Members Gig Reviews

THIN LIZZY

Olympia Theatre,Wednesday,12th April,2006.

Live and Dangerous,my first ever Rock Album...............and what an introduction.

From the opening riff of " Jailbreak " to the closing notes of " The Rocker ",for a 14 year old this was just mindblowing stuff. I fell in love with Lizzy the day I got that album and twenty seven years on, not a lot has changed.

Obviously,the band's line up has changed through the years,Eric Bell, Brian Downey, Brian Robertson,Gary Moore, Snowy White and Darren Wharton have all been and gone. Last night's line up featured Scott Gorham on guitar, Michael Lee on drums, Marco Mendoza on bass and John Sykes on vocals and guitar.

So,it was with a great deal of trepidation that I went along last night. I mean,how would Sykes and Co. ever fill the shoes of Ireland's ( and mine ) first rock legend,the one and only Phil Lynott.

I needn't have worried.

From the moment the set kicked off with an up tempo version of Whiskey in the Jar it was obvious that Sykes had no intention of trying to emulate Philo,quite the opposite in fact,his sole objective was to try do the songs justice, while constantly referring to the great man in almost reverential tones.

From there the set contained hit after hit, Don't Believe A word,Chinatown,Waiting for an Alibi, Are You Ready, Jailbreak,Cold Sweat,Do Anything You Want To Do and of course,Emerald..................bam de bam bam,all the classics,one after the other.

A quick break for the three guitarists allowed Michael Lee display the full reportoire of his drumming skills in an eight minute solo version of Sha La La La La which was folllowed by one of my all time favourites, Still in Love With You. This for me, was the only low point of the evening as for me,nothing can replace Philo's vocals and Brian Robertson's amazing guitar solo on the live version of that song.

The obligatory Cowboy Song / Boys are Back In Town combo followed Warrior,with a time delay of about thirty seconds between the end of Cowboy Song and the start of The Boys, while the enraptured audience wondered whether or not this new version of Lizzy would adhere to tradition and run one into the other. Of course we were not disappointed.

A quick break and the first encore,Dancing in The Moonlight was followed by another favourite, in Philo's own words......." A number recorded by Bob Seger, a number called .....Rosalie "

Then they were off again before a last visit to the stage for an eight minute version of Roisin Dubh, The Black Rose..........." Oh tell me the story of the young Cuchulainn, how his eyes were dark, his expression sullen............" what ridiculous lyrics, typical of Philo.

Then it was over, what a show.......................

The audience ranged from 12 - 60,among them, Joe Elliot from Def Leppard, actor Liam Cunningham,a very animated Gerry Ryan who was giving it loads all night and the guest of honour, Philo's mother Philomena who's presence added an authenticity to the event.( Oh yeah and she rocked her way through the show as well as anyone.)

So there ya have it,an altogether magic experience in the most intimate of venues.

Rolo.

Rolo sounds like it was a night to remember !

Really like this Idea of a gig review., although I still love the music from that era., my music taste has changed a bit, so I'll be doing reviews on people you've never even heard off .

Just a little reminder of Philo, Robbo and Scott Gorham in the old days.

Rolo.

Please do that Pat, will look forward to seeing it.

Right, just for Xgh.

I've been a Talking Heads fan for years, in fact Fear of Music is one of my favourite albums ever but sadly I never got to see them perform live.

I'd seen David Byrne a couple of times,once during his Brazilian Music phase and once during his reincarnation as a solo artist in The Ambassador Theatre and had seen The Tom Tom Club in McGonagles a right few years ago, all of which were really cool shows,so it was with great anticipation that we went along to the Olympia on 27th July 2004 for what was to be the last show of the European Leg of the Grown Backwards tour.

The set was just fantastic.

Old Heads numbers interspersed with some of his solo catalogue.As it was nearly two years ago, it's impossible for me to remember the exact set but I know we got,..... I Zimbra, Air, Burning Down The House, Once in a Lifetime, And She Was,This Must be The Place ( Naive Melody ),Road to Nowhere,an Accoustic version of Psycho Killer and a really up tempo version of Life During Wartime ( my favourite ), all from the Heads Years.

From his solo years we got two more favourites,this time from The Catherine Wheel, his Dance Collaboration with Twyla Tharp ( which Xgh hates ),What a Day That Was and His Wife Refused ( Eyes wide Open )

We got Glass Concrete and Stone, She only Sleeps with Me and Uni De Felice from Grown Backwards during all of which Byrne and his band were accompanied by The Tosca Strings, something which added a different and most interesting dimension to the sound.

The crowd just lapped it all up,everyone was on their feet from the word go, you couldn't help but be consumed by Byrne's unbelievable sense of rhythm and movement.

The night ended with an extremely long version of Lazy with the band and the string section really belting it out. It's always a joy to see someone perform if it appears that they're enjoying themselves and although it was the last night of a gruelling tour you got no sense that either Byrne or the Band were going through the motions.

Next time this icon of the New York New Wave movement comes to town make it your business to go see him.

You've all been warned.

Rolo.

Tell ya Pete, after the reaction of the crowd that night, unless they have a falling out or something, they'll defo be back. Only problem is that it'll probably be in the Point and not the Olympia which is just magic for gigs.Rumour has it that Gary Moore and Brian Robertson are not happy about the boys using the name.Have to say I was wondering what it would be like without Philo but was not disappointed.

Saw Robert Plant there before Christmas. Again magic.( did a quasi review somewhere for Star ).

Rolo.

The Boys are back in town

Set list 3

Vertigo, All because of you, Gloria, Elevation, An Cat Dubh, Beautiful Day,I still haven,t found, Original of the species, Bad, City of Blinding lights, Miracle Drug, Sometimes you can’t make it on your own, Love and Peace or Else, Sunday bloody Sunday,Bullet the Bleu sky, Running to stand still, Pride, Where the streets, One/Unchained Melody,

(Encore) Zoo Station, The Fly, With or without you, Vertigo(Reprise),

(Encore 2) Yahweh, 40.

Well my day started with a 7:15am call from my mate saying Peter I’m on the train.  We both were standing outside the Croke Park gate at 8:30 with our big Breakfast roll with everything on it. The Gates opened at 4pm and we ran to get into the stage enclosure and then got our arm stamp so we freely move around and get our beer and food throughout the day…The first two nights the set list were very similar which we both hoped they would add some other songs really wanted to hear Gloria again live

Intro/Wake up: The band walks on stage to the closing note of Arcade Fire song “Wake Up”.  Edge strums his guitar Bono ask for a bit of “Artane boys band” as Larrys starts drumming the beginning of Vertigo Bono then intrtroducess Adam add a “bit of Posh into the preceding and the “Alright Edge” and

1. Vertigo : “Hello Hello” the crowd really start getting going as Bono counts in Vertigo ás Gaeglic style.  The Crowd started singing and hopping up and down singing Vertigo note by note. During the lyric Bono sings” All this, All this could be yours… Just give me Croke Park” too screams from the crowd.

2. All because of you: As soon as I heard the opening notes of this song I knew tonights show was going to be extra special. The last two nights this song was played as part of the first encores. To me this song has a real “The Who” sound to it.

3. Gloria : Larry starts beating the drum my mate and myself went YEAH!!! The drum beats of GLORIA I haven’t heard this live since the Point Depot 1989. After all these years it still sounds great. Half way through it Bono introduces “The Base man” and The Edge brings me back to “Under a blood red sky” album oh what a classic. Only three songs in and my voice is almost gone. My weekend of U2in Croker was made by that song how could it get any better…Keep on reading J

4. Elevation: starts up with a slowed down intro when Bono starts to sing” Guess who just got back today the wide eyes boys that’s being away. haven’t change that much to sing.. The Boys are back in town. Slowly Elevation builds up to with Bono claiming “a sexy place this Croke Park”

5. An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart : If you thought Gloria made my night this was an even bigger thrill. I have never been at a gig were they played this live. This songs hasn’t been played since the Unforgettable fire tour in 1984. The Drum beat and the bass were vibrating through my rib cage for this. Again for such an old classic it was played note perfect some people have claimed that Bono voice is not as good as it use to be but hey it didn’t sound too bad from where I was standing.  As the song changes from An Cat dubh and blends into Into the heart Bono walk to the side of the ramp and sits on the edge putting his thumb in his mouth like a shy child and then brings a young girl of about 11up out of the audience He deicates the song to the Crumlin street hospital. At the end of the song Bono puts the young girls Cowboy hat on his and then struggles to get it off during the beginning of Beautiful day

6. Beautiful Day: As Bono struggles to get the hat off the crowd is cheering and the band plays on and Bono misses his queue to start singing. Six songs in and still the crowd is hopping. And you can see from the faces of the band that they are enjoying themselves.

7. I still haven’t found… : This is one of my least favourite U2 song but yet it still lifts me when I hear it at a gig. Bono claims he doesn’t know what more he could ask for and that only for the fans they are were they are. The crowd again are singing in harmony with Bono it really brings the crowd as one. After the band has finished playing the crowd keeps clapping and singing for ages after not giving Bono a chance to speak.

8. Original of the species: This is another song that they haven’t played the other two nights. Its off the last album and it’s a lovely song. Bono comes right out to the small stage were we were. He asks the crowd to give them a chance that they only played this song a couple of times before.

9 Bad: Another of my all time favourites song. Hearing this for the first time back in 1985 on a bootleg of the Croke Park really got me into the band. They played “Walk on the Wildside, Sympathy for the Devil, and Ruby Tuesday” back then.  Over the years they have cut down this song time wise but they always seem to play the full version in their home town. There was to be none of the above songs added in but a rendition of Dirty Oul town instead.

10 City of Blinding Lights: The lights started fading and the U2 spectacular light show began to take effect here. The flickering light on the back drop gave the impression you were in New York City with all there flicking advertisements

11/12 Miracle Drug/Sometimes you can’t make it on your own : Bono dedicates Miracle Drug to a student from Mount Temple who couldn’t move but only his neck. Christopher went on to produce a book of poems and he was also in the audience. Sometimes Bono wrote and dedicates this song to his father. On the screen in the back is animation of a man walking. The lyric of this song are very personal and emotional. The line that I think is a strong lyric in this is “A house doesn’t make a home…. Don’t leave me here alone” as the song closes Bono sings the “Black Hill of Dakota”

13 Love and Peace or Else: This is my favourite song of the last album. It starts of with a distorted guitar and then Adam’s heavy bass line and Larry playing a snare drum halfway down the ramp way with Bono strutting and pulling Elvis shapes. This is a song were both Larry and Adams rhythm section combination really stands out. Half way through it the song almost comes to a stand still Larry walks back to the drum kit. Bono starts banging away on the snare drum and looks like a mad man.

14/15 Sunday Bloody Sunday/ Bullet the Blue sky: Two of the regulars songs Larrys familiar drum beat intro. This song use to sung for the troubles in the North. Bono recalls the first Bloody Sunday that happened in Croke Park. He calls for people to co-exist around the world. At the end of SBS they go straight into Bullet the blue sky. This another of my favourite songs live but this time I was disappointed that they didn’t do anything special with it. At the end Bono sings the lyric to “the hands that built America, Please, and Johnny comes marching home again”

16 Running to Stand still: This is another song that hasn’t been played in years since 1993.  Instead of singing “I see seven tower” referring to Ballymum he stumbles and jokes and sing “I see seven towers no six towers” At the end he sing Happy Birthday to Au Jung sing and the chorus of “Walk on”

17/18 Pride and Streets: Two songs that really keep the crowd going but they are not my favourites songs. In fact I think they could be dropped from the set. But saying that he crowd loves these songs

19/20 One/Unchained melody: At the start of this song Bono give a long speech on his campaign against poverty. Yeah I admit I don’t knock Bono for doing all the good work he is trying to achieve. But the only thing that I get fed up with his this speech. The reason been, that all through the eighties Bono use to preach but he would do anytime during any song spontaneous not like now its all planned and that all that disappoints me. During Unchained Melody both Bono and Edge make a hiccup while singing this.

21/22 Zoo Station/The Fly: This was another highlight for me. Zoo station hasn’t been played since ZOOTV tour in 1993. Before the songs start The screens light up with some graphic of a slot machine and the faces of Tony Blair come up to be booed. Zoo station is starts and U2 do a mini Zootv set which was fantastic. Edge walks down one ramp and Bono again pulling shapes walks down the other into the crowd. The Fly starts up and rocks I really got to like this song again on the last tour

23 With or Without you: What can I say one of the all time U2 classics. Lights go down. The light show was just a light shining on a giant glitter ball. The slow clapping of the crowd keeping in beat with the drumming of Larry. This is an extra long version of the song cause Bono is busy dancing with some girl from the crowd.

24 Vertigo: For the second time tonight they played Vertigo. The second time they play it seems more heavier than earlier in the show. The crowd were still up for more singing dancing and hopping up and down. This time Bono claims “All this could be yours and you don’t have to evEn play the f***** GAA”. Vertigo slowlys dies and the builds up again Bono sings “There a place I go its not far away.. Theres a TV show that I can grow.. sometimes the feeling takes me sometime I can’t let go HELLO HELLO” and when you think he is going to sing more of Stories for boys he dives right back into Vertigo YAYYYYY””””

Tonight was definitely the best night of the three nights in Croker and here is the last song..

On the Screen “The End Flashes up and as the crowd is singing “How Long” to everyones surprise U2 walk back on stage to the cheers and delights.

Bono thanks the neighbours and the Gardi for giving them “an extra 30 minutes cause of the traffic delays and late start of the show”

25 Yahweh: Can’t say anything about this songs except that the all came to the front of the main stage to play it.

26 “40”: U2 finish up there weekend stay at Croker with the only song that they could finish on 40 This is another song that U2 have re-added into their set and about time too. This is a great song to finish any show off. Edge and Adam change places and guitars. Adam finishes playing first and walks of stage. Bono steps up to the crowd and sings and screams “HOW LONG TO SING THIS SONG” for the crowd to respond louder “HOW LONG TO SING THIS SONG” and the Bono waves and walks off leaving only Edge and Larry, then Edge keeps playing the bass stops waves to the crowd and is gone. Larry keeps a melodic drum beat going stops the Crowd sings on and then he restarts up his furious drum beat and one more smash of the symbols stands up and waves and the show is over. The crowd cheers and the restarts the How Long to sing this song Chant”

What night, What a show, What weekend, What a review sorry its so long

That’s all folks

Peter

Being in the Pit was grand there wasn't any pushing and shoving. I was on the outside now I wasn't in the middle of the pit. I tried to put up a Photo but in here it wouldn't let me....

I was listening to the bootleg of this while I was typing it up and I was reliving every moment of it.

I might have to review U2 in Slane, Popmart Zootv, Point and Croker 87 or have you all had enough of me and U2

Sorry X,

Only works the once. You'll need to come up with something different to make me forget about A-Ha.

And also btw....................anyone for Robbie next week ?

Rolo.