Thin Lizzy - Are You Ready?

Written by Pirata Hermosa

Thin Lizzy was a hard rock band formed in Ireland in 1969 and fronted by Phil Lynott, one of the few black lead singers/bass players/songwriters to succeed in that genre. The band recorded several albums before they broke out big in the United States with their album Jailbreak in 1976 that included two of their biggest songs, “Jailbreak” and “The Boys Are Back In Town”

The lineup changed several times during their career and for this particular concert performance in Loreley, Germany in 1981 and shown on the country’s Rockpalast television show, the lineup included: Lynott, Scott Gorham and Snowy White on guitars, Darren Wharton on keyboards, and drummer Brian Downey.

Unfortunately, like many other Thin Lizzy concert videos the recording quality is poor. It’s too bad, because they are all really good musicians. The dueling lead guitar sound is the trademark of the band and both guitarists play amazing solos in every song. Most of the songs are very bluesy and tend to be longer than average, giving each member of the band an opportunity to display their chops.

While the audio quality suffers, so does the video. One of the cameras gives you rippling lines that run horizontally up and down the picture, reminiscent of the bad signals that would constantly occur before cable television. The stage is also poorly lit and the lighting crew seems to have trouble moving the spotlights around.

You can also see in their performances and style that it’s right before the heavy metal explosion of the ‘80s. There’s a little bit of leather and choreographed movements, not a lot, but just enough to make you wonder what they would have become if Phil had not died in January of 1986 at the age of 36. It’s also interesting to see an audience that is so reserved and so calm.

While this may not be a DVD for someone who has never heard of them before, the sheer number of songs they perform and the lack of other material out in the marketplace make it worth getting your hands on.

There are no special features on the DVD

The set list is as follows:
A re You Ready?
Genocide
Waiting For An Alibi
Jailbreak
Trouble Boys
Don’t Believe A Word
Memory Pain
Got To Give It Up
Chinatown
Hollywood
Cowboy Song
The Boys Are Back In Town
Suicide
Black Rose
Sugar Blues
Baby Drives Me Crazy
Rosalie
Desaster
Emerald