Live Review : Ricky Warwick & The Fighting Hearts + A’priori @ The Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on March 8th 2025

Tonight, we witness ROCKFLESH regulars A’priori for the first time since their album launch show for “Voodoo Love” back in September of last year. And as such it is our first chance to see their revamped set that includes new material from that most recent release. It’s clear that in those intervening months the Blackpool trio have put much time into rehearsing and honing the newer songs so that they sit effortlessly alongside the familiar and road-perfected tracks from their back catalogue. ‘Turn It Up’ leads the charge, a never more appropriate song for a Saturday night of good time rock music, and already hands are in the air, voices raised in unison, as A’priori do what they do best, never missing an opportunity to impress.

It’s always amazing what a big, expansive sound that is generated by Tony and Mousey Lang and Mark Wilson, even more so when you consider their unique configuration of guitar/vocals, keyboard and drums. And surely that uniqueness is an integral part of A’Priori’s charm; in an often anodyne, cookie-cutter world, they have a different approach, sound and look which sets them apart. Likewise, the band are all showmen – it’s not enough that they are masters of their craft but that they perform with such levels of energy and physicality is particularly impressive. Most keyboard players are rooted to the spot, but Mark somehow manages to head bang and throw himself around whilst still nailing his keyboard parts with a deceptive, nonchalant ease. Mousey is a veritable powerhouse, crossing sticks and dancing across the skins with power and precision, whilst Tony on guitar and vocals seems to grow in stature with every performance, his fretboard skills ever more impressive, his stage presence always engaging.

Some of this must be down to the excellent new material on show in tonight’s set; ‘Voodoo Love’ is a new highlight with its insistent pulsing guitars, ferocious drums and off beat hi-hat patterns; equally the mid-paced ‘Live Today’, whilst a little more introspective, packs a memorable punch. In a short set like this one, they effectively manage that age-old balancing act of old and new with choice older cuts, such as ‘Shotgun Blues’ still propulsive and in-your-face, with Mousey punishing his china cymbal like it’s done him a grievous wrong.

A’priori are a six-legged maelstrom of flying hair, banging heads, dynamite musicianship and powerful and striking songwriting. Before you know it, they’re gone, with one last song, the perennial ‘Making Love To The Devil’ drawing the set to a winning close, leaving the crowd to catch their collective breath, primed and ready for the evening’s headliner.

The Waterloo is fast becoming a regular stop for Ricky Warwick & The Fighting Hearts, this being Ricky’s third visit in recent years, as he kicks off his dates around the UK in support of his imminent new album “Blood Ties”. New music from this most charismatic and compelling of musicians is always cause for celebration, even more so when he brings his phenomenal band into town and showcases those songs live.  

‘You’re My Rock n Roll’ sets the tone, an insistent drum beat, a choppy riff and the first flourishes of Ben Christo’s razor-sharp guitar skills and centre stage the man himself. Lithe, cool and given a hero’s welcome by the Waterloo faithful, Ricky remains the epitome of the rock n roll lifer.  Many in the crowd (this scribe included) have followed him across multiple decades, numerous bands and through all the highs and lows and through it all he has remained true to himself, his passion and his vision for music, inspiring loyalty and dedication along the way. Tonight, he is in fine form, delivering a joyous set of gems from across the breadth of his catalogue, a twinkle in the eye, a fire in his performance and his trademark vocal as gritty and captivating as ever.

As you would expect, there is a good number of new songs in tonight’s set from the forthcoming “Blood Ties” album - which should be out by the time you read this - and even though some are completely new to the crowd, they’re embraced and treated like old friends. It’s clear that Ricky’s skill for songwriting is as sharp and lyrically gorgeous as ever.  He possesses an inherent romanticism to his writing, a street poet wearing his tattooed heart on his leather sleeve, pulling you into his world for those two hours he’s on stage. The three singles released so far (‘Don’t Leave Me in the Dark’, ‘The Crickets Stayed in Clovis’ and ‘Rise and Grind’) all get an airing, sounding fresh and vital in the live setting (and if there’s a better lyric this year than “we’ve got more soul than Wigan Casino” I need to hear it), but it’s first track from the new album, ‘Angels of Desolation’ that makes ears stand to attention, a heady mix of old and new that The Fighting Hearts bring to vivid life.

It has to be said that The Fighting Hearts are a formidable unit in their own right, Richard Vernon on Bass and Jack Taylor behind the kit an effortlessly tight and dynamic rhythm section. And Ben Christo on lead is the perfect foil for Ricky, every inch the guitar god, his playing immaculate and explosive all at the same time, as he grooves and bounces around his side of the stage. They provide the taut canvas on which Ricky can paint his rock n roll portraits, such as ‘The Road to Damascus Street’ or the movingly autobiographical ‘When Patsy Cline Was Crazy’.

With The Almighty back out playing live there are perhaps fewer of their songs in the set than we may have come to expect, but this allows Ricky to delve into tunes from other areas of his past.  So, there’s a brace of Black Star Riders here, a bit of Thin Lizzy there; really this is a storming set which has something for everyone whichever era or stage of Ricky Warwick’s career is your personal favourite.

The almost eponymous ‘Fighting Heart’, beautifully bruising and almost a manifesto for Mr Warwick and his band, leads a three-song finale, with an utterly epic, completely irresistible ‘Free ‘n’ Easy’ before ‘Finest Hour’ brings the night to a suitably grandiose, singalong conclusion.

Tonight, we have been royally entertained by one of the rock world’s very best, embodying all that is great about the music we all love.  Fire, passion, emotion and fun are all tied up in what Ricky Warwick and his band bring to the stage and we all go away from a night in their presence that bit better for it. To paraphrase the opening song, no Mr Warwick, “you’re our rock n roll…”

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Ricky Warwick & The Fighting Hearts + A’priori