Live Review: The Preatures

While the venue clearly wasn’t made for them, with Isabella Manfredi’s raspy, growling tones sounding a little too harsh in the theatre, The Preatures nonetheless managed to own it for the brief period they graced the stage as part of this year’s Vivid LIVE. 

Manfredi’s stage antics made us laugh, gawk and cheer, as we watched eagerly to see what she and guitarist Jack Moffitt would try next. Whether it was getting up close and personal with the front row in Manic Baby, pushing Moffitt onto his knees to worship her during Whatever You Want or recovering nicely from a (almost) stack by lying on the floor in Rock And Roll Rave, she was queen of the stage. Someone yelled “You’re so cool!” and the rest of the crowd unanimously agreed.

Taking a break from the theatrics, she sat behind a keyboard to perform Two Tone Melody and Business, Yeah, stating, “I can hear myself, and that’s a little disconcerting.” She donned an acoustic guitar to perform a new song about fucking up, before running offstage for a brief intermission and costume change. 

Ordinary kicked off the second half of their set, with its highlight being a cover of The Angels’ Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again, where she commanded us all to stand and scream the reply. Ending the set with Is This How You Feel? was fitting.

The encore took Manfredi out of the limelight briefly while she introduced the band members, who each rightly deserved a round of applause. She then threw the spotlight over to Gideon Benson for oldie, Take A Card, making us all swoon. They ended their performance dedicating Cruel to all the baddies. 

The crowd was visibly excited to hear The Preatures say, “We’re only just getting started,” as they left us with a performance that would only keep us eagerly awaiting the next.