The Old Market, Hove, May 12
“I-I-I-I-I’m one of those faces”, Chrissie Hynde sings on “Domestic Silence”, from the Pretenders’ imminent 12th album, Relentless. She holds a pose for a second and there is that face, as chiselled and changeless as Mount Rushmore: dark hair sprouting like ’70s Keith, straight fringe hanging over makeup-hooded eyes, razor cheekbones and mouth at a challenging tilt.
Hynde takes’s title to mean “showing no abatement of intensity”, and this 50-minute hit-and-run set at Brighton’s The Great Escape festival digs deep into the band’s catalogue, demonstrating a consistent purpose and attitude forged by Hynde’s character, and embodied by her voice’s cocky thrust and vulnerable ache.
