The Pretty Reckless rolled into Maryland with Paris Jackson and doug. along for the ride, packing The Fillmore Silver Spring for a sold-out show on Sept. 26.
The 2,000-capacity room was exactly the sort of setting that suits The Pretty Reckless: close, loud, dark, and just a little dangerous around the edges. By the end of the night, Taylor Momsen and company had reminded everyone why their particular brand of dark, swaggering rock still hits with such force.
The Fillmore Silver Spring is a good room for this kind of show. It is big enough to create some serious noise, but still intimate enough that the audience feels close to the action.
This tour also marks a new chapter for The Pretty Reckless. The band’s fifth studio album, Dear God, arrived in 2026, giving Momsen and company a fresh batch of songs to fold into a catalog that now stretches back more than 15 years.
But before Momsen stepped into the spotlight, the night had a couple of musical stories of its own.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, punk-indie outfit doug. took the stage first, facing an audience largely made up of die-hard hard rock and post-grunge fans. For an independent four-piece that cut its teeth self-releasing albums on Bandcamp and playing sweaty local venues, the sheer scale of the room did not intimidate the band. If anything, it seemed to provide more fuel.
Billed on social media as “piss punk rock,” doug. brought that same unfiltered, aggressive charm to The Fillmore Silver Spring. Its set was a relentless rush of jagged guitar riffs, propulsive garage-punk drums, and raspy, urgent vocals.
The band’s scrappy indie-punk aesthetic stood in contrast to the polished, dark theatricality that would come later, but the crowd quickly keyed into its energy. Songs were played at maximum velocity, turning early arrivals into active participants.
By the time doug. wrapped its set, the band had won over a sizable chunk of the room and demonstrated that raw punk energy can translate just fine to a much bigger stage.
Paris Jackson followed with a set that leaned toward the more atmospheric side of rock.
There is an interesting tension in watching an artist with such a recognizable name carve out a musical identity entirely her own, and Jackson largely succeeded by allowing the music to speak for itself.
Her set began with “maker,” followed by songs including “ghost,” “bandaid,” “teenage drama,” “Albatross,” and “zombies in love.”
Watch the official music video for “zombies in love” by Paris Jackson on YouTube:
Jackson then turned toward more familiar territory with a cover of Blind Melon’s “No Rain.” It was a natural choice. The song has always carried an unusual combination of melancholy and warmth, and Jackson gave it her own character rather than treating it as a simple nostalgia exercise.
She closed with “happiest day of my life,” ending a set that offered the audience a concise introduction to her musical world.
Then the lights came down, The Pretty Reckless took the stage, and everything changed.
Momsen commanded the room with effortless, slinky confidence from the moment she appeared, and “Death by Rock and Roll” was the perfect opener.
The title alone tells you what kind of evening this is going to be, but the song also captures something central to The Pretty Reckless: Rock is not simply a genre for this band. It is identity, escape, danger, and survival rolled into one.
Momsen has never been the sort of frontwoman who needs to fill every second between songs with chatter. She knows when to let the music do the talking. There is an economy to her stage presence, and when she steps into a vocal line, she commands attention.
“Since You’re Gone” and “Follow Me Down” kept the momentum rolling before “Miss Nothing” brought another dose of darkness to the set.
That contrast is one of the things The Pretty Reckless handles particularly well live. The band can move from a full-throttle rocker into something more exposed without losing the thread of the performance.
“For I Am Death” and “When I Wake Up” pushed the show deeper into the band’s darker material while giving the new Dear God songs their opportunity to stand alongside established favorites.
New material can sometimes feel like the obligatory middle chapter between the songs everyone paid to hear. That was not the case here. The newer songs had a purpose, showing where The Pretty Reckless are now rather than simply reminding listeners where they have been.
Watch the official music video for “When I Wake Up” by The Pretty Reckless on YouTube:
“Love Me” came next, followed by “Dragonfire,” which gave the guitars plenty of room to breathe, and the atmospheric “Spell on You.”
Then came “Devil in Disguise (Michelle’s Song).”
The Pretty Reckless have never been afraid of uncomfortable territory. Their songs frequently carry a bruised quality, even when the music around them is enormous. There is beauty in that tension. These songs do not always offer an easy way out, and that is part of their appeal.
“Dear God” and “Nothing Left to Lose” continued that thread, carrying the show through some of its more emotionally charged moments.
Then the band pulled out one of the songs that first put it firmly on the rock map.
“Make Me Wanna Die” arrived like an old friend who still knows exactly how to start trouble.
The song has been around long enough to carry plenty of history, but live, it does not feel like a museum piece. The guitars hit hard, the crowd responded immediately, and Momsen’s vocal delivery retained the same sense of danger that made the song stand out in the first place.
Watching a packed room react to “Make Me Wanna Die” also served as a reminder that people still want guitars, attitude, and songs that mean something.
“Heaven Knows” kept the pressure on, followed by “Going to Hell,” another song that has become inseparable from The Pretty Reckless’ identity.
Watch the official music video for “Going to Hell” by The Pretty Reckless on YouTube:
There is a theatrical quality to the band’s music, but the performance never felt overly staged. The darkness comes naturally. The riffs do plenty of the heavy lifting, and the band’s muscular live sound keeps the songs from drifting into anything too polished.
By this point, The Fillmore had become one big, crowded, sweaty rock ’n’ roll room.
The Pretty Reckless closed the main set with “About You,” offering one last reminder that beneath all the volume, distortion, and attitude, this band has always been interested in the messier parts of being human.
And maybe that is why the songs stick.
The Pretty Reckless have never needed to reinvent rock ’n’ roll. Instead, they have taken familiar ingredients, sharpened the edges, and built a sound capable of moving from vulnerable to vicious without hesitation. Momsen remains at the center of it, but the band around her gives those songs their muscle and weight.
The Dear God Tour represents a new chapter, but the Sept. 26 performance at The Fillmore showed that the older songs have not lost their teeth. They are still loud, still potent, and still capable of making a packed Silver Spring room suddenly feel much smaller and more immediate.
This is a rock show that does not need a gimmick or an elaborate explanation.
Plug in the guitars, turn up the amps, step into the lights, and let the songs take over.
That is pretty much what happened at The Fillmore on Saturday night.
Paris Jackson brought an introspective opening chapter. doug. supplied a jolt of punk energy. Then The Pretty Reckless took the room somewhere darker, louder, and considerably more dangerous.
Setlist
1. Death by Rock and Roll
2. Since You’re Gone
3. Follow Me Down
4. Miss Nothing
5. For I Am Death
6. When I Wake Up
7. Love Me
8. Dragonfire
9. Spell on You
10. Devil in Disguise (Michelle’s Song)
11. Dear God
12. Nothing Left to Lose
13. Make Me Wanna Die
14. Heaven Knows
15. Going to Hell
16. About You
Here are some photos of The Pretty Reckless performing live at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Sept. 26, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/Odd Rocker Photography.
Here are some photos of Paris Jackson performing live at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Sept. 26, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/Odd Rocker Photography.
Here are some photos of doug. performing live at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Sept. 26, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/Odd Rocker Photography.
