The second concert I ever went to was Thin Lizzy at the Hammersmith Odeon in what I guess must have been late 1978 because their current album was “Live & Dangerous” (which is the one I would tell anyone to buy if they only wanted one Thin Lizzy album) and Gary Moore was occupying the lead guitarist slot. It remains the only “hard rock” gig I’ve ever been too and I remember being startled at how loud it was – it made my jaw hurt – but the mate I went with had seen Motorhead and Ted Nugent at the same venue and thought it was nothing (“you think this is loud? Ha!”) By that time I was well aware that heavy metal was about as duff and retrograde as you could get in the late 70s (and the terrible clothes!) and was faintly amused to find myself getting caught up in the atmosphere, excitedly pumping my fist in the air and vigorously nodding my head along with all the other greasy long-hairs in the audience. Even today, when I play heavier Thin Lizzy tracks like “The Rocker” I can’t stop myself from playing a little air guitar with my fingers while nodding my head and pulling the eyes-closed, white-man-overbite expression. Oh, the shame.

But trendy or not, Lizzy were yards better than your average hard rock outfit with a lead singer who oozed charisma and Irish charm and wrote romantic, lyrical songs about vagabonds, cowboys and bikers heavily influenced by Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen. It’s usually cringe-inducing when hard rockers get all soppy and sing ballads, wailing over crashing power chords about how their sweet lovin’ woman left them, but “Still In Love With You” is a beauty in any genre, especially in this live version. A sad torch song as deep as the deepest Southern Soul ballad which Phil Lynott sings delicately without a hint of hard rock chest-thumping. The blazing twin guitar solos by Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham are pretty wonderful too and I usually hate guitar solos.

Though this was credited to Lynott apparently the song was mostly written by Gary Moore when he had a short spell with the group in the early 70s. Nice one Gary, though at the gig I had a feeling Phil didn’t appreciate you trying to hog the spotlight by showing off with the solos a bit too much.

Download: Still In Love With You – Thin Lizzy (mp3)
Buy: “Live and Dangerous” (album)