Ride A Black Swan! 22/12/15

"At this time of year when 'Fairytale Of New York' is churned out once again - the Ugly Ducking fairytale in reverse springs to mind given Black Star Riders reinvented themselves from Thin Lizzy. This point is hammered home as Lizzy legend Scott Gorham makes his way on to the Wembley stage just before 7 to a half empty arena. With a restricted forty minute set, literally 'All Hell Breaks Loose' as BSR hit the ground running with the classy title track from their very first album - with Gorham's guitar already in overdrive. Ricky Warwick then asks "Are You Ready?" and of course the arena starts to rock as those unique Lizzy guitar harmonies ring around the auditorium. It's then back to the title track of their second album 'The Killer Instinct' which again has those distinct Lizzy chords with guitarist Damon Johnson showing that he's just not there to make up the numbers. We then see-saw back to 'Jailbreak' - Warwick's vocals as usual are spot-on for my all-time favourite Lizzy track. Brilliant. 'Bound For Glory' was followed by the opening Celtic drum intro from the excellent Jimmy DeGrasso on 'Kingdom Of The Lost' also from 'AHBL' - a latter day 'Black Rose'. However the stand-out BSR track of the night was 'Finest Hour' from 'TKI' - not forgetting new recruit Robert Crane on bass (who replaced Marco Mendoza) completing a formidable BSR unit. The guys finished with 'Whisky In The Jar' and to be pefectly honest we could have quite easily gone home happy after that opener. Black Star Riders might still have a bit of an identity problem but who cares when they produce music of this quality." AJ.

Have a look at today's Vid Of The Day plus our photo gallery here.