Live Review: Stiff Little Fingers – Manchester

It’s the start of the St Patrick’s Day weekend and, for one night only, this little corner of Manchester’s Oxford Road becomes a mini musical Belfast, as two of that great city’s favourite sons come to town.

Feels like it’s been a while since seeing Stiff Little Fingers at their own shows and, while those Rebellion headliners are fine and dandy, there’s nothing quite like seeing a band on their own terms. But, before Jake and company take the stage, there’s the very great risk of the support act stealing the show, as the support act tonight is Ricky Warwick and The Fighting Hearts.

Ricky is clearly a man who loves what he does, and a man born to strap on a guitar and take to the stage. His tenure in Black Star Riders, his extra-curricular activities with The Almighty and his solo work with The Fighting Hearts suggest this is a man with no intention of sitting back and resting on his laurels.

His latest album, Blood Ties, dropped this very day and it was a given that much of the set would be dedicated to that fine record. Opening with newbie, Angels of Desolation, it becomes very clear very quickly that this was going to be one of those shows you look back on and know that it was something special. Black Star Riders’ Another State of Grace follows, and the band’s eponymous Fighting Heart from the previous When Life was Hard and Fast record.

Ricky’s music, particularly his solo work, feels very personal and the undeniable influence of his Northern Irish heritage can be heard in the great majority of his work both with The Fighting Hearts and Black Star Riders.

As BSR grew from Thin Lizzy it’s obvious some of those classic dual guitar licks rear their heads and ditto with Ricky’s other writing; The Crickets Stayed in Clovis has some unmistakeable Boys are Back in Town-isms, and other newbie, Crocodile Tears, a pure gold hard rocker, is also something of a nostalgia trip.

Anyone looking to increase their word count can rely on repeatedly mentioning When Patsy Cline Was Crazy (and Guy Mitchel Sang the Blues) but it is one of the set highlights. Things get a bit more raucous with Rise and Grind, also from Blood Ties, and completed by a shredding solo; a cover of The Heartbreaker’s Born to Lose is brimming with driving punk attitude and Celebrating Sinking has a sort of Springsteen-feel to it – if Springsteen had been weened on a diet of Guiness and Buckfast.

Ricky Warwick is the most unassuming of Rock Gods and, at fifty-eight, isn’t looking like letting that looming big-six-oh slow him down anytime soon. There’s clearly an excitement about him supporting a band obviously close to his (fighting) heart and it’s reflected in the show.

For a band whose hey-day was forty-years ago, and whose last new studio album was more than a decade past, Ulster punk legends Stiff Little Fingers regularly sell out the two-and-a-half-thousand capacity Academy every March. It’s a testimony to the longevity of the band, the quality of the material and the rabid devotion of the fans, who’ve brought their kids up to love the band as much as they do (looking at you, Chris).

Messrs Burns, McMordie, McCallum and Grantly have been flying the SLF flag for three decades now, as with any band with a substantial number of years and albums under their collective belts, there is always going to be some repetition tour-after-tour. SLF have a core of tunes that would result in a lynching if they left them out: Nobody’s Hero, Tin Soldiers, Gotta Getaway, Suspect Device and Alternative Ulster; the lyrical inventiveness of Barbed Wire Love is too close to most fan’s hearts

to be dropped, as would be the Bunny Walter cover of Roots, Radicals, Rockers, Reggae which, usually, is the opening song of tonight’s set.

Jake – whose shorn look is still taking time to come to grips with – tells us that this Flame in the Heart tour will be a chance for the band to play songs they might not have played for quite some time, if ever. Won’t Be Told, from the underrated Now Then… record of 1982 is the first of these and comes with an early crowd surfer. Jake’s tribute to Joe Strummer, Strummerville, follows, and is always one to keep the blood pumping.

With an apology to Johnny Mathis for borrowing the song title, this tour’s newly minted tune is Mary’s Boy Child, politically caustic and with a driving rhythm, it’s clear the fire and fury of the past punk years still burns (pardon the pun) brightly.

Over the past few years we’ve had new songs such as Tilting at Windmills, 16 Shots and Hate Has no Home Here, so the band are still writing new material; must be a new record – or even an EP waiting to be released soon. Please!

Picadilly Circus’ return to the fold is marred by Ali’s bass malfunction early on, Each Dollar a Bullet is the kind of political ire I want from the band, as is Harp. From the most recent, No Going Back album, comes the sole representative, My Dark Places, and Jake’s introductory plea to all those experiencing what he went through to talk to someone about it. Every little helps, so good on the band for keep pushing his particular message.

It just then leaves the quadruple-whammy of Hero, Soldiers, Suspect and Getaway to take the set to its close; with Barbed Wire and Alternative acting as the encore.

Another great show from Stiff Little Fingers made even better with the support from Ricky Warwick. It’s only the middle of March and still winter, but with Opeth a couple of weeks back, and now this, and looking at what’s coming up this year, I’m going to be doing some real beard-stroking to ponder who to come up with a Best Gig come December.