Artist:  The Almighty & McQueen

Venue: Carling Academy, Newcastle

Date:  29 December 2006 

With 2006 almost at a close it was time to see the year out on a high note, so when The Almighty announced five post Christmas dates, it was a instant decision that one of my favourite bands of all time would help me see out 2006 with a bang.  The added bonus of all the original members appearing together made this night even more special for all concerned.

But first up tonight were the Brighton’s own all female metallers McQueen, who I first caught live supporting WASP earlier this year in the main room of this very same venue and they impressed me then.  So on this much smaller stage the band were given another chance to shine, as well as to get a little up close and personal with the now capacity Academy 2 (with some of the more excited male crowd members getting a little too close as one of the security staff pointed out to them.  Boys will be boys!).

The band opened up the set with ‘Running Out of Things To Say’ with vocalist Leah Duors her usual angst filled self.  The set picked up the pace with the excellent ‘Cut Me Some Slack’ with Dours ripping into the vocals with some venom, as the rest of the band just pounded out the metal, especially guitarist Cat De Casonave.

The set was dominated by tracks from the bands debut release ‘Break The Silence’, which Dours announced would be released on 22nd January.  Things continued with defiant rampage as the band went into the hard-hitting tracks like ‘Dirt’ and one of my favourites from the band ‘The Line Went Dead’.

The title track of the new album was next ‘Break Through Silence’ and once again Dours delivered the goods as always.  With the set almost at a close the band really pulled out all the stops with the final three tracks firstly with ‘Blinded’, a track that is already available to download from the bands website, then with fists in the air the crowd were really getting into the spirit of the evening as the band finished off with the blistering ‘Neurotic’ and the angst filled ‘Bitch’.  Both of which rounded off another great show from these future metal Queens and with band coming back with their own headline show in late January, I’m sure a vast majority of tonight’s crowd will be there.

Now for the main event The Almighty, a band that I have seen in all their incarnations over the years but this line-up of Ricky Warwick, Floyd London, Pete Friesen and Stumpy Munroe is the one that got me hooked all those years ago.

Things got off to a fantastic start as Ricky and the boys went for the jugular from the off with the bands very first single ‘Destroyed’.  From this point on, things just got wilder as the crowd just rocked the joint.  At one point I thought the floor was going to give way as it started to move up and down.

The set continued its blistering pace with ‘Do You Understand’ and the classic ‘Resurrection Mutha', then it was time to get into the bands heavier stuff with a mind-blowing version of ‘Addiction’ and ‘Unreal Thing’, both lifting the crowd to even greater levels of frenzied excitement.

It was time to rip back the years as the band went into Soul Destruction album for ‘Sin Against The Light’, and then it was back to the bands debut album Blood, Fire and Love for the excellent ‘Power’, with Friesen showing why he was the right choice to replace Tommy T all those years ago, as he just ripped up the fret board on this one.

Then was time to slow things down a touch as the band went into ‘A Little Lost Sometimes’, but this was just a short rest bite as things got heavy again with as the band ripped into ‘Jonestown Mind’, ‘Wrench’ and ‘Crucify’, all classics and worthy of the name The Almighty.  But its was the likes of ‘Over The Edge’ and ‘Full Force Lovin Machine’ that really rocked the place.  When the band went into ‘Free And Easy’ and my all time favourite and set closer ‘Wild And Wonderful’, the place nearly erupted.

The band left the stage for a few minutes as chants of "Al-Fucking-Mighty" rained out from the crowd.  The band returned and then burst into The Skids classic 'Into The Valley', stamping their own unmistakable sound on this classic.  Then it was back to their own material with the poignant ‘Jesus Loves You …. But I Don’t’, before finishing with another cover this time the Sex Pistols ‘Bodies’, all of which rounded off a show that rates up their with some of the best shows I’ve seen this year.

I know that this isn’t a permanent thing with the band, but the British music scene needs a band like The Almighty back in its fold to bring a little style and aggression to a dwindling dreary rock music scene.

 

 

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