sees a plethora of young bands revitalizing one of music’s most infamous genres. About bloody time!

In the thirty odd years since Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Poison, Guns N’ Roses and the likes took that old blues rock n roll, dumped a tonne of eye liner, Jack Daniels and explicit west coast sex into the mix; a lot has changed in the world. Geeks have taken over, bands ware scarves, converse, recycle like Germans and …God help us, Chris Martin and Thom Yorke are even considered rock stars. Don’t panic, there’s hope! Tonight, Finland’s extremely credible successor to Hanoi Rocks; Reckless Love are in Dublin to inject a little sleaze into our cold Irish blood.

Last year the band visited Ireland on their ‘Back To Paradise tour’ in support of their self-titled debut LP. Now they’re back with a new album, ‘Animal Attraction’ and a jump in venue; going from Crawdaddy to Whelan’s. A pint of the black stuff in hand, hair down; it’s time to rock n roll with openers The Dirty Youth who, if nothing else, manage to deliver a little ‘eazy on the eyes’ warm up. Not implying anything…. While we may not speak for everyone, this concert goer found it difficult to focus on their music right off due to the sight of their lovely lead singer Danni Monroe in short shorts. Yes, Tickets There likes short shorts. So, all’s well and they don’t sound bad either.

Taking the stage shortly after, tonight’s’ headliners easily manage to jump that all important step from opening act to main attraction. Pepe (guitars), Hessu (drums, crowd control) and Jalle (bass) take positions and kick into the group’s latest single, ‘Animal Attraction’. As the slow drums and feedback guitar fill the PA, lead singer Olli Herman slides on stage, teasing the impressive array of young Irish fillies lined up at the front. Despite some worries about Animal Attraction lacking in the balls department, Reckless prove the new material has just as much umpf as their standards, Animal Attraction and following track ‘Speedin’ deliver everything that’s good about the glam scene. Guitars, solos, speed and born-to-be-rock stars. ‘Badass‘ from their début comes next giving all fans the first major rallying point of the night. As calls come from the crowd for him to remove his shirt and a degree of tension from the ladies as he ponders it, Olli endorses the sound man and a few audience members to remove theirs first and start “to have romances together”. Ice firmly broken, let’s go.

The set is mostly taken from their new record with eight tracks getting an airing tonight. Born To Break Your Heart, Animal Attraction’s first single, ‘Hot’ and ‘Fantasy’ all get the band’s special live treatment and deliver a few instantly enjoyable riffs and chorus’s. The band blaze through tonight’s show with professional ease and arena style antics. Every pose, pout and kick are reminiscent of the greats; but revitalized with youthful energy from a band with a long career ahead of them.

Romance bring things back their full fighting harmonic best before the set gets rounded off with new tracks ‘Dirty Dreams’, ‘On The Radio’ and ‘Dance’. With the band fully in form and winning the crowd over with their new material, the return to their debut for the final pounding. ‘Wild Touch’ explodes from the PA like a panther, sounding stronger and more aggressive than any recording could capture. Returning for the encore, the band demand one final roar from the crowd before bringing it home with the cock rock-tastic ‘Beautiful Bomb’ and the anthematic ‘One More Time’. That’s twice Dublin Metal Events have had them over and hopefully they’re the first visits of many. Reckless Love are not a band you want to miss next time.