Originally published by L.S. Media. May 25th 2011.
For the second time in the space of six months Mike Peters strode onto the Liverpool Academy stage and wowed a crowd that for all intent purposes takes him to their heart as if he was from L1 and not from Prestatyn.
Back in January it was as lead vocalist for the reformed Big Country of which Mike was an avid fan and who was especially proud to front on the night as an invited guest for the much missed Stuart Adamson. On his return a few months later it was with his own band and one of the finest to come out of North Wales, The Alarm.
Opening the evening with Sold Me down the River from the 1989 studio album Change and the atmospheric Rain in the Summertime from Eye of the Hurricane, Mike Peters showed exactly why the band remain an institution and much loved to even those cynical of the Punk/ Rock era.
The band introduced a new song to the evening’s set list in the shape of Unbreak the Promise, this song has been created specially to celebrate the band’s 30 years and encouragingly, for a new song, went down a storm.
The band concluded the main set with a flourish as tracks as incredible, thunderous in their delivery and passionate in the subject matter were played to a ever increasing vocal crowd, which sang every line of every song of Blaze of Glory, Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke, the thought provoking 45 rpm and the stunning 68 Guns which the audience carried on singing as the band departed off stage.
Only in Liverpool could a group come back on for their encores with the audience still singing the previous song at full volume.
The Alarm finished the night in incredible style with two of their big hits from the eighties, the storming Marching On with its passionate message and the nostalgic Spirit of 76. The night wasn’t quite over as Mike and the band paid homage to legendry musician Bob Dylan whose 70th birthday coincided with the gig, for which the Alarm celebrated by covering Knocking on Heaven’s Door.
Once more The Alarm turned in a performance high on energy and commitment and it is to the testament of the band and Mike himself that the audience acknowledged this in its applause at the end.
4 stars
Ian D. Hall