Ricky Warwick

The Waterfront Studio, Norwich

Wednesday 9th March 2022

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All 📸 (c) Denis Gorbatov / Full Pelt Music

A year ago, back at a time when live music was just a distant memory, Ricky Warwick delivered his stunning solo album, ‘When Life Was Hard and Fast’. The album featured highly on our 2021 Album of the Year list but since then Warwick has been unable to tour the album.

That is until now, as with restrictions withdrawn Warwick and his band The Fighting Hearts are able to hit the road once again and tonight they find themselves at The Waterfront Studio in Norwich.

THE HOWLING TIDES

First on stage this evening are young rockers The Howling Tides who make the most of their time with a splendid performance. The four-piece get the crowd engaged early on with the likes of ‘White Crow’ and ‘Crack My Soul’.

THE VIRGINMARYS

They are followed by the criminally underrated The Virginmarys who are emerging from the pandemic as a two-piece. Having witnessed the band live many times, I was interested to see how this new dynamic would work and whether they’d maintain their power.

Thankfully that power is still there, as is a new layer of ferocity as the band plough through a setlist featuring many new songs. These new songs offer great promise, whilst older favourites such as ‘Running For My Life’ and ‘Just A Ride’ remind of just how good this band are.

RICKY WARWICK & THE FIGHTING HEARTS

It’s not long thereafter that Eminem’s iconic ‘Lose Yourself’ blasts out and Ricky Warwick and The Fighting Hearts grace the stage. They burst straight into life with ‘Gunslinger’, ‘Over the Edge’ and ‘The Road to Damascus Street’ riling the audience up.

As if fronting The Almighty, Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders wasn’t enough, Warwick has also established a successful solo career over the years. This was punctuated last year with the release of ‘When Life Was Hard and Fast’. Tonight’s show is a mixture of each aspect of this unlikely career, including the likes of ‘Jailbreak’ and ‘Finest Hour’ from “the day job” as Warwick terms it.

Read our review of ‘When Life Was Hard and Fast’

Whilst these big hitters a natural highlights, it’s telling that the true highlights come from ‘When Life Was Hard and Fast’ including the title track, ‘You’re My Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and ‘Still Alive’. This just goes to show that at this stage of his career Warwick is perhaps tunnelling his experiences into producing his best work.

It helps tonight that he is backed by a tight band that helps bring his visions to life. There are a good number of The Almighty tracks in the set tonight and it’s ‘Free ‘n’ Easy’ that brings the evening to a close; a thoroughly enjoyable evening of the hard rock majesty that we’ve missed these past couple of years.

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