PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Tonight’s gig was to be a very special one. Firstly it’s being held at a site that is very special to rock and heavy metal – the headquarters of Marshall amplification , in a theatre they have just behind the factory that makes the iconic amps. Secondly tonight is the first gig ever for Black Star Riders, the band formed from Thin Lizzy. Effectively this is Thin Lizzy – it’s pretty much the same lineup as on the last Thin Lizzy tour, but they changed their name as they wanted to record new material and didn’t want to do that under the Thin Lizzy name. The band’s debut album, All hell breaks loose, has just been released and this is the fan’s first chance to hear the songs performed live.
By the time the doors opened there was a big queue outside of lucky fans who managed to get tickets – this isn’t a big venue – maybe 500 people at most, so it’s a small intimate gig. At 8.30, an hour after the doors opened, All hell broke loose. The band came on to huge cheers, and kicked off with the title track of the album, ‘All hell breaks loose’, and what a superb choice that was to open the show as the music blasted out and the light show went into overdrive – definitely the perfect choice of set opener. With barely a pause they then went straight into ‘Jailbreak’ – the fans were loving it.
Tonight we get a great mix of new Black Star Riders material (9 out of the 11 songs on the album get played tonight), and classic Thin Lizzy material with 8 Thin Lizzy songs making it into the set, and for a large part of the set they alternate – one Black Star Riders song then one Thin Lizzy song, and such is the strength of the new material that the new songs go down just as well as the much loved classics.
It was good to see that the band were enjoying themselves too – there were lots of smiles and grins and you could tell they were having as good a time as the audience, although I don’t know how they coped on stage under the lights – it was like a sauna in the venue so must have been even hotter on stage.
Ending with ‘The boys are back in town’ they left the stage before the cheers from the crowd brought them back for the obligatory encore.
Like the rest of the set it was a split between Black Star Riders and Thin Lizzy songs – ‘Hoodoo voodoo’ from the new album, then to end the night ‘Rosalie’.
After the show there was a raffle (all audience members had been given a ticket when they came in) with lots of Black Star Riders and Marshall prizes, before fans had a chance to get a quick drink before the band came out to sign stuff and to pose for photos. I didn’t hang around for that but there were lots of fans waiting so they’ll have had a busy time.
This really was a fantastic night – a superb atmosphere, the band were on top form and they sounded great. The mix of new and old material worked perfectly and should keep pretty much any audience happy. This was definitely a night to remember.
Rating: 10/10
Setlist:
All hell breaks loose
Jailbreak
Bloodshot
Waiting for an alibi
Hey Judas
Massacre
Kingdom of the lost
Kissin’ the ground
Suicide
Valley of the stones
Before the war
Emerald
Bound for glory
Cowboy song
The Boys are back in town
Encore:
Hoodoo Voodoo
Rosalie
