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Arriving at the Academy a little
after 7:40 the all girl support outfit McQueen were already onstage. The
most striking thing was the fact that there was already a healthy crowd
present and that there was such a raucous noise coming from the stage.
I'd not come across McQueen before but the 20 minutes or so of their set
that I caught tonight means that I will eagerly await the release of
their debut album in the New Year. The four piece peddle a high octane,
mid-tempo, boogie based rock that, especially in tonight's context
supporting The Almighty (whose music you could describe in a broadly
similar fashion) really grabs a crowd.
Leah's vocals in particular demand your attention, with their power and
abrasiveness at times evoking My Ruins Tairrie B (this is a good thing).
She also commands the stage to great effect (she's not bad looking
either but its good to see she's not playing to this at all) with the
rest of the band grinding out some great, dirty, riffs all making the
band some new friends here tonight.
Almost as soon as McQueen left the stage chants sprung up of "AllFuckinMighty"
from the suitably pumped up Academy crowd, building in intensity until
the band took the stage at 8:30. From the off the boys showed why they
have such an awesome live reputation.
With minimal between song banter and
some very insistent drum intros from Stumpy,The Almighty made sure they
packed as many tunes as possible into their 90 minutes here tonight, and
whilst they may have been preaching to the converted, The Almighty still
made sure that the energy, passion and quality never faltered for one
second tonight.
The classics came thick and fast and were dispatched with gusto, the
band based the main body of the set on their early 90's heyday and
no-one here was complaining when we got the likes of "Addiction",
"Resurrection Mutha", "Full Force Lovin Machine" and "Jonestown Mind"
and much, much more. All delivered with a fire and intensity that made
sure that if there were any neutrals in the hall, they sure didn't leave
without a definite impression of what The Almighty are about!
When a band can finish up a set with
a trio of hard rockin' tunes such as "Full Force Lovin' Machine", "Free
And Easy" and "Wild And Wonderful" (the latter with the most
arena-friendly call and response interlude and band member intros you'll
find anywhere) to then come back with a storming trio of encores that
began with a tribute to the late Stuart Adamson with "Into The Valley"
by the Skids and ended with a suitably impromptu version of "Bodies" by
the Sex Pistols leaving the audience baying for more.
It meant a weird bookend to the year for this reviewer as I'd begun it
with Ricky Warwick's solo acoustic show here in January (see review in
these pages) and ended it with his "day job" a full electric, Almighty,
set. In terms of audience reaction the latter wins hands down, however
if you were to judge the gigs as a measure of Ricky Warwick, the man,
then the acoustic gig confirmed that his talent and charisma will
provide an entertaining evening for anyone, when you add to this the
tunes and energy that The Almighty bring to the mix then its a no lose
situation.
Related Links
Ricky Warwick -
Interview
Ricky Warwick -
Live Review
The Almighty -
Album Review |
