overlap

I'm a little way behind, so I'm adding this stuff in bits as I get the
chance to do so. More will undoubtedly follow.

There's really nothing to put me on edge as being in possession of a
ticket on which the start time (not doors) is clearly indicated, while
being stuck in heavy traffic less than twenty minutes before the
stated time. When the first band on is one I especially want to see,
and would be disappointed to miss any of. Nevertheless, after a quick
sprint across town and anxious minutes queueing with my camera
secreted about my person, I'm inside with three minutes to spare.
Naturally start time turns out to be 15 minutes later, but you know…

I only really made the effort to smuggle the camera in in response to
the fact they are theoretically banned and I'm always up for a
challenge of that sort! Making it in before the masses in the pub
round the corner means I can get very close to the front, and so me
and the camera will turn out to be at a useably close range.

With four people between me and the barrier, there's a few changes to
the cabling and an effects pedal gets swapped over, then suddenly
there's a guitar tech stood in front of me holding a guitar, and the
lights go down.

Gorham, Sykes, Mendoza, Aldridge then – I don't feel comfortable
calling it Thin Lizzy for obvious reasons, but all the same it's a
mighty thrill to be stood no more than four metres away from Scott
Gorham as they rip into Jailbreak. A substantially rocky set follows,
and fantasy setlist games aside, who really wants to hear Suicide when
they could have any one of a number of better songs, but in any case
they've only got forty minutes to pack themselves into, and more to
the point, I've got Scott Gorham stood almost within touching
distance.

I've seen this act twice before, though both times with Michael Lee on
drums, and I don't think I've ever seen Tommy Aldridge play live
before, so in between photos I was watching Tommy quite a bit. For a
guy of 57 he thrashes his way around the kit with the energy of
someone a third his age, and is clearly having a ball doing so. In the
understandable absence of Still In Love With You, Waiting For An Alibi
and watching Aldridge drumming are probably the highlights for me,
that and being sufficiently close to watch the fingers that played so
many of my favourite guitar lines move around the frets. Bigger versions of these are on flickr - see link to the right.