THIN LIZZY

Undeniably one of the all-time great rock bands, Thin Lizzy’s influence and appeal continue to electrify decades after their time. Having scored a degree of success in the early-1970s with the massive hit ‘Whiskey In The Jar’ and a series of quirky, genre-hopping albums, charismatic frontman Phil Lynott plus drummer Brian Downey and guitarists Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson really hit their stride with 1976’s ‘Jailbreak’, a powerful, juggernaut of honed rock ‘n’ roll based around the double-pronged attack of Robertson and Gorham’s dual guitar onslaught. ‘Jailbreak’ also spawned the massive hit ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’, which has grown into one of the rock-era’s all-time classics and the song by which the band would thereafter always be associated. Further critical and commercial success followed with career highs such as ‘Johnny The Fox’, ‘Bad Reputation’ and the all-time classic, ‘Live And Dangerous’, the latter regularly being touted as the all-time greatest live rock album. As the ‘70s gave way to the ‘80s band members – including guitar legend Gary Moore and a pre-Ultravox Midge Ure – came and went although the hits, not to mention the ecstatically received live shows, kept on coming. Finally, Thin Lizzy decided to call it a day in 1983, and in spite of the untimely demise of the band’s muse and creative light Lynott in 1986, their legacy lives on in a staggering body of work that stands up against any of the great ‘70s rock canons of the era – The Stones, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, to name just a few. In May 2010 a new Thin Lizzy line-up was announced, comprising keeper-of-the-flame Scott Gorham, original drummer Brian Downey, long-standing keyboardist Darren Wharton, Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell, former Whitesnake bassist Marco Mendoza and singer Ricky Warwick, from The Almighty. To kick off a whole year of Thin Lizzy catalogue reissues, the new line-up have recently announced a full UK tour for January 2011.