Review & photos by Chad Alexander
May 9th 2014, Marquee Theatre, Tempe AZ: Last Friday saw the return of 80s hard rock favorites Skid Row and Black Star Riders (formerly Thin Lizzy) to the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, AZ. Originally called Red River Opry when it opened in 1993 which catered to country acts, it’s since been converted, removing 1500 seats to allow more room for headbanging. Following their ‘United World Rebellion – Chapter One’ EP in 2013, their first release of original material in more than 7 years, Skid Row are ready to release Chapter 2 of this series of EPs on August 5 via Megaforce Records, and have embarked on a West Coast touring run with Black Star Riders to present their new material, along with the classics all of their fans always want to hear.
The opening band Black Star Riders, who were touring as Thin Lizzy until the decision was made to change the name once they were ready to record a new album, that it didn’t fee right to record under that name that was so well associated with the late Phil Lynott. BSR had a really strong set playing a mix of tunes off of their debut album ‘All Hell Breaks Loose’ and of course, Thin Lizzy classics. A strong frontman on his own, Ricky Warwick belted out the BSR originals and Lizzy classics with every ounce of energy he had. The guitar duo of Scott Gorham and Damon Johnson (formerly of Alice Cooper) are a great team that play well off each other with a great dynamic. Handling the back-end are bassist Marco Mendoza (formerly of Blue Murder, John Sykes, Ted Nugent, Whitesnake) and on drums Jimmy DeGrasso who is of strong pedigree and has played with many bands and artists in hard rock. The highlights were the title track ‘All Hell Breaks Loose’, Hoodoo Voodoo, Jailbreak, Rosalie, Whisky In The Jar and Bound for Glory and the song no BSR/Thin Lizzy show could end without, ‘The Boys are back in Town’. All in all, this BSR set was a great warm up for Skid Row.
[Interview with Ricky Warwick coming soon]
Black Star Riders links:
BlackStarRiders.com
facebook.com/BlackStarRidersOfficial
twitter.com/BlackStarRiders
instagram.com/BlackStarRiders
Set List:
01. All Hell Breaks Loose
02. Are you Ready
03. Bloodshot
04. Bad Reputation
05. Hoodoo Voodoo
06. Jailbreak
07. Kingdom of the lost
08. Rosalie
09. Hey Judas
10. Massacre
11. Emerald
12. Whisky in the Jar
13. Bound for Glory
14. Cowboy Song
15. The Boys are Back in Town
Although their career has spanned some 25 years, Skid Row don’t look like it. Based on this performance it’s clear that they still have the energy and determination when playing live as much as in the 80s. The core of Skid Row is still the great guitar duo Dave “Snake” Sabo & Scotti Hill along with bassist Rachel Bolan. The singing duties have been held down for the last 15 years by Johnny Solinger, and rounding out the quintet behind the kit since 2010 has been Rob Hammersmith.
Skid Row opened up the show with good energy, as Johnny Solinger got the crowd going, delivering a strong vocal performance. Staying mostly to the first two albums, the big responses came to ‘Big Guns’, ‘I Remember You’ and ‘Slave To The Grind’, but there were still a couple of surprises, a little over halfway in the set Rachel Bolan took the microphone for the Ramones classic “Psycho Therapy”, and he ssng it with that classic F-You Ramones attitude. “Thick is the Skin” off 2003’s album Thickskin was a pleasant surprise as well, and the first encore item, Cheap Trick’s “Surrender”, was a damn strong cover. The band sounded incredible with Snake & Scotti trading off solos at one point, Scotti playing on Snake’s fretboard with Snake doing the picking. The wild fans ranged from teens to 40+, and reciprocated the band’s energy back to the stage. Snake took time to thank all attendees for coming out to the show. Other enjoyable songs were ‘In A Darkened Room’, ‘Piece Of Me’, ‘Makin A Mess’ and ‘Kings of Domination’, the other song from UWR. They closed out the night with ‘Youth Gone Wild’, as expected. All in all, a great night for hard rock. You definitely don’t want to miss this package if and when it hits your town.
Related: In-depth Interview With Skid Row Vocalist Johnny Solinger
Check out more Skid Row & Black Star Riders photos from the show below, or view them here if you’re on a non-Flash device:
(1-8 Black Star Riders, 9-14 Skid Row)
Skid Row links:
SkidRow.com
facebook.com/OfficialSkidRow
twitter.com/OfficialSkidRow
instagram.com/OfficialSkidRow
Set List:
01. Let’s Go
02. Big Guns
03. Makin’ A Mess
04. Piece Of Me
05. 18 & Life
06. Thick Is The Skin
07. In A Darkened Room
08. Kings of Demolition
09. Psycho Therapy (Ramones cover)
10. I Remember You
11. Riot Act
12. Monkey Business
13. Surrender (Cheap Trick cover)
14. Slave To The Grind
15. Youth Gone Wild
Skid Row remaining US tour dates:
05/12 – Sacramento CA – Harlow’s *
05/13 – San Francisco CA – DNA Lounge *
05/15 – Agoura Hills CA – Canyon Club *
05/16 – San Juan Capistrano CA – Coach House *
05/17 – Los Angeles CA – Whisky-A-Go-Go
05/18 – Hermosa Beach CA – Saint Rocke
05/20 – Houston TX – Scout Bar
05/21 – Abilene TX – Lucky Mule
05/23 – Pryor OK – Rocklahoma
05/24 – Dallas TX – Trees
05/25 – Lubbock TX – Big Purple Fest
07/09 – Rochester NY – Montage Music Hall
07/10 – Cleveland OH – Agora
07/11 – Newport KY – Thompson House
07/12 – Arlington Heights IL – Home Bar
07/13 – Watseka IL – Watseka Theater
07/17 – Peoria IL – Illinois State Fair
07/18 – Turtle Lake WI – St. Croix Casino
07/19 – Oshkosh WI – Rock USA
07/20 – Battle Creek MI – Planet Rock
07/25 – Duncannon PA – Tubby’s
* = w/ Black Star Riders
Marquee Theatre links:
facebook.com/MarqueeAZ
LuckyManOnline.com