Live Review: The Almighty - Academy, Manchester
1st December 2023
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Tim Finch
Thank you, Santa, for bringing us this early Christmas present. I had pretty much given up any hope of ever seeing The Almighty playing live again, let alone the classic line-up; but, for three nights only in Glasgow, Manchester and London, the clocks are turned back and it’s 1991 all over again.
It’s clear that this is a band who is still close to many people’s hearts and the turn out on an icy Friday is large to the point of sold out. Skulls with head-dresses are everywhere and anticipation is high yet expectations are reserved. It’s a bit like knowing you’re going to see an ex after many years – would those feelings be rekindled? Or would you wonder that all the fuss was about?
The PA person allows I Fought the Law to end before popping on Slade’s Cum on Feel the Noize as the band’s intro. That, in turn, gave way to the orchestral chords of Resurrection Mutha and when that guitar kicks in the wall of Marshalls are the back of the stage is given a workout. Still, in my opinion, one of the best album openers of its time, the driving rhythms quickly blow the cobwebs away and set us up for the pounding to come. Over the Edge feels like a bit of a change of pace, though every one of Stumpy’s hits feels like they have an added impetus.
It was at Donington 1992 that The Almighty premiered the new song, Addiction, from the upcoming Powertrippin’ album, a deviation in weight and tempo from what we’d heard before, but it’s mammoth chug and intense grinding now feels like an old friend. Destroyed shows the band to have feet in both the Metal and Punk camps, adopting a hybrid position in the vein of Motörhead.
The set is taken from the first four full lengths and the Crank material arrives with Wrench’s simple but effective blasts. A change of pace sees the ballad Little Lost Sometimes demonstrating The Almighty’s range of creativity and versatility.
The whole show is one fan favourite after another and not one minute is wasted. There’s nowhere here when you think a song didn’t deserve the inclusion, Taking Hold, Welcome to Defiance and The Unreal Thing might be deeper cuts than Devil’s Toy or Sin Against the Light but they are equally as valid in the overall Almighty canon.
Ricky straps on the acoustic again after a full-blooded Full Force Lovin’ Machine for the sombre melancholy of Bandaged Knees, which he introduces as the reaction to the band being advised to write a Christmas tune. I loved that Blood, Fire and Love was included as it’s one of my faves from the era, leaving only the punk frenzy of Jonestown Mind (the second reference to Jim Jones at gigs this week, after Skynd last night) and Crank and Deceit.
The main set closes with Free & Easy and with Ricky making reference to the words he spoke before playing the song at the Monsters of Rock show in 1992, when he raged against the establishment who curtailed individual liberties and shut down the free speech of those who would voice an opposing opinion. Good job the world’s changed in the intervening thirty-one years or we really would be up Poo-Creek as a society. He also tells of what a blast getting the four members back together has been and being overwhelmed by the reaction of the fans. There was a hint dropped that, maybe, this might be repeated at some stage in the future. We can only hope.
An encore of Crucify has Stumpy’s drums swinging away, the acoustic coming out again for a communal singalong of Jesus Loves You… But I Don’t and the traditional closer of Wild & Wonderful, with Floyd playing the intro.
For a band who haven’t played together for so long it’s difficult to see the joins. Credit must also be given to Tantrum, whose departure after Soul Destruction means the Powertrippin’ and Crank material had to be learnt from scratch.
Searching through the darkest recesses of the secret archives beneath Razor’s Edge Towers I discovered it was but a couple of days out of being exactly thirty years since I saw The Almighty in this venue; back in a rescheduled show with The Wildhearts and Kerbdog. Since then, a solitary show in 2008, upstairs in Academy 3; but the prospect of more live shows and, dare we even suggest such a thing: a new record?
It was the perfect balance between unbridled nostalgia and a fresh and exciting rock show. I wasn’t the only fifty-plus brought to tears by this performance and it feels there was something very special here tonight. Seeing this ex again real has rekindled the passion.
Photo credits: Tim Finch Photography
