Thin Lizzy with Diva Demolition, Live, Melbourne – 4 March 2013

Shane | 23 April 2013 | Reply

Billboards, Melbourne
By Shayne McGowan

Diva Demolition open the night, and to be completely honest, I was not impressed. I personally think that they are trying way too hard to cater towards main stream radio by writing pop rock songs, with not much to say.

Obviously somebody has seen something in this band, how else are they scoring support slots for Kiss/Motley and Aerosmith, but they are just not for me. I think if they stopped playing it so safe and dirtied things up a little bit, they just might have something. Apparently there is an album coming soon, and before I write them off completely, I’d be more than interested in hearing it to see whether I’m missing something, or they are…

Thin Lizzy are the reason we’re all here, and they do not disappoint!

The band is now fronted by the very charismatic front man Ricky Warwick, and features only one original member, one member who has been around since the early days, and two totally new members, aside from Warwick himself.

It’s a roaring set right from the start. The crowd is singing along and loving every minute. Jailbreak makes an appearance as the second song, and proves to be one of the highlights of the night for me.

All of the fan favourites are there, including Whiskey in the Jar, Waiting For an Alibi, Cold Sweat, Emerald, The Boys Are Back in Town, Rosalie and Cowboy Song, with the only glaring omission being Bad Reputation.

There were tributes and showings of respect to Phil Lynott and Gary Moore through the night, which was to be expected. Ricky Warwick has huge shoes to fill, and he does a damn fine job, without ever disrespecting the legacy of the former Thin Lizzy front man.

Billboards is packed tonight, and seems to be the ideal venue for Lizzy. I also seen them the following night supporting Motley Crue and Kiss, and it’s safe to say that Mondays show at Billboards is the better performance from the band.

Understandably so too, it’s a headline set, with more time to play and the crowd is all theirs. It was always going to be the better show.

Thin Lizzy will continue to do a few shows now and then, but the majority of this current line up will now be known as Black Star Riders, with Jimmy DeGrasso joining them on the drums. I am very keen to see what this line up comes up with in the future, but if you do get the chance to catch Thin Lizzy’s current line up, I strongly suggest you do so, because they are one of the tightest bands I have ever seen, and it’s easy to see that they enjoy every minute of playing.

This is a definite contender for gig of the year!