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Thin Lizzy live in Clifton Park, NY
by Toast

I debated whether this group was touring under the name Thin Lizzy to earn money or as a tribute to Philip Lynott. The current group of musicians touring as Thin Lizzy includes no founding members, and the main songwriter and spirit of the band, Philip Lynott, died back on January 4, 1986. The only other band that I could think of that is currently touring without any original members is Molly Hatchet, and who cares about them? On the other hand, Scott Gorham is currently in the band. He joined Thin Lizzy back in 1974 as the rhythm guitarist when they already had 3 albums under their belt, but was in the band for the remainder including their most commercially successful period.

In addition to Gorham, the current line up includes John Sykes (Tygers of Pan Tang, Whitesnake, Blue Murder) on lead guitar and lead vocals, Tommy Aldridge (Black Oak Arkansas, Pat Travers, Ozzy, Whitesnake, Ted Nugent) on drums, and Marco Mendoza (Blue Murder, Ted Nugent) on bass. John Sykes was also a member of Thin Lizzy when Lynott was alive, joining in 1981 or so and contributed heavily to the Thunder and Lightning album.

I was late to being a Thin Lizzy fan. At the time they were popular, I was into bands like Kiss and Judas Priest, but once Lynott passed I bought all their albums and really became a fan. I walked into the club prepared to hate the show due to the line up and the controversy around their name, but what else was I going to do, sit home and watch "ER"? So I paid my 15 bones and went to the bar.

The club had more people in attendance than I expected, around 500 or so at show time. The first thing I noticed was that Aldridge has quite possibly the largest drum set to ever be on a club stage; I counted at least 14 cymbals! The show started with the siren intro of "Jailbreak" and the band launched into the song at full speed. Sykes takes on lead vocals in addition to lead guitar, and he amazingly did a spectacular job. No shit, if you closed your eyes, he sounded incredibly like Lynott. Aldridge was a mad man on the drums, with his white man afro, double bass drum skills, and his arms always in motion. Aldridge and Mendoza are a tight rhythm section, having worked together for years, and they set the pace for Sykes to show his abilities. For those that don't know, Sykes can shred, without any of those annoying Yngwie-type solos.

Set List:
1. Jailbreak (Jailbreak LP)
2. Waiting For an Alibi (Black Rose LP)
3. Don't Believe a Word (Johnny the Fox LP)
4. Killer on the Loose (Chinatown LP)
5. Emerald (Jailbreak)
6. Cold Sweat (Thunder & Lightning LP)
7. The Sun Goes Down (Thunder & Lightning LP)
8. Chinatown (Chinatown LP)
9. Are You Ready (Live & Dangerous LP)
10. Bad Reputation (Bad Reputation LP)
11. Massacre (Johnny the Fox LP)
12. Still In Love With You (Night Life LP)
13. Suicide (Fighting LP)
14. The Cowboy Song (Jailbreak LP)
15. The Boys are Back in Town (Jailbreak LP)
1st Encore:
16. Rosalie (Fighting LP)
17. Black Rose (Black Rose LP)
2nd Encore:
18. Thunder & Lightning (Thunder & Lightning LP)
Aldridge performed a drum solo between "Bad Reputation" and "Massacre". Half way through the blistering solo, he tossed his sticks to the crowd and finished the solo bare-handed a la John Bonham. In addition to the 2 radio hits, the highlights of the set were "Suicide", "Cold Sweat", "Black Rose" and the last song "Thunder and Lightning".

By the time the band came out for their first encore it was after 1am on a Thursday night, and the crowd had thinned to a few hundred. However I think the few hundred that stayed knew every word to every song and requested songs from the band for the encores, and forced the band to play the 2nd encore which was definitely unscripted.

Whether or not you agree with them touring as Thin Lizzy, one thing is for sure, I never thought that 4 middle-aged men could kick my ass, but they did that night.