Last night I went to Thin Lizzy’s concert. No, it is not quite right. OK, last night I was at Scott Gorham and friends’ concert. No, no, that is not the truth. Last night I saw Whitesnake. Hmm, that’s more like what I’ve seen. ½ of  Whitesnake + ½ of good musicians  for a dessert  = Thin Lizzy in Bulgaria. A great equation!

You may wonder why I start my report like this while I’m wondering why such bands as the one I saw in Hall 1 in the National Palace of Culture at the 3rd of October exist. I and 1500 others – you can guess that the hall was a half empty, right? And it was probably not by accident. Really, the concerts are one after another, but the “returning” of Thin Lizzy was neglected from the Bulgarian fans. Whether because many people understood that the band can not be the same at this juncture when Phil Lynott is not alive, or may be the reason was other, who knows, but many of the rockers decided to save their time for something else.

This time there were not any warm up bands, but the concert was delayed for almost 40 minutes, which were enough to irritate the audience – may be the organizers were hoping that not so many seats will remain empty before the lights went off. Thin Lizzy or at least the musicians gathered under this name - John Sykes, Scott Gorham, Francesco DiCosmo and Tommy Aldridge, came from nowhere and began to play their well produced rock music. They’ve started with the classic song "Jailbreak" and lead the things to even greater hits. We didn’t have time to think about what is happening on the stage because all of the melodies were well known. Hours later I realized that the concert was not as boring as I thought after its 80 minutes, but I still can not assess the situation – who needs from these exact musicians to be called Thin Lizzy and to tour together around the world!?

Let’s stop the thoughts for now. I have mentioned the choice of the songs, so let’s talk about them. "Waiting for an Alibi" and the ballad "Don't Believe a Word". Little flames here and there in the middle of the audience and the people have started to feel as it should be at a rock concert. We were not brave enough to shout, most of us were sitting peacefully in our seats and we thought if Sykes is singing better than he’s playing the guitar. I don’t even want to start a conversation about his static conduct… Then we went through "Dancing in the Moonlight" and "Sha La La" to land at one of the most senseless drum solos that I’ve ever heard, but at the same time – the greatest thing at this concert. I appreciate the qualities of Aldridge – his contribution to the heavy rock is undoubted, his style is unique, but he was not at the right place that night with his brutal, powerful and long solo after the soft sound of the other songs. The playing without sticks was also impressing but we didn’t have the chance to hear it well – someone on the music-stand was obviously torpid and we have heard the cymbals with a small delay.

After the solo the concert finished faster than I expected. The set-list of Lizzy from their previous concerts showed that we have to hear at least 3 songs more, but this did not happened here. We have only learned that the guys are dedicating all of their present work to their colleague Phil Lynott and we thank them for defining this – it was at the place where it belonged. "Cowboy Song" and the hit single "The Boys Are Back in Town" closed the normal set, while "Cold Sweat" and "Black Rose" at the encore put the end of the show. Yes, you probably will ask, so I better explain – they did not made "Whiskey in the Jar" and in other situation I would not have been disappointed, but in that case, when we all saw and heard that this is more a sort of tribute band, her appearance in the list was binding.

It became a long story about a concert which was not so long. I just want to generalize that the show was fine, but it was only for crazy fans and connoisseurs of the well played and cleaned from the dust hard rock. I’m sure that the uncles, who made everything possible to show to the two boys from the first rows that they want to sit back at their places, did not remember anything from the show. I hope that they are an exception and most of the people realized why they were in Hall 1 – because of the good old memories from the childhood or because of the love they kept about Lynott or may be because of Whitesnake... Now I’m sure only for one thing – these guys are not Thin Lizzy and I’m ready to argue with everybody that contends the opposite.

Report:В Boyana AtanassovaВ 

Photos: Victor Alexandrov

More photos are available in theВ GALLERY.