thin lizzy tour dates 1980

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It was the LP featuring the U.K. Top 10 hit ‘Killer On The Loose,’ and the first with guitarist Snowy White.

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By the turn of the 1980s, Thin Lizzy ‘s bad reputation wasn’t just the one they sang about on the title song from an earlier hit album. But if the band were becoming more and more noted for their wild rock’n’roll lifestyle, it didn’t stop them from continuing to delight their fans with a brand of rock that, to quote another of their album titles, was always live and dangerous.

Lizzy were coming off two consecutive No.2 albums in the U.K. when, on October 18, 1980, their tenth studio LP Chinatown made its chart debut. After Gary Moore ’s return to the fold for the previous year’s Black Rose: A Rock Legend , the band’s latest work marked the arrival as an official member of guitarist Snowy White. He was already something of a pop-rock veteran with a resumé broad enough to include work with both Cliff Richard and Pink Floyd .

The set was recorded at Tony Visconti’s studio Good Earth, but this time with Lizzy themselves co-producing with Visconti’s engineer Kit Woolven. While some critics found Chinatown something of a disappointment by comparison to the peaks achieved by the band in the second half of the 1970s, the album nevertheless contained some notable material. “Killer On The Loose” was a notable example, as was a title track credited not just to Phil Lynott, but the entire band, of White, Scott Gorham, and Brian Downey.

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“Killer On The Loose” had peaked on the U.K. singles chart at No.10 the week before Chinatown made its first appearance on the album countdown at No.7. It was the week’s highest new entry, as the Police spent a second week at the top with Zenyatta Mondatta . That turned out to be the peak position for the Lizzy set, and the record managed only a seven-week run compared to 21 for Black Rose and a mighty 63 for Live and Dangerous .

In a 1979 interview with Melody Maker, Lynott touched on Moore’s return and the difference it was already making. “We’re gonna move away from that era with Brian [Robertson] and into another one with Gary, dependin’ on how long we stay together,” he said. “The pressure broke up the band before. It could easily break this one. I don’t think that we’re one of these bands that are gonna last for ever and ever. We could break up at any time…but don’t be writing our epitaphs yet because, as far as I’m concerned, we’re just starting now.”

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• Discography

Thin Lizzy: A Rock'n'Roll History

“The thing that we can now definitely say is that there will always be a Thin Lizzy.”

Use the eras below to expand the story of Thin Lizzy.

One of the defining rock groups of the 20th Century, Thin Lizzy began life in Dublin in 1969 when childhood friends Phil Lynott and Brian Downey were approached by two former members of Van Morrison’s band ‘Them’, Eric Wrixon (keyboards) and Eric Bell (guitar).

Prior to this Lynott and Downey had been playing together as ‘Orphanage’, along with Pat Quigley on bass and Joe Staunton on guitar. The newly formed Thin Lizzy saw Brian Downey on drums and Lynott playing bass and vocals.

Their first release, on Parlophone, came in July 1970. It was an original composition of Lynott’s called ‘The Farmer’. Out of 500 copies pressed, 283 sold. An inauspicious start maybe, but the band were destined for great things.

Soon after, Wrixon left the band and the remaining three members continued to play live most nights of the week. Peter Eustace, the group’s roadie recalled: “Thin Lizzy was very much Eric’s band at the beginning, and Phil barely got a look-in. My earliest memory of Thin Lizzy live was that it was just Eric going through his Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix routines.”

Signing to Decca Records, their first album ‘Thin Lizzy’ was released in 1971. Speaking of the group’s recording sessions, Bell said: ‘We were totally bombed for the duration of that record.’ In spite of this, ‘Thin Lizzy’ and their next album ‘Shades Of A Blue Orphanage’ were described as intriguing, quirky LPs that tended to defy easy categorisation. Although neither album charted, their early fan based was helped along by DJ Kid Jensen who would feature them on his radio Luxembourg show, and they began to build a strong underground following.

During 1972 they toured Europe, but it was only really back in Ireland that their tours provided the funds to keep the band going. Despite this, they knew that if they wanted to break into the wider market they had to persevere with playing in England.

Later that year, Slade went on tour and Thin Lizzy were booked as their support. Decca released a record to coincide with this tour, and chose Lizzy’s unique rock version of a traditional Irish folk song: ‘Whiskey In The Jar’. Although the song stayed in the top of the Irish charts for 17 weeks and reached number 6 in England, the band were annoyed at being lumbered with a ‘folksy’ label that they were determined to shake off.

Work began on their third album ‘Vagabonds Of The Western World’ and was released in the autumn of 1973. Combining the traditions of Pop Art on the cover and a yarn about the ‘Legend of the Vagabond’ along with a shamrock design on the back, this album demonstrated the growing progression of Phil’s vision for the group: mystical Celtic meets hard hitting rock.

Downey said: ‘The quality of Phil’s song writing and the aggression in our playing made it a good album. I think ‘The Rocker’ just about sums up what Thin Lizzy was all about at that time.’

During this period Phil began to take up the creative reins of the band and Eric Bell left the group in 1974. He was replaced by Gary Moore for a few months as they continued with an Irish and then an English tour. A series of dates in Germany followed this, with guitarists Andy Gee and John Cann.

Despite the live work, chart success continued to elude the band and Lynott and Downey were on the verge of calling it a day. Instead they signed up two new guitarists – Brian ‘Robbo’ Robertson from Glasgow and Californian Scott Gorham, and a new era dawned for Thin Lizzy.The deal with Decca had run its course and the newly formed line-up then signed with Phonogram. Their fourth album ‘Night Life’ was released in November 1974 and they continued to grind away on the road, honing their act and becoming a tighter and more accomplished group.

The next album ‘Fighting’ in 1975 saw Lizzy’s style develop further with the harmonised guitar-lines of Gorham and Robertson backed up with power-chord rhythm work. As Scott recalls: ‘Wishbone Ash had done the twin guitar thing before us, but we took the idea and put it into a hard rock context, with more aggression.’

Their hard work was rewarded with the breakthrough album ‘Jailbreak’ in 1976 and the single ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’. Both were massive international hits with the single hitting number 8 in the UK charts. Reaching the top 20 in the US, the album sales exceeded 100,000 copies – far and away their best success to date. Riding this wave, their next album ‘Johnny The Fox’ released in October 1976 went gold confirming their status, and the single ‘Don’t Believe A Word’ reached number 12 in the UK charts.

Following a sell-out British tour at the end of 1976, the band were all set for an American tour when Brian Robertson was injured and they were forced to cancel.

Instead they went to America as the supporting band for Queen, and drafted in Gary Moore as a replacement for Robertson. Once the tour had ended, Robertson confirmed he would not be returning to the group and the three-piece of Phil, Brian Downey and Scott went on to record the 1977 album ‘Bad Reputation’. In the end Robertson did return to re-join Lizzy during the album recording and stayed with the group doing session work and guest appearances until August 1978 when he finally left to form ‘Wild Horses’.

‘Bad Reputation’ was released in September of 1977 and stormed to number 4 in the UK charts. Coming as it did on the back of ‘Jailbreak’ and ‘Johnny The Fox’, this cemented the band’s position as one of the most successful rock bands of the time.

Thin Lizzy embarked on a US tour in the autumn of 1977 and the following year they began mixing work on a double album ‘Live and Dangerous’. They strived to recreate the energy and excitement of their stage performances in the studio and the album was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The track ‘Still In Love With You’ is considered by many to be a highlight of Phil’s career.

Later in 1978 they took off for another US tour, this time with Gary Moore replacing Robertson once again. Also absent was Brian Downey. “I was totally exhausted”, he said. “I just couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to see another stage again, and I certainly didn’t want to go on to Australia, as had been proposed.” The band booked drummer Mark Nauseef, who had been playing with the Ian Gillan Band, as Brian’s replacement for the tour.

At the end of the 1978 tour, Phil, Scott, Gary and a now rested Brian Downey came together in London and Paris to work on the next LP, ‘Black Rose – A Rock Legend’. Released in 1979, the central piece of the work was the title track, in Gaelic ‘Roisin Dubh’.

Back on the road in the US, frictions within the band grew and resulted in Gary Moore being replaced by Midge Ure halfway through the tour. Guitarist Dave Flett, ex-Manfred Mann’s ‘Earth Band’, was also bought on board for the dates in Japan, which enabled Midge to switch to keyboards for some songs and saw the phenomenon of three lead guitars at the front of the stage.

Following the tours, Darren Wharton was recruited as a full-time keyboard player enabling Midge to honour his previous commitment to join a new group, Ultravox.

Dave Flett was replaced by Terence Charles ‘Snowy’ White in 1980 who also debuted on that years ‘Chinatown’ album, but ultimately gave way to John Sykes who brought with him the younger energy needed for a Thin Lizzy guitarist.

1980 also saw the release of Phil’s first solo album ‘Solo In Soho’. The track ‘Yellow Pearl’ was subsequently chosen as the theme tune for BBC’s Top Of The Pops. Although billed as a solo album, it included Brian, Scott and Snowy White as well as Midge Ure, Mark Knopfler and Huey Lewis among others.

‘The Adventures Of Thin Lizzy’ was released in 1981 and went gold in the UK. This was followed by the new album ‘Renegade’, together with a tour. Thin Lizzy also headlined the very first Slane festival in Ireland supported by U2, Hazel O’Connor and Rose Tattoo.

Disappointing sales of both ‘Renegade’ and Phil’s second solo album precipitated a farewell tour to coincide with the release of ‘Thunder And Lighting’. Both the new album and the live dates in fact proved extremely popular and caused a resurgence of interest in the group. With John Sykes now on board the tour lasted nearly a year and culminated in a gala performance at the Hammersmith Odeon featuring special guests Brian Robertson, Eric Bell and Gary Moore joining Phil and the band. The 1983 double live album ‘Life’ included this gem from the tour but suffered from a delayed release.

Thin Lizzy’s final UK show was on 28th August 1983 at the Reading Festival. Their farewell concert came on 4th September that year at the Monsters Of Rock Festival in Nuremburg, Germany.

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Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969 and currently consists of Brian Downey, Scott Gorham, Darren Wharton, Marco Mendoza, Ricky Warwick and Damon Johnson.

Thin Lizzy are one of Ireland's most successful hard rock bands of all time. They enjoyed success on both side's of the Atlantic during their prime with albums such as 'Bad Reputation' and 'Chinatown'. They also have a huge selection of international hit singles, 'Whiskey In A Jar' remains their UK peak at #6, it was a number one in Native Ireland. Their most successful US single is 'The Boys Are Back In Town' which peaked at #12 upon its release in 1976, it was another number one in Ireland. The band were consistently successful on the UK album chart between their first release in 1971 and the final twelve years later. The band disbanded in 1983 due to poor commercial success and difficult touring commitments. Their final show was at Reading Festival in August 1983.

Original founding member Phil Lynott passed away in 1986. It wasn't until 1996 when John Sykes decided to revive Thin Lizzy as a tribute to Phil Lynott's life and work and took over the role of lead vocalist. The band continued to tour and appear at festivals yet they did not record any original material, instead compiling their discography into numerous repackages such as 'Dedication: The Very Best of Thin Lizzy' which entered the top 10 of the UK charts in 1991 and 'Greatest Hits' which peaked at #3 in 2004.

The band has left a legacy to the rock and metal industry, with modern contemporaries such as Metallica, Alice in Chains and Mastodon all naming Thin Lizzy as influencers on their sound.

Live reviews

Thin Lizzy’s live show is characterized by their blue-collar, everyman image and their straightforward, energetic songs. Singer, songwriter, and bassist Phil Lynott was known for synthesizing diverse elements such as Irish folk ballads, hard rock, and soul into some surprisingly nuanced and thoughtful lyrics that allowed the band to stand out from some of their less-talented bands contemporaries.

Lynott is no longer alive, but ex-members continue to tour under the Thin Lizzy name, and many of the songs he wrote continue to stand the test of time. The crowd always goes wild for the band’s popular hard rock standards like Whiskey in the Jar and The Boys are Back in Town, but the band also plays some of their more obscure b-sides from their lesser-known earlier albums that only die-hard fans might know.

The band’s live show uses a fair amount of pyrotechnics and other stage elements to hype up the crowd without resorting to some of the more pretentious stage work that progressive bands of the era sometimes used.

After seeing Thin Lizzy, one would feel energized, rowdy, and in high spirits. Thin Lizzy has a reputation as an powerful live band, as shown by their large amount of live albums, and seeing them would elicit a smile and a fist-pump from just about anyone.

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