By Monk and The Dark Queen

Longevity is an all-too precious commodity in the modern disposable world, and especially in the volatile and unpredictable music business. Even more so when it comes to the survival of independent, grassroots venues, which in the post-Covid era have become something of a more and more endangered species. So, it is quite an achievement for a small, bespoke venue to be celebrating 20 years of bringing the finest rock ‘n’ roll to the local diehard fans – a milestone achieved by, and a tribute to, the vision and single-minded determination of DRC founder and driving force Derwin McFarland. And what better way to kick off the year of celebrations than in the company of a troubadour who has graced this stage more times than any other, one of music’s finest storytellers and Belfast boy made good, Mr Ricky fuckin’ Warwick?

You know more or less what to expect from a standalone Warwick show, as armed with just his trusty acoustic guitar he delivers a stripped-down set which draws deep from the well of his lengthy career as frontman for Black Star Riders, The Almighty, The Fighting Hearts and Thin Lizzy, as well as his solo material, sprinkled with a smattering of affectionate cover versions, all coupled with insightful stories and typically erudite banter. And so it proves once again during what turns out to be comparatively, and uncharacteristically, brief 95 minute set.

As Ricky extols us to “sing along vigorously – I encourage it”, opener ‘Devil’s Toy’ evokes just that response, and by the time we’ve blasted through BSR’s ‘All Hell Breaks Loose’, Lizzy’s ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’ and Riders’ ‘Judas’ (which is prefaced by the tale of how it came to life on a tour supporting Priest), at least half of us have sung ourselves hoarse…

While most of us are getting slowly (?) pissed, Ricky celebrates sobriety, once again, by welcoming us into the company of the ‘Angels Of Desolation’ before revealing that he’s got a new single coming out at the end of March: “I’d play it for you, but the record company haven’t told me what it is yet!”.

He delivers another dose of that ‘Killer Instinct’ before appealing ‘Don’t Leave Me In The Dark‘, suffixing it with the typically tongue-in-cheek “I’m working on getting Lita [Ford, who duetted on the song] to Ahoghill”… well, stranger things have happened in the hoary old world of rock ‘n’f’n’ roll.

As the night draws in, one of the banes of acoustic shows such as this unfortunately rears its ugly head once again, as Ricky is forced to interrupt ‘A Little Love Sometimes’ to instruct someone to “move to the bar at the back if you want to keep talking… or I’ll leave the stage and the people who came to hear me play will kick the crap out of you”, which results in a resounding cheer from those of us showing respect for the artist and his craft, which he promptly displays by easing straight back into the song as if nothing had happened…

The second half of the show continues in the vein as the first, with Ricky recalling the times ‘When Life Was Hard And Fast‘ before taking us a road ‘Bound For Glory’, the songs stripped back to their bare essential essences. Of course, Ricky is always cogniscentn of his, and our heritage, and after talking emotionally about his part in the recent 40th anniversary commemorative event for the immortal Phil Lynott, the duotych of ‘Cowboy Song’ and ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ is virtually inevitable, before he pays tribute to what he has always regarded as “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band of all time” with his take on ‘Ace Of Spades’.

And there was only one way he could round off this set, particularly in front of a partisan crowd, many of whom have followed his career since he first laid down a chord, and that was with the one song that The Almighty had been forced to omit from their otherwise triumphant Belfast return at the tail end of last year, and that was to prove that we are all forever ‘Free ‘N Easy’ \m/

There was no better way to kick off this year of celebrations for one of the Über Kingdom’s best little venues… there is the promise of plenty more to come, with many artists who have graced its bespoke little stage over the past two decades returning to deliver some very special shows over the coming months… we’ll be at front and centre of as many of them as we can be – although whether we’ll be sober and compus mentis enough to remember, never mind write about some of them is an altogether totally different matter… Here’s to the DRC!

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