Gary Moore still rules! (the video, not quite)

This one is from May 29, 2006.
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Last week I watched the Gary Moore and Friends: One Night in Dublin - Tribute to Phil Lynott DVD. Basically, a Phil Lynott statue was unveiled in Dublin on the 20th anniversary of his death, and Gary Moore played a concert where he paid tribute to Phil. There were some special guests who had played in Thin Lizzy and they played some Lizzy songs. This is what I thought of the musicians:

Gary Moore: Well, he's Gary Moore and he rules. He's one of the last two or three musicians I'd like to see in concert. I'm not a big fan of his blues trip though, but I'm sure that's what's paid the bills for him, so keep bluesin' Gary. Me? I'm stuck in his Hard Rock era, particularly from Corridors of Power through After The War. I'd really love to have some video from this era, but none is really available anymore. I e-mailed this guy one who has this huge list of videos to see if he wanted to trade or something, but he never replied. He played a local show in '87 I think, but I couldn't go because it was an over 21 place and I wasn't 21. Anyway, the show! His band consists of Brian Downey (who also rules) on drums, and some guy on bass. His guitar playing is awesome, but a big complain I have is that during Black Rose, when he was playing his awesome kick-ass solo, the cameras were everywhere but the fretboard! I mean, I love the guy, but I don't really want to see Scott Gorham hitting a power chord while Gary is turning over the world on its axis with his solo!

Brian Downey: Believe it or not, this is the first footage I've seen of Downey (I have the Lizzy show from Sydney, but that one has another drummer). Maybe he displayed more energy when he was younger, but now he looks very, veeerry relaxed when he plays. It sounds great though. He's bald too.

The bass player: He was good and stayed in the background (plays for Jethro Tull or something?). Looks like me a little. They should have just called me and I would have gladly played bass and looked better on this!

Brian Robertson: This guy has always been sort of an enigma for me. I've always read praises for the guy; the fiery young guitar player and stuff like that, but my reaction to his playing for Lizzy has always been kind of "meh". Maybe because he was 17 when he joined Lizzy and he was playing concerts, and THAT'S remarkable. At 17 I was trying to play in my bedroom like Chris Squire or something. Also he was a druggie, I believe, and some people praise that as being a characteristic of musical geniuses or something. I've never seen a shot of the guy's face either! He's always had his hair over his face, and here he was wearing sunglasses as well. His playing was the worst of the show. While they were playing Emerald, it seemed as if Gary was trying to motivate him to play better during their duel. I still don't see what the big deal is about this guy. He sucks.

Scott Gorham: Pretty cool California guy. His playing was always pretty competent, and his posing skills have gotten better with age. He's a Rock Star and you can't help it but crack up seeing him when he's up on stage. The camera shows him posing instead of Gary paying his heart out during Black Rose as I mentioned before! His interview is the one I enjoyed the most on the DVD extras. During the show, he never stops posing for the camera!



Eric Bell: His claim to fame, as far as I'm concerned, is that he payed guitar with Lizzy, and the two well-known songs from his time with the band are Whiskey in the Jar and The Rocker, and his playing rules in both songs. Beyond that, I don't know much about him. He handles some of the vocals during Whiskey in the Jar, and he sounds worse than Gary!

The Show: I'll have to go with the assumption that this was not the complete show. The DVD show is very short. I was thinking that Robertson and Gorham should have gotten to play together, all the guitar players should have taken solos at the end, etc. but the truth of the matter is that it was a Gary Moore show, and he's a better guitar player than all of those guys anyway. It starts with a blues song (boo!) and it ends with Parisienne Walkways (yay!). After the blues song, Gary plays Jailbreak and Don't Believe a Word before bringing in Robertson. He sticks around for a couple of songs and then Gorham comes in. To me, the tunes Gary did with Gorham were the most enjoyable part of the DVD. They played Black Rose, Cowboy Song and The Boys Are Back in Town. Eric Bell played on and sang part of Whiskey in the Jar. Then Gary closes. Gary handled vocal duties and did a really good job considering that, in my opinion, Phil songs are pretty hard to sing.


Extras: There was like a 25-minute long interview segment where all the guys get air time. Scott Gorham was the highlight of the interview segments because he seems to be a pretty laid back and open person.

I was able to extract the sound and make me an audio CD of the show (fits in one CD), and that's been getting a lot of airplay in my stereo/computer. As a matter of fact I'm listening to it right now. It's a good one to have.

I like Thin Lizzy a lot, but prefer Live and Dangerous and subsequent releases (Black Rose, Chinatown, Renegade, Thunder and Lightning, Life/Live), and that makes me an unusual fan I guess because everyone seems to prefer the "classic" line-up with Gorham/Robertson. In addition to those, I have Dedication and Jailbreak. I admire Phil Lynott a lot. He was a great songwriter, bass player and singer with a lot of soul in his singing and songwriting. I think that even though he doesn't admit it, someone like Bruce Springsteen was heavily influenced by Phil.

So, my gripes:

• DVD concert too short.
• Where was John Sykes (doesn't he front Lizzy now?)?
• Needed more jamming by all musicians at the same time.
• No close-ups of Moore's fretboard during Black Rose.
  
• Brian Robertson.

Other than that, it's a good one to have.