Concert Review: Reckless Love

It was a dark basement.  The drummer made eyes with the girls on the front row, took off his shirt, and took his place behind his drum kit.  The lead guitar player slung his guitar over his shoulder and made sure his tattoos were visible.  The bassist fluffed his hair and assumed the standard bassist wide-leg stance.  The singer was nowhere to be seen.

After the rest of the band started playing the intro the first song, he appeared from the wings.  His hair was blond and voluminous.  His bandanas were plentiful.  His leather fingerless gloves were mismatched.  His pants were skin tight, and belted (despite the pants being lycra).  His denim jacket had the KISS logo on the back.  His eyeliner and lip gloss were flawless.  He took to the stage, and each step was a high kick that would be the envy of any Rockette or Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader.

Welcome to the Reckless Love gig.

There have been a lot of these throwback hair bands over the last few years.  Like The Darkness.  And Steel Panther.  But I always feel like those guys are playing with a sarcastic "wink-wink, isn't this funny and retro?" undertone.  Not so with Reckless Love.  When I hear their songs or watch their videos, I'm instantly whisked away in my mind to my basement in 1988, playing pool with teased hair, and listening to Poison.  Actually, there is a lot about Reckless Love that reminds me of Poison.  Can you spot the similarities?

                        


It was a small venue, so Anji and I were able to squeeze our way to the very front to have an unobstructed view of the band.  There was lots of eye contact.  And winking.  And lip puckering.  And pelvic thrusting.  And additional high kicks.  In fact, anytime there was a break in the song, Olli would just break into high kicks and I'm not sure how the bass player made it through the whole show without getting kicked in the head. 

All in all, ridiculously fun show.  When it was over, I was sad to leave the warm embrace of 1988 and come back upstairs.  I wanted to stay in that time warp basement, lost in the bass player's eyes, forever.

(This post is the closest thing I've ever written to fan fiction.  But it was real.  This post was fan non-fiction.)