The Pretty Reckless @ The HOB in San Diego
Featuring The Pretty Reckless and Ayron Jones
Photos by: Samantha Madnick
Words by: Rudy Flores
Well, it was a million degrees in San Diego on Thursday night, so clearly it was the perfect weather for an indoor concert at the House of Blues right? OF COURSE IT WAS! The concert in question was none other than Taylor Momsen and The Pretty Reckless with Ayron Jones, who was up first by the way. Ayron Jones, the 36 year old out of Seattle with the eclectic style, definitely made his presence known as he and his band took to the main stage. His bluesy riffs and voice that sounded rich and thick like old school vinyl records, filled the air and captivated the audience completely. He summoned the spirits of Jimi, Stevie Ray, Muddy, B.B., and even a little Cobain with each note. You could feel every ounce of the raw emotion Ayron has in each and every lyric that was sung...or is it sang...whatever...you know what I mean!
I, along with the nearly sold out crowd could have listened to Ayron play for hours but unfortunately his short set came and went too fast like a teenager on prom night. For the life of me I don't know why this man is an opening act, he should and I'm sure will soon be selling out venues across the states and abroad. If you have a chance to see him...DO IT, and if you don't you should definitely check out his music, especially his latest album "Child of the State" from Big Machine Records ASAP. You will not regret it!
Now the band the crowd was waiting for... THE PRETTY RECKLESS!!
Taylor Momsen and The Pretty Reckless started their set off pretty "tame" with their big hit "Death by Rock and Roll" from their 2021 album of the same name to a FULLY packed crowd. I'm kidding of course because "tame" was the last thing that that opening song was! Everyone in the crowd lost their collective shit as the gravelly voiced 29 year old strutted around the stage creating a frenzy among the men and women alike.
"Witches Burn" (again from their 2021 release) was another crowd favorite but it was definitely geared toward the women in the crowd because as Taylor put it "This is for all the women that have been fucked over by men!" It was absolutely electric! A shocker for some long time fans was an insane performance of "Zombie" from their 2010 release "Light Me Up" which according to setlist.com hasn't been performed live since 2017!
"Going to Hell" (from their 2nd album release back in 2014 of the same name) had everyone throwing up the in unison with each beat of the drum and you just knew that "Heaven Knows" ( off the same album) was going to take everyone to another level.
They ended off their set with 2016's "Take Me Down" from "Who You Selling For" before going back to 2014 for their encore, "Fucked Up World". Which concluded to an eardrum shattering applause. Now I'm not sure, but I have a crazy suspicion that the crowd was feeling it.