For most of the first half of the 2010’s, Reckless Love were regular fixtures in the UK with their colourful and fun pastiche of the eighties heyday of glam and cock rock. However after a poor fourth album in ‘Invader’ they withdrew for a while to regroup, and in the meantime the pandemic intervened, so this twice postponed show ended being their first London show in six and a half years.

It was also the first opportunity to see them since a shift in musical style to encompass synthwave (by the way one of those terms such as hair metal that was never used when the music itself was popular in the 1980s).

Collateral are another band for whom the pandemic was untimely as their debut full-length album had not long been released and the Kent rockers have had to build up momentum again. They opened up a three band bill to an intro tape of Bon Jovi, which was ironic as in a short set the more melodic and BJ-ish side of their repertoire was set aside in favour of their heavier numbers ‘Mr Big Shot’, ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Broken Promiseland’, prominently featuring Todd Winger’s shredding.

The keyboard player they drafted in last year had been ditched but second guitarist Louis Malagodi retained and indeed he even shared some of the solos as they debuted two new songs, and ‘No Place for Love’, in particular, and ‘Sin in the City’ were very impressive on first listening.

Larger than life singer Angelo Tristan, who seemed to have toned down his act a little, only donned his acoustic the once and then the sound failed him so he went without on another raunchy set closer in ‘Merry Go Round’. My only gripe was that a 30 minute slot at the ridiculously early 715pm start when many are still funnelling in may not be the best showcase for their talent, and after similar slots with HEAT and Skid Row next month, they really need to be doing headline shows.

There had been a change to the tour just a few weeks before when original co-headliners Dan Reed Network pulled out on health grounds and The Treatment were called in at short notice. As a result, at the start they didn’t have too many of their own fans but, having seen some very impressive festival performances over the last 12 months, it came as no surprise to me that they grabbed the audience by the throat. From the sample size of friends I spoke to, they won many new fans including ones that had seen earlier versions of their chequered line ups and been freshly impressed.

Tom Rampton has an excellent voice and his mane of fair hair is not the only comparison with a young Robert Plant while brothers Tagore and Tao Grey reel off one riff after another as they pull some classic theatrical poses at the front of the stage, and although the material is hardly original the band are impressively tight.

The likes of openers ‘Lets Get Dirty’ and ‘Let it Begin’ and the slower, menacing beat of ‘Eyes on You’ have AC/DC as a primary influence, but as the set wore on there were just enough variations to keep things interesting. Both ‘Devil in the Detail’ and ‘Wrong Way’ had a more melodic sensibility and ‘On the Money’ with a ZZ Top like intro, boasted some very effective soloing from Tagore in a slower, bluesier style. ‘Rat Race’, particularly in its pre-chorus bridge, called to mind the glory of Def Leppard before they became too slick.

‘Get the Party On’, featuring some rare harmony lead guitar also got the crowd involved including the increasingly common trick, getting everyone to crouch down and rise up. ‘Shake the Mountain’- the one survivor from their earliest days along with ‘The Doctor’ – ended an impressive set in typical fist punching fashion and confirmed they have developed into one of the best live bands out there. In truth, despite DRN’s undoubted quality the Treatment were presentationally and musically probably a better fit on the bill in hindsight.

By the time Reckless Love came on there was a healthy crowd of all ages, which was especially encouraging to see as I think the Electric Ballroom is the biggest London venue they have headlined. The shift in musical style was not the only change as the Finns came on looking very dapper in matching cream suits and in the case of bassist Jalle Verne, accessorised with a hat which made him look like a young Roger Glover. Gradually layers were shed until singer Oli Herman went bare chested far later into the set than of old, to the belated relief of his many female admirers.

In contrast to the majority present, I was not familiar with the new material from ‘Turborider’ and was not prepared for the title track to open the set in a fast and furious manner that actually reminded me more of Judas Priest in their cheesier eighties phase, although ‘Outrun’ was more familiar synthpop territory with prominent taped keyboards and other sounds.

The first of the older songs in ‘Monster’ was lightweight but with a ridiculously catchy chorus hook in the best Reckless Love style and debut album favourite ‘Back to Paradise’ had people jumping. Guitarist Pepe has always been the more metallic element in the band and this was confirmed as he shredded Jake E Lee style on a surprisingly good cover of ‘Bark at the Moon’.

A substantial chunk of new songs included ‘Eyes of a Maniac’ and my favourite ‘Kids of the Arcade’, which both had a classic early eighties pop rock feel, and ‘Loaded’ was just as enjoyable.

Oli is also an endearing frontman and in near perfect if accented English, mixed humour and stream of consciousness honesty. In particular he addressed what I had long thought was the elephant in their room, by admitting they used backing tapes as they had no keyboard player and could hardly play synthwave songs without additional assistance. However for ‘Badass’ all the embellishments were turned off and the sound was all the better for it.

‘Edge of Our Dreams’ was particularly warmly received and Oli spoke the truth when describing their relationship with the UK as being like prodigal sons, introducing the new song of the same name.

The latter part of the set revisited those insanely catchy songs that made their reputation, starting with ‘On the Radio’ then moving into the encores in ‘Animal Attraction’ and ‘Night on Fire’, before the biggest hook of them all in the glam goes to Ibiza anthem ‘Hot’ which had most people jumping in the air, your correspondent included. The only disappointment was that the night was not topped off with ‘Beautiful Bomb’.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but even though not totally sold on the new musical direction there was enough of the core Reckless Love spirit to remind me what we had been missing for so many years. Their approach and indeed the whole evening could be summed up in the simplest of words- fun.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)