The boys are back in town again
Last night I went to see Thin Lizzy at Hammersmith Apollo. Now I know that some people will say that without Phil Lynott there is no Thin Lizzy, and that is true to an extent, but his songs live on and this was meant to be a celebration of his songs 20 years after his death.Phil Lynott's death was one of the first things that I remember after realising that I liked that sort of music, mostly in the form of buying Kerrang or Metal Hammer or both, so I never had the chance to see him or his band play live. My first real experience of his music beyond the odd song here or there was when I borrowed a load of LPs from Simon at Ventures. I borrowed Led Zep 2, Thin Lizzy's Shades of a Blue Orphanage and Thunder and Lightning and a few others. Most of it I listened to once and didn't really get, but before you curse my name for my idiocy, this is a good sign. Initially I hated the first thing I heard by Metallica, Slayer and King Diamond to name but three and went on to fall in love with them later. What I did get was an instant and immediate love of Thunder and Lightning. While some call it a weak Lizzy album, I disagree. John Sykes is an amazing guitarist and he has something in common with most of the players I like, Mike Amott, Dave Murray, Gary Holt, though it would be a bit unfair to single him out and not mention Scott Gorham. I have always loved the trademark Thin Lizzy guitar harmonies for their simplicity and beauty and that album was very close to the sound of albums I was already familiar with such as Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet.
Acquisitive beast as I am, I soon made it my business to get to know all of Thin Lizzy's back catalogue and it was this knowledge which made me so keen to buy a ticket as soon as I heard that they were playing again. The gig was in the holidays so I knew I could safely mosey over to London and stay with friends after the gig with no worries about lessons the next day, something which has scuppered any hopes of seeing a few bands I would have liked to see this year. I got to the show in ages of time and wandered about a bit. Hammersmith seems a nice area. I headed to the Apollo and found out that there were no support so I had even more time to kill but less to worry about in getting back to Willesden Green than I thought I might. I really enjoyed the gig, though I found the sound a little disappointing as it did not allow the guitar harmonies to come through as well as say Arch Enemy did in December, but this is only a minor moan. It was great to see John Sykes, Scott Gorham, Marco Mendoza and the brilliant Michael Lee on drums. I was hoping for more than one song from Thunder and Lightning but the gig revolved around the Jailbreak album, but that did not stop the gig being fantastic because I love that one too. What a songwriter Phil Lynott was! I raised a Guinness to his memory afterwards.
