The Almighty and Balaam and The Angel 2023 review by Dawn Osborne

There has been a great lead up to these Almighty shows featuring the original line up after a 30 year break and the excitement is palpable. The debut and sophomore albums, getting on for 35 years in vintage, are being re-released and have aged very well. People have come from all over the globe for the shows and this is obvious from the front row in London.

I am here for The Almighty and although I was aware that Balaam and the Angel are a goth band from way back, they have never been on my radar. It was, therefore, a surprise that they look and sound like a classic rock band. Some of the material even sounds like Free’s ‘Alright Now’. Nothing really reaches a super fast tempo. They make the joke that they are like “the goth Jackson Five” which I couldn’t really see, but they were not a bad fit to support The Almighty. A lot of the crowd are unfamiliar with them also, so initially there’s a muted reaction causing the band to urge “Come On!”. However after getting the crowd to sing to “I’ll Show You Something Special” and the crowd realising it’s really riff based Seventies style rock very much up the alley of the crowd the band are getting a great reaction by the time they reach “I Love The Things You Do To Me”.

What else for The Almighty to start with after a hiatus of thirty years, but ‘Resurrection Mutha’. There’s then a leap to the Nineties track ‘Over The Edge’ from ‘Powertrippin’ and then back in time for ‘Power’ one of the big anthem tracks of melodic hard rock for which the band were known. The band look relaxed and confident, this is the last of three shows, so they are clearly now in their stride. Ricky Warwick brings raw, male, turbo charged energy from the off. ‘Destroyed’ is another big one from the first record, until it’s time for a change of pace with the harder ‘Wrench’ from the Crank album. There’s a big contingent here for the harder stuff and the crowd at the front are moshing and slamming at every opportunity.

There’s something for everyone as the ballad ‘A Little Lost Sometimes’ is up next. I confess I am a melodic rock fan myself and am relieved to be watching from a completely crowd free clear view from the front of the private guest area at the top of the balcony, as there is not an inch of space on the ground level where I usually stand, but tonight had I been down there would simply not have been able to see. I am not alone in my appreciation of the softer stuff it seems as there is a huge roar at the end. I have to say the sound was excellent throughout ideal to give the band’s performance the justice it deserved.

After another harder ‘Taking Hold’ it’s time for another of my favourites ‘Devil Toy’, cue for the stage to look hellish cast in green and red light. After ‘Full Force Lovin’ Machine’ Ricky jokes that he’s a fifty seven year old full force lovin machine, before giving some background as an intro to ‘Bandaged Knees’ confiding that when asked for a Christmas single by the record label they came up with “the most sad depressed f’cked up Xmas song ever”. At the end the crowd literally let loose a huge roar leaving no doubt of their appreciation.

Following full on ‘Welcome To Defiance’ and ‘Sin Against The Light’ Ricky pauses and gets his Almighty shirt out bellowing “You guy’s heard of this F’ckin band?”  And repeating it to louder and louder roars from the crowd. The crowd are already singing without being asked and ‘Blood, Fire and Love’ is an easy kill. The crowd at the front are visibly out of control for ‘Jonestown Mind’ and ‘Crank and Deceit’. It’s the first gig I’ve seen for a while with people throwing full pints across the venue – passion indeed, given the cost of a pint these days.

‘Free And Easy’ is, of course, a triumph and as they thank the crowd for being “F’ckin brilliant” Ricky hints that the shows have been so successful that they might do it again. Asking “Shall we do it again?” the crowd roars yes, although I think I saw Stumpy shake his head at Tantrum, whether in jest I know not.

Following crowd chants of “All- F’ckin-Mighty” the band are back with Uber Punk track ‘Crucify’ before finishing with ‘Jesus Loves You’ and what else but ‘Wild and Wonderful’. …. And this gig was both wild and wonderful. Who knows if they will make it back. Ricky is clearly up for it, but are the rest of the band? They certainly looked like they were enjoying it. And if they don’t make it back it was a great way to go out on a high. As reformations and final shows go it was pretty perfect.  This was not a guarantee, as not all of the band have been actively playing across the years. Thankfully nothing that could have gone wrong did, the band made it look easy and the crowd got a great night they can always remember. Total win, win!!

Dawn Osborne