The Almighty - London Review

I have been a big fan of Ricky Warwick since I first saw him fronting Thin Lizzy at the De Monfort Hall in Leicester in 2011. When Scott Gorham launched the latest Thin Lizzy era in 2010, which saw the band continue on following the departure of John Sykes, Warwick was the only name involved which I did not recognise. The press release said that he had fronted The Almighty, but at the time I was not familiar with the Scottish rockers - although I soon became a fan of Warwick when he made the Thin Lizzy frontman role his own. I have been following his career ever since, largely via Black Star Riders - but I have also seen him live as a solo artist a couple of times, and have picked up a few of his solo albums. Getting into Warwick also meant finally discovering The Almighty, too. I did not warm to them from the off, but over the past few years in particular I have become a big fan of the band which made him - and rounded off my collection of their albums earlier this year. Due to what seemed to be issues within the band, and also likely Warwick's schedule with Thin Lizzy and then Black Star Riders, The Almighty have been dormant since I got into them. The band's last shows came in 2009 and following Warwick joining Thin Lizzy they were put to rest - with Warwick stating in fairly recent interviews that he had not spoken to some of the other members of the band for quite a few years. A reunion of The Almighty seemed unlikely, then, particularly given how Black Star Riders took off - although the Thin Lizzy off-shoot have not perhaps exploded in the way in which it seemed that they might have at one point. I do wonder what the future for Black Star Riders is, though. With Warwick the only original member of the band left and an increase in his solo activity over the past couple of years, I wonder if Black Star Riders are slowly being put to rest. The time felt right for The Almighty to reunite, then, which is what happened earlier this year when the band's four original members held a press conference announcing that they were going to play three reunion shows in November and December. I picked up a ticket for the London show, at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, right away and finally got around to getting the couple of Almighty albums which I had not got around to hearing. Given the band's popularity, and the length of time it had been since their last tour, tickets sold well. The London and Glasgow shows sold out fairly quickly, with the Manchester show selling out shortly before the tour kicked off. The band did make it seem like these three shows would be it, but given the speed of the ticket sales, and the overall reception which the band received, I do wonder if this short tour will be the start of a new era for The Almighty.

The band were joined on this tour by fellow Scottish rockers Balaam and the Angel - whom I understand had toured with The Almighty previously. I was not really familiar with the band, despite seeing their records in second hand record shops occasionally, but a cursory listen online suggested that they fell into that late 1980s gothic rock scene spearheaded by bands like The Cult and The Mission. The band, who are built around three brothers, had around 45 minutes to play with - and they entertained the growing and large crowd without ever really blowing them away. The band's slightly more atmospheric gothic rock was less in-your-face than what was to come - so perhaps the overall match was not that great. That being said, though, there were quite a few people around me down near the front singing along. It was clear that there were quite a bit of love for the band from some portions of the crowd, but the applause between each song was generally at a level which could be described as 'polite' - although the last few songs of the set did see the energy levels rise a bit and there was even some audible singing at one point. I am not convinced that the band did too much for me, though. I am not a huge fan of that late 1980s goth scene, and I even struggle with The Cult sometimes despite liking them quite a bit. Balaam and the Angel did certainly channel The Cult at the times, but they lacked the mystique of the Bradford-based band - and the songwriting often felt a bit meat and potatoes. That being said, though, there were some decent choruses scattered throughout the set and it never seemed to drag all that much - which is always a good sign. If I ever see one of the band's albums in a record shop again I will probably pick it up and give them a proper listen - but I am certainly not going to go out of my way to do so.

By the time The Almighty took the stage at 9pm the sold out crowd was gathered and up for what was to come. The Almighty were always at the more metallic end of the late 1980s/early 1990s British rock scene and many of those in attendance decided to use the Saturday night to let off some steam - with a surprising amount of moshing taking place throughout the night. The atmosphere from the off was fantastic, though, with everyone in attendance singing along to all of the 21 songs played. It was not obvious from the band that this was their third show since 2009, either, given how tight they were - and it was Tantrum's (guitar/vocals) third show since he left the band back in 1991. The organ strains of opener Resurrection Mutha acted as the band's walk-on music - and when they launched into the song proper with Stump Monroe's (drums) double bass rolls and Warwick's tough riffing the tone for the rest of the night was set. They only played songs from their first four albums, paying particular attention to the first two, but these represent the real cream of the catalogue - and each track that was played only added to the evening's party atmosphere. Heavy tracks came thick and fast early on, with Over the Edge and the groovy, mid-paced Addiction acting as early highlights. Tantrum did not seem phased tackling songs which were written after he had left the band, and the tall, prowling Floyd London (bass guitar/vocals) drove everything with his punky basslines. Another early highlight for me was Destroyed, with its Thin Lizzy-esque riff, but anyone thinking that the set was going to be a full-on foot-to-the-floor affair would have been proved wrong when Warwick strapped on an acoustic guitar for the lengthy and dark Little Lost Sometimes. A handful of ballads broke up the pace, but in general the set was certainly a heavy one. Warwick did not stop to chat all that much either, although towards the end he did hint that more shows may follow. Those who had been shouting along to Devil's Toy and headbanging to Welcome to Defiance certainly welcomed this possibility - but Warwick did pause somewhat before Bandaged Knees to tell the story of how the song was written when their label asked them to write a Christmas hit. Unsurprisingly, none of the set felt especially festive - particularly when the band were operating at full-tilt. Blood, Fire & Love did prove to be a bit of a late set breather a little later on, but anthems like The Unreal Thing and particularly the folk-tinged Jonestown Mind brought the energy. The latter really had everyone singing along, but by this point the main set was coming to a close - with the riffy Crank and Deceit and the old favourite Free 'n' Easy bringing a great glut of songs to a close. It was not enough for the crowd, though, and chanting of the band's name brought Monroe back out - who launched into the drum intro of Crucify which kicked off a three-song encore. Jesus Loves You...But I Don't then built from its ballad-esque beginnings to a full-on hard rocker, with some great Tantrum soloing, and it was left to a lengthy version of Wild & Wonderful to close out the night - during which Warwick encouraged plenty of singing from the crowd. The setlist was:

Resurrection Mutha

Over the Edge

Power

Addiction

Destroyed

Wrench

Little Lost Sometimes

Takin' Hold

Devil's Toy

Full Force Lovin' Machine

Bandaged Knees

Welcome to Defiance

Sin Against the Light

The Unreal Thing

Blood, Fire & Love

Jonestown Mind

Crank and Deceit

Free 'n' Easy

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Crucify

Jesus Loves You...But I Don't

Wild & Wonderful

If this brief tour does end up being all that comes out of this reunion then I am sure that those involved will feel like a job was well done. The London crowd certainly lapped up every moment of a set which was just shy of two hours long - and I am sure that the same can be said for the Glasgow and Manchester crowds. Based on Warwick's comments, though, I would not be surprised to see some more activity from the band going forward. How much remains to be seen, but there seems to be a lot of love for the band still and it would seem silly not to capitalise on that feeling. Until then, though, I am just glad that I got to see the band live - and it was one of 2023's best gigs in my opinion, thanks to the excellent performance and atmosphere throughout.