By Roxy Madison

 

Ricky Warwick is in town tonight, in the grand old city old 'Old' York, UK. SoundCheck are there in force to see this rock n roller play his acoustic set to a less than impressive audience. Why? Oh Why? Do the rock n roll public prefer to stay home and type to their cyber-friends than stand in front of a genuine rocker like Ricky? I don't fuckin' get it!! Looking across at the bare venue, I can tell that this bunch of die-hards would travel miles to see their 'Messiah'. I see some familiar faces in the audience too, and some very familiar ones, Kram and Rockson from The Pyratz as well as 'Medicine Stu' from The Bad Taste Barbies hanging at the bar.

There's someone new to me on the bill tonight as well, Boss Caine...I'd heard Chris talk of him and his particular brand of countryfied acousta-punk, so it was great to be able to match my pre-show expectations against a real-life showman. Well, Boss Caine [Daniel Lucas] took the stage and was completely at ease with it. You can tell when a performer isn't at 'ease' with the stage set-up, the guitar or the PA, but you can also tell when someone rises above all of that stuff, and this guy certainly does.

Banging out some extra special folky sounding songs, Boss gets his friend up on-stage to go through a wonderful version of the Mike Ness classic 'Ball & Chain'. Ricky joins the stage to great applause from the small crowd.....they don't give a fuck that there's only 70 of 'em there, they're gonna love the night, love the music on offer and have a fucking great time doing so.

I look across to see both Kram and Chris nodding their heads in total approval of this one, as they'd only just recorded the very same song for their new album a week earlier. They both smile 'knowingly' when they see me looking. Ha ha!

Ricky takes the stage at around 10:30pm and he's straight into his 'Belfast boy' routine. This guy is a genuine, 100% rock n roller. Dressed in familiar white tee, waistcoat and sneakers with his flat cap complimenting the look, the guy oozes sex appeal and has the voice to melt the hearts of ladies worldwide!

His acoustic guitar, emblazoned with the immortal 'Belfast Confetti' sounds sharp and tight through the small Marshall acoustic amp. I read somewhere that he plays his guitars from a luthier in Newtownards, his home town? I couldn't tell, but it sure did sound mighty fine!

Confident, cocky and cool.....what more could I say? I had a great night boys!

 

Rox

Soundcheck Rating

Check out Ricky Warwick  RIGHT HERE