I’m a bit late putting this one up, but I went to see Black Star Riders at Nottingham’s Rock City on 12 December 2013.
Basically, Black Star Riders is the renamed Thin Lizzy – the renaming was so that they could start playing new material. Mind you, Scott Gorham is the only original Lizzy member in the band, so in that sense they are not merely a renamed Lizzy. But none of that matters, because it’s mostly about the music, anyway.
The support band was Dead Daisies, but I didn’t get to hear them other than about half of their last song. I can’t really comment beyond that. There was also another support band, but I certainly didn’t get to hear them. We arrived late for various reasons.
Anyway, it was a great performance – difficult to tell it apart from the Thin Lizzy gig I went to in Leeds a couple of years ago in many respects, other than for the new material. In any case, the new material is very Lizzy-like. The band line-up is different to last time but they still play with power and passion. Most of the Riders’ debut album was played along with many Lizzy classics.
A great – albeit rushed – night of entertainment. With Whisky In The Jar and Rosalie as the encore, it couldn’t have been anything else.
We finished with an indifferent curry in the Mogal-e-Azam (far too much Methi in the Chicken Methi, making it bitter – and even I know that “fresh methi” isn’t better than “dried methi”, because the two things have totally different uses. A decent curry uses dried methi for the flavour).
I managed to take some great photos at the gig, too.