Customer Reviews

Thin Lizzy - Are You Ready?: Live At Rockpalast

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As one of the early proponents of hard rock in the 70's, Thin Lizzy helped blaze the trail for the explosion of heavy metal in the 80's. Are You Ready? is a 19 song, 110 minute long performance, shot in Lorelei, Germany, for the German music program Rockpalast, in 1981. The band lineup is the same one that recorded Chinatown (1980). Phil Lynott on bass and vocals, Scott Gorham on guitar, Brian Downey on drums, and the band's newest members guitarist Snowy White, and Darren Wharton on keyboards.

The concert looks quite good for a performance this age, although the resolution is not the best. The editing is nicely done, and features a variety of camera angles with unobstructed views. When the stage is lighted red almost all detail is lost, and the image occasionally has some distorting horizontal lines, but otherwise the video is pretty watchable. Dolby digital stereo, Dolby digital 5.1 and DTS surround sound, are the available options. The sound quality is mostly good, except for some issues with the guitars. Lynott's vocals and bass, and Downey's drums, both sound great. However at various times the guitar of either Gorham or White, seems muffled or muted. This distraction is mostly tolerable, as Lizzy's twin guitar attack kind of conceals the issue, until someone is playing a solo.

The DVD apparently contains the complete performance, which features a nice mix of the band's catalog. Included is the brand new song Hollywood (Down On Your Luck), plus Chinatown, Sugar Blues, and Genocide from the Chinatown album. Songs from Fighting (1975) include Suicide, and Rosalie, and with Memory Pain, the band even delves into the blues. Lizzy draws most heavily from their classic albums Jailbreak, and Black Rose. The classic anthem, The Boys Are Back In Town, is what most people know the band for. A speeded up version of Cowboy Song, packs a bit more punch than the album version. Jailbreak is always a favorite number live. All about excess, Got To Give It Up, is perhaps the most prophetic song Phil Lynott ever penned. Emerald, and Black Rose, are a Lizzy specialty, an Irish folk legend given life in a rock song. Black Rose is a showcase for the harmony lead guitar playing of White and Gorham, and also features a drum solo by Downey. A mostly laid back Snowy White, who does a pretty good job of duplicating the licks of previous Thin Lizzy guitarists, seems so much more comfortable playing his own music, particularly on a smoking hot version of Sugar Blues, another song about drug abuse. What is pretty cool is that after performing a long set, Lizzy returned to a chilly stage for a final encore, to perform Emerald, and Angel of Death (called Desaster here), which like Hollywood, would later appear on the Renegade (1981) album.

While not with some visual and audio glitches, this is still a very well preserved performance from this period in the band's history. There some 80's metal bands that do not have concert footage of comparable quality. Phil and the band are in good form, and Wharton's keyboards add some texture, and helps to minimize the sound issues with the guitars. Reasonably priced, it would be a nice addition to the hard rock concert collection.

I've only owned this DVD for a little over a week and I thought it was quite nice to have some footage of Lizzy with Snowy White onstage with the lads. The sound quality on it is good with some discrepancies in regards to Scott's and Snowy's guitars in the mix. Nevertheless, it is the complete show and the only song I wish they hadn't performed is the lacklustre "Trouble Boys" which was, at the time, their latest single. Why on earth Phil chose to release this song(written by Billy Bremmer(Rockpile) is beyond me. But, all in all, this is a solid show and it explains the ups and downs of Snowy's role within the group. On songs like "Emerald", "Cowboy Song", and "Suicide" it really shows that Snowy's style compared to those who preceded him(Robbo and Gary Moore)lacks the bite and vigorous venom that is required with those songs. Don't get me wrong, Snowy's a talented player, for sure, but, overall, one can see why John Sykes was later recruited to allow Lizzy to go out with a bang in their final throes as a group. If you're a die-hard Lizzy fan, you'll want this alongside the Live and Dangerous DVD set and the Greatest Hits DVD. I hope that there will be more footage released later on, especially with some of Phil's later projects(Grand Slam)...Great set this one....

This concert was filmed in Loreley, Germany during 1981, for the German TV show Rockpalast (Rock Palace). It includes songs, that span Thin Lizzy's career. This is simply Thin Lizzy at their best. This was one of the best hard rocking bands, to come out of Ireland. Phil Lynott was a unique frontman. He cannot be imitated. He & the band ROCKS, in this concert!!! The concert has an approximate running time of 112 minutes.

The line-up is as follows:

The Late/Great, Phil Lynott - Bass, Lead Vocals
Brian Downey - Drums
Scott Gorham - Guitar
Snowy White - Guitar
Darren Wharton - Keyboards

The songs include:
1.Are You Ready?
2.Genocide
3.Waiting for an Alibi
4.Jailbreak
5.Trouble Boys
6.Don't Believe a Word
7.Memory Pain
8.Got to Give it Up
9.Chinatown
10.Hollywood
11.Cowboy Song
12.The Boy's Are Back In Town (Totally Awesome!!!!)
13.Suicide
14.Black Rose
15.Sugar Blues
16.Baby Drives me Crazy
17.Rosalie
18.Desaster
19.Emerald

If you like a good, hard-rocking concert, then you'll really enjoy this concert dvd!!!! I know I do!!! Thanks!!!!

Being one of the greatest live acts of the 70s/80s (and many, including myself, would argue all time), you can't go wrong with live Thin Lizzy. Okay, there are a few exceptions but overall you can count on a product of high quality and showmanship. I didn't really care for this concert upon initial viewing - Phil seemed too lethargic (although he does liven up about halfway in the set but we don't need to get into why...) and some of the songs didn't have the punch that they did in earlier recordings ("Emerald" on this recording is very underwhelming). But I gave it another chance and was very glad I did. The material from the latter part of their career always did sound better live then in studio - "Genocide" and "Hollywood" are evidence of this. And the keyboards would also become much more cloying and louder with the Thunder & Lightning tour. This isn't Phil & Co. at their finest hour but they are still very good here. "Black Rose" is always a pleasure, even if they didn't play the whole song - I don't think anyone but Gary Moore is capable of doing that though. It's also fun watching Phil's interaction with the crowd during "Baby Drives Me Crazy" - in which the crowd surprisingly hangs with his vocal intonations.

Thin Lizzy live at Rockpalast was
recorded on the Chinatown Tour &
other than the sound quality this
shows what a great band they were
& what great songs they had. This
version gets slagged because of
Snowy White but I saw then in
New Orleans @ now long gone
famous Warehouse & they blew
the roof off! I think Chinatown
and Renegade were awesome albums
& got put down. I thought much
better than Thunder & Lightning.
The picture has a few flubs but
it's worth buying. I had many
versions before this came out
& it's good for the time shot.
If you like it look for bootleg
of Old Diminion Show Or Killers
on Loose DVD from collectors. I
think those are much better in
sound quality & have different
version songs. This is a must!

How can this be less than 5 stars? Sure Snowy White is taking the place of iconic Brian Robertson (although Snowy is better its still not the original magical lineup) but goodness...this is clearly the closest to a full set we have available. The other great Thin Lizzy DVD set Live & Dangerous is a great purchase.... but what we have on that is two rather truncated sets ...one of about an hour with the original lineup and another short set with John Sykes in the guitar spotlight ...so this is the only true representation of a full Lizzy show...and its a very very good one!

I just can't see rating this any less than five stars particularly given the cheap price. Sure a perfectionist could find flaws at time with production or playing but its really pretty darned good. I've watched this DVD at least 20 times...so that says something ...I've got a huge collection but this one just calls to me...

I love Thin Lizzy and I think that for what is out there to be had this is the best. Great line up of songs and Phil is at his best and the rest of the band is great. Sometimes the picture and sound could be better but its still great. This show is of the band not so much of the fans. Thats great to me because I just watched Stones at the park and I wanted to puke. Too many skinny hippies and not the Stones. I have seen many dvds just trashed because of that reason. We want to see the band not the fans! GET IT!

A definite must own for any real Thin Lizzy fan. I love it, and Phil Lynott is a beast! One of the greatest if not the greatest live band of all time.

C'mon people stop being nostalgic for Phil. Snowy White & Scott Gorham are playing really badly on this DVD. Lizzy could always be hit or miss live, this is miss. GREAT song selections that are fun to watch, but I wince way too many times watching Snowy and Scott hitting bad notes.

The sound quality is spotty on this DVD. The guitars are barely audible for the first few songs, but for some reason get louder later in the show.
I must say this is one of the better Phil Lynott performances I've seen on video. He has a good time. Brian Downey is simply awesome on drums.
Snowy White is not one of the better guitarists that Lizzy had, and it's pretty evident on this DVD. The guy looked bored a lot of the time.

All in all, this is not half bad for the year it was recorded (1981). Don't expect superior sound or video. Just dig on the rare lineup for Lizzy and the rarely performed songs.