Been hangin' down at Dino's

[molan]

Just sitting here having breakfast and watching Lizzy live that I recorded last night (repeated again late on Sunday I think).

I saw Lizzy a few times back in their heyday of the mid/late '70's. What a great live band thye were, I used to love those twin lead guitar parts and Lynott was a great bass hero - more for the attitude and stagecraft than for his bass playing at the time though.

Listening back now I'd forgotten quite how good some of his bass parts were and he nails them all playing live and singing as well. Great showman

Well worth a look on Sky if you like the Lizzy or are even intrigued as to what they were like live. Sound isn't the best and looks a bit out of synch (but my Sky+ sometimes does that anyway!).

Also fun to see the opening few minutes with the truck arriving at the Rainbow & getting the gear set up. My favourite London large venue for many years. Saw loads of great gigs there. I go past it frequently and always feel that it seems such a waste to have it sitting there as a venue for a pretty obscure religious movement!

Edited December 21, 2008 by molan

[SJA]

[quote name='molan' post='360098' date='Dec 21 2008, 10:49 AM']Also fun to see the opening few minutes with the truck arriving at the Rainbow & getting the gear set up.[/quote]

is that the gig where he's using a Jazz?
a guitarist mate had that video.

[Paul S]

+1

Saw them at Wembly in 1978 during the tour (but not the actual nights ) when they recorded 'Live and Dangerous'. Lynott was just about the most charismatic frontman I have ever seen live.

[Hamster]

+1 - I'm a big Thin Lizzy fan too First time I saw them was in 1976? at The Winning Post in Twickenham - which is a pretty small venue really.

[molan]

[quote name='SJA' post='360272' date='Dec 21 2008, 03:37 PM']is that the gig where he's using a Jazz?
a guitarist mate had that video.[/quote]

Classic Lynott black Precision with a mirror scratch plate

[SJA]

it's up here-
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRUZWDhcFB4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRUZWDhcFB4[/url]

for some reason I remembered him using a jazz on that vid
maybe it was the mirror plate looking like a Jazz control plate.

Edited December 21, 2008 by SJA

[acidbass]

Watched the gig last night on Sky Arts, never saw any live Lizzy stuff before and it was a fantastic watch! I agree with the comments about Lynott's stagemanship, but IMO he also put in a blinder of a performance on bass! I'm in awe of his ability to seamlessly jump strings using a plectrum, something which I aspire to having only really started teaching myself over the last couple of weeks.

On the same note - I normally find myself watching Sky Arts a lot more than the regular music channels these days, there are some brilliant classic live performances every night at 9pm! Always good to know that someone's here to give us a heads-up in case we miss them tho

[The Admiral]

[quote name='acidbass' post='360599' date='Dec 21 2008, 11:30 PM']Watched the gig last night on Sky Arts, never saw any live Lizzy stuff before and it was a fantastic watch! I agree with the comments about Lynott's stagemanship, but IMO he also put in a blinder of a performance on bass! I'm in awe of his ability to seamlessly jump strings using a plectrum, something which I aspire to having only really started teaching myself over the last couple of weeks.

On the same note - I normally find myself watching Sky Arts a lot more than the regular music channels these days, there are some brilliant classic live performances every night at 9pm! Always good to know that someone's here to give us a heads-up in case we miss them tho [/quote]

I caught this as well - and it was great to see the band - and the main man - in action again. I've always maintained that in any dictionary under the term 'Rock Star' there should just be a picture of Phil Lynott : you wouldn't need to say any more really. A great writer, poet and very underated player.

Also, If pushed, I would have to say that Live & Dangerous is probably one of my top 3 albums of all time, although it's often criticised for the amount of 'tweaking' it received. If you are interested, check out Tony Visconti's autobiography, where he tells all. Quite simply, all the bass on the live album was replaced with tracks recorded with Phil's live rig, played at gig levels (if I remember rightly), but set up in a studio. The BVs are all allegedly overdubs too - as Scott Gorham outlined in an interview some years ago. But so what - they were a great band - and it's such a shame that Phil didn't live to ride the wave of success that I have no doubt would have come to Lizzy, not least because of a renewed interest in 'Classic Rock' by all the baby boomers and Gen X'ers - but also the patronage of bands whom they influenced. I'm quite sure Metallica (for example) would have happily taken Thin Lizzy out on the road with them - although Hetfield and Lynott would have been a serious battle of egos!

I just hope that the film they are making - a biopic based on Phil's mum's book - 'My Boy', does justice to the man and his music. Holly Hunter owns the rights, and wants to play his mum Philomena - and they had Gary Dourdain from CSI down to play Phil. Please God he makes a better fist of the Dublin accent than Don Cheadle's 'Gor blimey Mary Poppins' - sub Michael Caine Mockney accent in Oceans Twelve.

Regarding basses : their is some great stuff on YouTube of the early Lizzy days - where Phil plays both a Rickenbacker (fingerstyle too!) and a Dan Armstrong 'plexi' see through bass. Last time I saw them live, on the Thunder & Lightning tour, he was playing a Hamer I think - was it the 'Cruise' bass? Loads of pick-ups and knobs, active I guess - and Dynacord bass amps. I remember seeing a feature in Kerrang in the 80s, which showed a kind of Spinal Tap shot of all Phil's basses - and he had a couple of Ibanez too I think - a fretted and fretless 'Musician', and a double neck - 6 and bass - which he used on the 'Solo in Soho' tour.

With regard to 'the' P Bass : I am sure it was given as a prize in a magazine competition - obviously after his death - but if my memory is playing tricks, I would love to know what happened to it, if anyone knows. It deserves to be on show in Dublin - much like Rory Gallagher's old Strat.

A

[Shaggy]

Love 'em
Phil Lynott always reckoned they were the "Yardbirds" of their day, they had so many top guitarists in temporaray residency.
Did Lorne sell that ex-Thin Lizzy Mockingbird after?

[Paul S]

Speaking of which - it might be old hat, in which case I apologise, but just in case there is anyone who doesn't know of this version of 'Don't Believe a Word'? Completely blew me away when I first watched it.

[url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=COTb93qoeTc"]Don't know how to embed the Youtube thingy so heres a link[/url]

[molan]

[quote name='Paul S' post='360949' date='Dec 22 2008, 01:31 PM']Speaking of which - it might be old hat, in which case I apologise, but just in case there is anyone who doesn't know of this version of 'Don't Believe a Word'? Completely blew me away when I first watched it.

[url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=COTb93qoeTc"]Don't know how to embed the Youtube thingy so heres a link[/url][/quote]

I love the various slower/longer versions of this that are kicking around, always thought the original was too short!

Some of them go into the 'standard' version of the song after the slow part - this one is 7 mins long: [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YzpMBscDNbM"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YzpMBscDNbM[/url]

[molan]

[quote name='acidbass' post='360599' date='Dec 21 2008, 11:30 PM']On the same note - I normally find myself watching Sky Arts a lot more than the regular music channels these days, there are some brilliant classic live performances every night at 9pm! Always good to know that someone's here to give us a heads-up in case we miss them tho [/quote]

If you have Sky+ and set yourself up for remote record & register at MySky then you can use the electronic EPG online to search for music stuff. It's easy to use once you've got the hang of it & when you find something you like you just hit the record button & it send a message to your Sky+ box!

I use it all the time and that was, in fact, how I recorded this show

Only pain is that it only has one week's advance programme data.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='molan' post='360957' date='Dec 22 2008, 01:45 PM']I love the various slower/longer versions of this that are kicking around, always thought the original was too short!

Some of them go into the 'standard' version of the song after the slow part - this one is 7 mins long: [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YzpMBscDNbM"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YzpMBscDNbM[/url][/quote]

That's the version we do! I only ever knew the single/album version and thought the guitarists in the band were being creative and had made that slow first half up.

[WalMan]

Sadly I don't think we has Arts in our sub. I shall have to look tonight.

Great band and saw them a few times in Brighton and on the last ever tour in Portsmouth

One of the Brighton gigs we were in backstage after and somehow I was at the front the queue and missed my chance when someone said to me "OK you can let them in now"

Last gig at Portsmouth I stayed 'til the very last encore while my mates went to get the last train. Ended up sleeping in a train (it would have been the platform but a porter took pity on a few of us & let us onto a train witing to go in the morning) and catching the first one home in the morning.

Happy days

[The Admiral]

[quote name='molan' post='360957' date='Dec 22 2008, 01:45 PM']I love the various slower/longer versions of this that are kicking around, always thought the original was too short!

Some of them go into the 'standard' version of the song after the slow part - this one is 7 mins long: [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YzpMBscDNbM"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YzpMBscDNbM[/url][/quote]

And with Brian Downey on drums too!

A

[Paul S]

Talking about the overdubs etc on Live and Dangerous - I was listening to Scott thingy being interviewed fairly recently (Planet Rock one night?) and he said that 'Southbound' wasn't actually ever part of the live set - they recorded it 'as live' at the venue as a sound check and included it in the album. Didn't know that before, either.

[Johngh]

[quote name='molan' post='360098' date='Dec 21 2008, 10:49 AM']Well worth a look on Sky if you like the Lizzy or are even intrigued as to what they were like live. Sound isn't the best and looks a bit out of synch (but my Sky+ sometimes does that anyway!).

Also fun to see the opening few minutes with the truck arriving at the Rainbow & getting the gear set up. My favourite London large venue for many years. Saw loads of great gigs there. I go past it frequently and always feel that it seems such a waste to have it sitting there as a venue for a pretty obscure religious movement![/quote]

Lizzy were the absolute best, Lynott was one of the best showmen ever and always had the crowd eating out of his hand whenever I saw them. Lynott and Glenn Hughes were the two most influential peole that got me to take up bass way back when. Nothing wrong with UCKG though !

[The Admiral]

[quote name='Paul S' post='361032' date='Dec 22 2008, 02:48 PM']Talking about the overdubs etc on Live and Dangerous - I was listening to Scott thingy being interviewed fairly recently (Planet Rock one night?) and he said that 'Southbound' wasn't actually ever part of the live set - they recorded it 'as live' at the venue as a sound check and included it in the album. Didn't know that before, either.[/quote]

Interesting...... never heard that one before...

Having referred to it, I just looked up the bit on Lizzy in Visconti's book, and he took the L&D album as a months work between Bowie gigs.

He didn't record it - it was done at various shows throughout the US and Europe, by different recording set ups, and consequently he's really sniffy about the engineering on all the L&D tapes : recorded at different speeds - 15 ips and 30 ips, with different noise reduction systems and eq curves - US and European standards (which will probably make abundant sense to those with engineering knowledge) - BUT - mostly about he fact that there was so much guitar/drum spill on the vocal mic that they couldn't drop in any overdubbed vocals - to pick up the bum notes. The vocals on the whole album were therefore re-recorded 'as live' and replaced the originals, and both guitarists added an additional track to 'thicken up' their sounds. 55% original & 45% overdubs and fixes apparently.

The bass was replaced with Lynott playing through his stage gear, with the bass on his wireless system - so he could throw the 'shapes' whilst he played : must have been great to watch.

[Mickeyboro]

Remember seeing them early on circa ''Nightlife and feeling they would never gel.

Going back at the start of the Jailbreak tour and realising I was wrong.

Meeting them backstage at Southampton Uni and Phil trying to chat up my girlfriend.

Seeing them at the end of that tour @ the Hammy Odeon and realising they were no longer 'mine' but the world's.

Meeting them much later at John Henry's and realising that drugs were eating away at their collective soul.

Interviewing Snowy White years later and hearing how right I was!

So when I rewind I'm back at Southampton Uni trying to keep Phil's paws off my woman...