Thin Lizzy - Are You Ready? - Live @ Rockpalast 1981.

Thin Lizzy - Are You Ready? - Live @ Rockpalast 1981.

OK, so most people that know me, know I have a soft spot for anything Lizzy related.

Thing is, I did see them with Phil Lynott around 10 times live & it was always an event that lives fondly with me, each time.
Tragic that today, they still don't get the recognition that they really deserved.

So then to this DVD, well here's the thing ..., yeah I like it I really do, but it features, perhaps in the eyes of most die hard Lizzy fans, their least favorite lead player, in Snowy White.
Snowy was never really the get in your face player that say Robbo was or Sykes or even Moore when he was onboard.

Thing is, you can't take away the guys' involvement in what many people who weren't previously fans, actually found appealing enough to investigate further, but then he also joined at the same time as Darren Wharton became involved.
Anyway, you want to know about the DVD. Bad news first for Lizzy fans, there's no bonus material here, although it still runs at just a little under a 2 hour set from the band, still seriously showing their resilience.

This line up features the long standing trio of Phil Lynott (RIP) Bass / Lead Vocals and plenty of charisma (!), trusty sidekick and phenomenal drummer Brian Downey and MR. US of A Scott Gorham who joined in 1974 after original guitarist Eric Bell departed.

There are 7 songs from the Snowy White era of the band included here in the 19 played, the rest are old fave's of course.

Opening with Are You Ready to flashbombs as Lizzy always did, whether with Jailbreak or something else they wanted you to know, the boys were back!
Genocide from Chinatown follows before 2 killers in Waiting For An Alibi & Jailbreak, great stuff!

OK, Trouble Boys is here next & I remember buying the single (45), when this first came out before Renegade & I hadn't heard it and I have to say, at the time I was stunned, shocked! Lizzy plays Quo? Well, a 12 bar type pop / rocker was strange choice and I believe it was actually a Rockpile song. It was written by Billy Bremner. Maybe this was Phil's way of a tribute to his hero Elvis. Suffice to say, the crowd is a little quiet here, in fact in a lot of this the crowd was pretty tame.

Don't Believe A Word get's things back on the right path before the guys play the b-side of the Trouble Boys single, Memory Pain, which is a slow moody piece. Hmmm, they should've had Still In Love With You right here at this point, better choice for sure but ...

Phil talks about a subject he knew all too well before next track Got To Give It Up, which so many of us wish he had taken his own advice on.

Chinatown & new song at the time Hollywood follow, before the double barrelled barrage of Cowboy Song / Boys Are Back In Town really catches the band in their stride.
Suicide is served up next, great classic Lizzy before Black Rose tells us the legends of long ago with sheer class, Scott Gorham taking most of the lead work.
Sugar Blues was a great track off Chinatown & presents itself here next, followed closely by crowd singalong Baby Drives Me Crazy.

Three great songs finish the set in Rosalie, a track listed as Desaster, which in fact is Angel Of Death to appear on Renegade and set closer, Emerald.

Bottom Line:

This is a rare piece of Lizzy live footage, as it's Snowy White alongside Scott Gorham, so in that fact alone it's pretty special.
The lighting and sound of the performance isn't the best, there is clearly some tape trouble in places, as it's grainy here and there, but even with Phil's great performance, he was clearly sick at the time.

Still worth getting? Heck yeah, it is, but then I am a Lizzy fan!

Rating: 4/5 for me, even with the quality flaws, it’s a great piece of history.