It has been… a lot of years since The Almighty played live, longer since they toured rather than played one-offs. Let’s say thirty years so that I don’t feel as old as I possibly could, given that I last recall seeing them on the Wrench tour in 1994. When I last spoke to Ricky Warwick a couple of years ago, he outright stated that there was no chance of a reunion tour. OK, so “never say never”, but also “No. I have no desire…”. I’m glad to say that desire must have returned.
As a quick aside before the review, congratulations to Tracey Custer who won our spare guest list place. She was an Almighty virgin, and accompanied her husband who already had a ticket for the gig and was going on his own, despite it being their 27th wedding anniversary! I’m glad we helped the two of you spend the night together, and hope that you both enjoyed the show!
Before the All Loud etc. remade history, though, Balaam and the Angel provided a 40-minute warmup set. Featuring three brothers (Mark, Jim and Des Morris) from Motherwell, an additional member on keyboards was introduced as their sister. I’m surprised I’ve never heard of them before as they date back to the early 80, with seven albums released over the years. Their rock is of the slower, classic variety – a lot of 70s overtones and this comes across in their stage appearance also.
There is a very impressive crowd in Barrowlands when they come on, and I think many enjoyed the show with a small but noticeable group at the front obviously very familiar with the material. From this newcomer’s viewpoint they were OK. Certainly not a waste of my forty minutes, with some decent riffs thrown in which I did start to get into. A little slow for my liking, but they did what they were sent out to do, and left the stage to deserved applause.
As the clock ticked round to 9pm, the lights went down and out walked… five guys in kilts. Whether it was a coincidence that today’s gig was scheduled for St Andrew’s Day I don’t know, but prior to the headliners, we were treated to a brief rendition of “Flower of Scotland”. No surprise this went down well with the now-capacity crowd!
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The next folk to hit the stage were the ones we’d been waiting for – the All Loud, All Wild, All-fucking-mighty! Stump Munroe first up, taking his place behind the drums. Then the string section: lanky Floyd London on bass, the cool and understated Andy ‘Tantrum’ McCafferty on lead guitar… and the hard-working wearer of multiple musical hats, Ricky Warwick. The band certainly looked different to their classic era – much less hair, for sure! – but the confidence and swagger was there from the off as they burst into “Resurrection Mutha” from 1989 debut album Blood, Fire & Love.
No pauses as the band hit “Over The Edge”, then “Power”. Three songs in, and a band will normally pause to talk to the crowd… but not The Almighty. In fact, very few words were spoken by frontman Warwick as the quartet opted to put many of their younger contemporaries to shame with a 1hr 50min, 21-song set with barely a breath being taken between songs. There are far too many acts out there these days who think that 70-80 minutes is acceptable for a headline set. Sorry, but this is how you reward your faithful fans!
From the singalong verses of “Sing on Bandaged Knees” to the pummelling of “Crank”; from the punk-fuelled violence that is “Crank and Abuse” to the lilting but rebellious “Jesus Loves You… But I Don’t”, the set was one hundred percent classic belters. Arguably there were a couple of “album tracks” which weren’t as recogniseable as some of the more obvious numbers, but I don’t think anyone who bought a ticket would fail to know any of them.
The band are older, as are the fans (I’d guess the average age in the venue would have been mid-40s), but The Almighty couldn’t have looked more comfortable. Warwick was by far the most animated, likely due to being a member of more bands than I have classes in a week. London prowled the stage, keeping the rhythm going while Tantrum played his leads as if they were just habit with no effort required. Have these guys really not played live together in decades?
The encore was no surprise. The main set ended with “Free ‘n’ Easy”, leaving “Crucify”, “Jesus Loves You…” and – of course – “Wild and Wonderful” to round things off and leave the crowd sweaty and hoarse.
During one of his rare moments of talk, Warwick did say “We should do this again, shouldn’t we?”
Yes, Ricky. Yes you should. And please don’t leave it so long next time!
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Photos by Gary Cooper Photography
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