Although I have most of their albums, I have only every seen The Almighty once. That was at Milton Keynes Bowl supporting Metallica and they were absolutely fantastic! Megadeth came on after The Almighty and seemed very lightweight and tame in comparison - that's how it seemed to me anyway. After evolving noticeably after their first two albums they eventually split up and that seemed to be that. Until they reformed around the end of the century. And again several years later. Then frontman Ricky Warwick forged ahead with a solo career, which also involved fronting a reformed Thin Lizzy - who later evolved into Black Star Riders. The other members of the band seemed to disappear. Until now. They have reformed for a third time - now with guitarist for the first two albums Tantrum returning to complete the original lineup. This is quite a big deal. They are only playing three shows, so this is too good a chance to miss to see them again. So here I am at a sold out Kentish Town Forum.
There is an excited and expectant atmosphere in The Forum for this show - will the band still be good? Can they still cut it? What songs will they play? What will they look like after all these years? Well to answer the last question; Like nearly all bands of their vintage still performing, the days of long (or in some cases any) hair are gone, and a few pounds might have been added on the scales, but they are all still alive. Alive and kicking in fact which is a bonus.
And they can still play and perform well. And they still sound great! The setlist is mainly based around the first couple of albums 'Soul Destruction' and 'Blood, Fire, and Love' which I think most people would agree is the best stuff and contains all the 'classics'. Not that they didn't produce some good material after that, and the 'Powertrippin' album with it's heavier grungy sound gets featured too.
The Almighty are still a pretty good live act. Although there doesn't currently seem to be the prospect of any new material being written and recorded they are still well worth seeing if you are a fan. And although there might not be any new songs on the way, there
is the prospect of more live shows in the future - especially as there was much demand for tickets for the current short run of shows which I think have already sold out. So if you want to see The Almighty then keep your eyes open for any future shows... I'm pretty sure no one went home from tonight's show disappointed - I certainly didn't! To be honest as long as they played 'Free 'N' Easy' (which obviously they
did) I would have gone home happy. 😁
