BST 2023 / The Pretenders

The Pretenders 2023 model are onstage and the sense of anticipation hits the crowd. Many have heard of the name, or maybe they know a couple of songs without knowing who, when, what. The radio plays on 80’s stations or 80’s playlists are guilty of this and probably is what keeps them afloat. As they open the slot with a new track Losing my Sense of Taste we are confronted by a rock/pop band with a sound that the crowd wasn’t expecting at a Guns N’ Roses gig. To be fair they did try but the blandness of the material just didn’t grab the crowd by their necks and let a sense of bewilderment as to why The Darkness wasn’t the main support, but by the charm of Chrissie Hynde we can deduce that Axl and Co. might have a very big influence. The band and Chrissie’s vocals are great though and it’s only half way their set that the crowd recognises a huge track, Back in the Chain Gang which brings them in and from here on the evening gets easier for them.

Other big tracks are half lip-synced by the crowd but is Don’t Get Me Wrong and I’ll Stand By You that get people moving and finally enjoying this set a bit more. I still think it was an odd choice of headliner but you can’t deny the quality of 80’s rock pop when you hear it, at least the “good ones”. The hard rock crowd was finally won but lets don’t do that again, for the artists as well as the crowd. Deal?