The Almighty & Girlschool, KK’s Steel Mill, Wolverhampton, 29.11.24
Another double shift at KK’s in Wolverhampton this week. After last nights top drawer gig, we’re back tonight to see the reformed and revitalised The Almighty, but first we had heavy metal veterans Girlschool (8) to kick off proceedings.
There’s just one original member on stage tonight, vocalist/guitarist Kim McAuliffe. The only other surviving founder member, Denise Dufort, is unwell, so journeyman drummer Larry Paterson (most recently of Alcatrazz) is standing (or should that be sitting) in for Denise. Long time guitarist Jackie Chambers is present as is newest member Olivia Airey on bass.
Girlschool do what Girlschool do best. Ever since those early days when we were first treated to the sight of an all female heavy metal band, they’ve continued to rock around the world with their own inimitable brand of girl power. They avoid the cliche of Please Don’t Touch but we still get their hits including C’mon Let’s Go, Hit And Run their cover of Race With The Devil and a tribute to their good friends Motorhead by playing Bomber
The set ends with the classic Emergency as much a punk anthem as it was a heavy metal one and it still has that attitude all these years later. A suitably noisy start to the night.
When The Almighty (10) announced early in 2023 that they would be reforming for three shows later that year, it was hoped that this would signal a full comeback. Well, luckily for us, the response to those gigs was such that Ricky and the boys decided to play more dates in 2024. So it is that we find ourselves at a packed out KK’s Steel Mill (for the second night running), anticipating a special night. And it was.
The opening three songs of Crucify, Destroyed and Do You Understand left no one in any doubt that the lads were on fire. We saw Ricky front Black Star Riders on this stage just a couple of weeks ago, but this was another level.
This was a celebration of a band that should have been huge, worldwide huge, but they never seemed to be able to build up any momentum or break the much needed US market. Despite this they enjoyed success both at home here and across Europe, recruiting an army of loyal fans, many who have travelled long distances to be here tonight. And they weren't disappointed as the band travelled back through time to pull out all the classic hits and some deepcuts.
The set list was huge, 22 songs and nearly 2 hours of pure unadulterated rock porn. There was the powerful rendition of A Little Lost Sometimes with Ricky holding the mic out over the crowd, spine tingling! The punky riot fest that is Jonestown Mind with crowd surfers going over the barrier. There’s the beautiful and thought provoking Wild And Wonderful to counterbalance the anarchy and once again the goose bumps are present.
It all comes to a huge climax with the two song encore, more riotous attitude and more crowd surfers with the anthemic Jesus Loves You before they leave us with the one and only Free And Easy left ring in our ears.
This concept of “Three And Easy” gigs seems to suit the band and their other commitments and they’ve already announced the next instalment of dates for next November, this time taking in Portsmouth and Nottingham before once again finishing off with a hometown show at The Barrowlands. If that’s what it takes to keep the band fresh and eager then I’m sure the fans will welcome that. It will be interesting to see what happens beyond 2025 though. Hopefully more of the same!
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