25 November 2017 (gig)
27 November 2017
Anyone who is properly a fan of ‘70’s rock must be familiar with Thin Lizzy’s ultimate album ‘Live & Dangerous’. Recorded in 1977 and released in 1978, it is often rated as the best live album of all time.
Brian Downey was the drummer with Lizzy and co-wrote most of the material - he has as much right as anyone to the music so he put together a band featuring Brian Grace (ex of Andrew Strong) and Phil Edgar on guitars and Matt Wilson (both previously members of Low Rider) on bass and vocals. Downey himself took the drum stool. Maybe look familiar? Charismatic bass player and vocalist, twin guitars and Downey on drums.
The venue was packed and sporadic chants of “Briiiannn” were heard all through, the crowd going properly mad for it. And the performance didn’t disappoint.
The songs are all classics – ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’, ‘Warrior’, ‘Jailbreak’, ‘Rosalie’ – and the performance was just about spot on. Every number from the live album featured including an encore of 'Whiskey In The Jar' that had the crowd dancing on all sides of the venue.
There was enough individuality from the band to avoid this being a tribute band and also enough that was close to the originals to show due respect for some of rock’s greatest numbers.
Phil Edgar’s lead guitar had that familiar sound and Matt Wilson, with his mop of frizzy hair and Dublin accent, really brought the image of Phil Lynott alive.
I believe that this was a warm up for a full European tour next year (the 40th anniversary of the album’s release) and it should go down a storm.
A top night.
Picture by Andreas Paul
