I caught the tail-end of a BBC 4 documentary last night, looking at Thin Lizzy. You can catch it for a limited time on iPlayer.
I must admit that I didn’t realise what a complete and utter mess they got themselves into through drugs.
I went to see the current line-up a few weeks ago at Leeds, and although the music was great, the crowd was a little boisterous. I didn’t mention it in my original post, but I nearly (only nearly, I stress) got into a fight with some leather-clad jackass who decided to come in 2 minutes before Lizzy came on, barge his way to the front, and try to stand directly in front of me (I shoved him out of the way). But one of the other dickheads in his entourage was smoking pot – and I mean huge spliffs – all through the gig. I hate the smell of the stuff. The Leeds O2 Academy staff doesn’t give a toss about people smoking whatever they want in there – when I saw Gary Moore there not long back you could smell cigarettes all the time, and it wasn’t from outside.
But back to the crowd… bearing in mind I’ve been to all sorts of gigs over the last few years (including Bullet For My Valentine, recently, where I narrowly avoided getting slung in the middle of the mosh pit), this was a complete throwback to the bad old days. It was such a dramatic change for a band which is essentially living out its final days by basking in its past glories (nothing wrong with that at all, I hasten to add), that it’s had me wondering for a few weeks.
But now I understand.
I suspect that much of Lizzy’s reputation is built solely upon their drug-ridden past, and Phil Lynott’s untimely (though, after seeing the documentary, not as unexpected as you’d have thought) demise prevented any further reputation building. I suspect quite a large portion of those present were attracted to what reputation had been built up to and including Lynott’s death.
Phil Lynott was a nice bloke, but he just destroyed himself. The others were lucky. He wasn’t.