After touring many years under the moniker Thin Lizzy, the reactivated lineup opted to record new music under the new moniker Black Star Riders back in 2012. However, 2016 and 2017 will find Thin Lizzy back on the road celebrating the 40th anniversary of their landmark album Jailbreak, as well as honor the late frontman Phil Lynott (with this year marking the 30th anniversary of his death).
This touring version of Thin Lizzy will consist of vocalist Ricky Warwick, guitarists Scott Gorham and Damon Johnson, and Darren Wharton on keyboards. However, making this even more interesting is who’ll be on drums: Mikkey Dee, formerly of Motorhead. “It’s an honor to be asked to play with Thin Lizzy on these dates, being a lifelong fan I am so happy and excited to playing with the band on these shows,” declares Dee. “It’s going to be great!”
“With Black Star Riders taking some time off the road to work on their third album, I thought it would be really cool to do some Thin Lizzy shows as it’s an anniversary year, to have some fun and to re-live the good old days,” explains Gorham. “We will only do half a dozen or so dates to keep them special. For personal reasons Brian Downey won’t be with us but we have the incredible Mikkey Dee on the drum stool, which we are all very excited about. We will announce who is on bass shortly.”
So far, only two shows have been confirmed, specifically the UK’s Ramblin’ Man Fair on July 23 and the Rock Legends Cruise V next January. While Gorham states that Thin Lizzy won’t be playing that many shows, it wouldn’t be surprising to see this extend beyond 2017. At the very least, it’s nice to see Dee being able to move forward following the death of Lemmy Kilmister.
