Beth Blade is in fine form tonight, but really is that a surprise?  I’m not sure Beth and her merry band of Beautiful Disasters are capable of performing at less than 100%. Always endearing the Beautiful Disasters’ front woman and her band bring a charm and contagious enthusiasm to any show they play, exemplified by opening number the uplifting ‘Tonight I’m With You’.  Surely there can’t be a more perfect anthem to the joys of shared live music than this up-tempo rocker with its shimmering guitars, woahs and lyric of “I don’t want this night to end, my friend”.  ‘Give it All You Got’ keeps the energy pumping, with Beth urging the growing crowd lured from the bar to get their hands in the air, for the first audience participation of the night. This is a band whose love for what they are doing shines through, with Beth seemingly making eye contact with everyone in the crowd (or at least the first four or five rows) and challenging them to come along for the ride.

But there are quieter moments too, and when Beth disappears stage right, and bassist Dan tells us to turn around, we find her in our midst, playing the intro to ‘Hold your Heart’, dedicated to Sinead O’Connor, from within the crowd as she wanted to be closer to us all. It’s a moment of heartfelt introspection and grace before Beth joins the band back on stage for the conclusion of this powerful and intense number.  

Next we’re back in full on rock territory; Beth dedicates the powerful and gritty ‘Down and Dirty’, from first album “Bad Habit” to Ricky Warwick himself, who encouraged her to keep singing and never give up, when the band first supported him early on in their career.

Then it’s a full throttle race to the end of their set, with the feelgood ‘I Ain’t Got Nothing (If I Ain’t got Rock n Roll)’ - and who can argue with that statement? -  and a blistering rendition of perennial favourite, ‘Jack and Coke’.  Beth Blade and the Beautiful Disasters prove once again why they are such an exciting, relatable and fun band, one which make every bill they play on just that much better for having them a part of it…. 

A little over a year ago Ricky Warwick last played this very venue, on that occasion battling through the set with a sore throat. This time round there’s no such issues, and tonight Ricky and the band are in fiery form in the packed and sweaty venue. This is a proper rock n’ roll show, just as it should be, it’s hot, it’s sweary, it’s uncompromising, but most importantly it connects with the audience on a visceral level.

A relaxed Ricky leads the Fighting Hearts through a crowd-pleasing set, covering almost every era across his storied career.  ‘Gunslinger’, leads the charge, the first of a half dozen songs from most recent album “When Life was Hard and Fast”, that Ricky and his band will showcase tonight. 

Only two songs in and we get the first Almighty song of the night. ‘Over the Edge’ is as propulsive and in-your-face, as you remember. The band are hungry and playing with a ferocious energy that simply demands your attention, Ricky the consummate frontman, completely in control and commanding proceedings from centre stage.

A muscular version of the evergreen ‘Jailbreak’ garners an unsurprisingly volcanic reaction from the crowd, lifting the already committed masses to even louder and more emphatic responses.  It’s a song we all know intimately but with a grittier edge courtesy of Ben Christo’s uniformly excellent guitar work, which he demonstrates not just in this song, but throughout the whole set.  Introduced by Ricky as “this whippersnapper”, Ben cuts a suavely decadent figure stage left, throwing out exquisite riffs and tasteful licks with a studied ease. His interplay with Ricky and his mischievous, teasing onstage persona matches the evident fun that the band are having this evening.

‘When Patsy Cline was Crazy’ once again shows Ricky’s keen gift for storytelling, painting postcards in words and music to evoke a sense of time and place.  Often autobiographical and personal, sometimes tinged with a wistful sense of whimsy and nostalgia, sometimes sadness and regret, this is where his work with the Fighting Hearts is at its best.  Tonight, it’s chugging riffage, pop culture references, emotional content and dramatic structure prove it as vital and compelling as anything else in his canon.

One of the major strengths of tonight’s show has to be the depth and variety of the set; for instance, we get the one-two-three of Black Star Rider’s ‘The Killer Instinct’ alongside The Almighty’s ‘Wrench’, followed by The Fighting Hearts’ ‘Still Alive’.  Three very different songs from three very different bands, all driven and held together by Ricky’s charisma, work ethic and song writing smarts infusing their DNA.

The titular ‘When Life Was Hard and Fast’ is almost a companion piece to the earlier Patsy Cline, a tale of growing up and rock n roll dreams. This captures perfectly that sense of youth and possibility we all remember, the street poet lyrics and elegiac sensibilities another snapshot of Ricky’s early days.

With ‘Wild & Wonderful’, we’re taken back to the late 80s and The Almighty’s first album, “Blood, Fire and Love”, the album which first introduced many of us to Ricky.  It’s as proud, profane and profound now over thirty years since its first release as it was back then.  The crowd are word perfect and take the first verse almost single-handedly, then the drums roll in, the song kicks into gear proper and the place explodes. Some songs just take on a whole other dimension when played live and ‘Wild and Wonderful’ is one such song. It’s the perfect blend of quiet/loud, light and shade, aggressive but gorgeous lyrics and a chorus to die for.  (And tonight, there’s even a brief unexpected segue into Bryan Adams’ ‘Run to You’, in the drop out mid-song).  And if the song is as incendiary as it was decades ago, similarly Ricky has lost none of the fire, attack and passion that has characterised his career across every band he’s been in.  If this is but a taste of what we can expect with the much-anticipated Almighty shows this winter, then we are in for three dates of epic proportions.

Trying to follow such an amazing and much beloved song is no small feat, but cleverly dropping in Black Star Riders ‘Finest Hour’ does a great job of trying to match it. The only thing that could make it better at this point would be to throw in a cover – and that’s precisely what they do.  And not just any cover – in the home of Lemmy’s Bar, really it could only be Motorhead. ‘Iron Fist’ is the snarling behemoth we know and love, but somehow working perfectly in the hands of Ricky and the Fighting Hearts. It’s fast and frenzied and a thing of snarling, chaotic beauty.

By now band, audience and venue are as one in a sweaty communion and damn, if it doesn’t feel great.  Rock isn’t supposed to be safe and sanitised; it’s supposed to be well, wild and wonderful (sorry) and tonight, it bloody well was.

That just leaves the glorious ‘Free n Easy’ to bring the night to a truly triumphant close.  

What was it Beth Blade sang earlier? Oh yeah. “I don’t want this night to end, my friend” -  I’m pretty sure all of us there would echo that sentiment…

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Ricky Warwick & The Fighting Hearts, Beth Blade & The Beautiful Disasters