Saturday 11th June

Thin Lizzy - Rock Stage (4/5)

As usual when Thin Lizzy’s name comes up, conservatives start to scream themselves blue about how sacrilegious this is. How can they go out and do this when Philip Lynott isn’t here no more, dragging the name through the mud. And then we have all these dorks who screams ”COVERBAND”!!!! at the top of their voices.

Ever since Scott Gorham put this version of Lizzy together with John Sykes years ago, he has pointed out time and again that this is a TRIBUTE, nothing more. No new songs under the name, no new albums. Just go out and play all the great songs for us who love Lizzy. When they are as good as they have always been, I say Hell Yeah! This is as close to Lizzy we’re gonna get and I for one just love to hear all the songs live. Today John and the rest of the band, except for Scott and bassist Marco Mendoza are gone. Back in the band, thank God, are drummer Brian Downey who is crucial for Lizzy’s groove. No more metal á la Tommy Aldridge. For the second guitar spot, they hired Vivian Campbell who had to pull out due to Def Leppard commitments and was replaced with Guns N Roses man Richard Fortus, who did an excellent job, I might add.

Ricky Warwick of The Almighty was hired for rhythm guitar and lead vocals. I was suspicious about him, to put it mildly, but yes, he did a great job also. Darren Wharton, who was with Lizzy on their two last albums, is back in on keyboards. He also took over lead vocals for ”Still In Love With You”. Thumbs up, there, Darren.

Do I have to mention the songs? Ok, then. They were all there. ”Jailbreak”, ”The Boys Are Back in Town”, ”Emerald”, ”Cowboy Song”, ”Rosalie”, ”Black Rose” and even ”Dancing In The Moonlight”.  I would have loved to see Viv Campbell with them on stage, but this evening, it didn’t matter. The guys were all smiles up there on stage and so were us punters below. This is by far the best Tribute Lizzy I’ve seen and in my book, they should be booked every year.

Lemme hear you’re out there. ARE YOU OUT THERE??!?

Check them out :
http://www.thinlizzy.org

Review : Jon Wilmenius

Photos : Tallee Savage
www.savagebeauty.se

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