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Loving Gentle Giant is the ultimate sign of a progressive rock insider – there may not be many fans out there in comparison to other groups of their era, but by heavens, how they are loved.
They were always one of those bands that people would earnestly lean in and state that the LPs were good, but live was where it was at. This buffed-up and slightly renamed reissue of 1977’s Playing The Fool – The Official Live proves it.
After their one-time US support artist Peter Frampton helped popularise the double live album with 1976’s Frampton Comes Alive!, Gentle Giant decided that their tour to support the same year’s Interview album should be captured for posterity.
Gentle Giant – Free Hand (2025 Dan Bornemark Mix) | Playing the Fool: The Complete Live Experience – YouTube
Recorded across four shows in Europe and mixed at Jethro Tull’s Maison Rouge studios, Playing The Fool – The Official Live, was, in its original 1977 incarnation, one of the most vibrant and exciting live albums of its day.
Dan Bornemark has opened up all the performances to create an incredibly warm, immersive experience
They were able to deliver the deep, winding and intricate passages of their music while also cruising into hyperdrive hard rock without breaking a sweat. They played prog like their earlier incarnation Simon Dupree And The Big Sound played R&B; it was still fundamentally a soul revue with Derek Shulman as the genial MC, everything delivered with forceful conviction.
Technical and muscular, yet always serving the song, drummer John ‘Pugwash’ Weathers also never forgot his time in mod band Eyes Of Blue, bringing the swing that set Gentle Giant apart from their peers.
**OUT NOW** Gentle Giant – Playing the Fool: The Complete Live Experience! – YouTube
This souped-up, enhanced, Atmos-ready, expanded version raises the bar. Dan Bornemark has reinstated the full running order of the shows, added the crowd and Shulman’s introductions back in (“Guten tag Düsseldorf, bonsoir wherever you are!” plus the classic, “This album was called In A Glass [Audience Member: ‘Wahhhhhhh!’] … House!”) and opened up all the performances to create an incredibly warm, immersive experience.
One highlight is the stunning seven-minute Ray Shulman violin solo at the end of Timing, cut from the original album, which is a fitting tribute to the multi-instrumentalist who died in 2023.
Hopefully hearing this, the other great prog group beginning with ‘G’, just ahead of them in the racks, will be inspired do the same thing with their double live Seconds Out from the same year, and add back in the other songs, the crowd and Phil Collins’ banter.
The reissued Playing The Fool is quite exceptional. It’s on sale now via Chrysalis.
Daryl Easlea has contributed to Prog since its first edition, and has written cover features on Pink Floyd, Genesis, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and Gentle Giant. After 20 years in music retail, when Daryl worked full-time at Record Collector, his broad tastes and knowledge led to him being deemed a ‘generalist.’ DJ, compere, and consultant to record companies, his books explore prog, populist African-American music and pop eccentrics. Currently writing Whatever Happened To Slade?, Daryl broadcasts Easlea Like A Sunday Morning on Ship Full Of Bombs, can be seen on Channel 5 talking about pop and hosts the M Means Music podcast.
In April 1988, Angus Young was asked how it felt to be fashionable again. “Disgusting!” he replied, laughing.
The joke was typical of a man who has never given two hoots about what tastemakers have to say. But the question was entirely valid at a time when AC/DC were finally pulling out of their mid-80s slump.
Angus was talking to Sounds journalist Mary Anne Hobbs during the video shoot for the band’s single That’s The Way I Wanna Rock ’N’ Roll. Their previous release, the blistering, full-throttle rock’n’roll song Heatseeker, had recently reached No.12 on the UK chart – the biggest hit single of their entire career. Parent album Blow UpYour Video had hit number two. But the chart positions, while impressive, were only a part of the story.
What made AC/DC fashionable in 1988, and relevant to a younger rock audience, was the kudos they received from some of the rising stars of the era. “Suddenly AC/DC are in vogue and as a ripe as Zeppelin for plagiarism,” Hobbs wrote. “The renegades of the metalloid resurgence are quick to cite AC/DC’s influence, and regurgitate their riffs whole.”
Guns N’ Roses named AC/DC as a key inspiration alongside Aerosmith and the Sex Pistols, and performed Whole Lotta Rosie during their first UK gigs at London’s Marquee club in June 1987. The Cult, guided by future AC/DC producer Rick Rubin, made the transformation from goth heroes to a balls-out hard rock band with their 1987 album Electric, on which the opening track Wild Flower recycled the riff from AC/DC’s Rock ’N’ Roll Singer. And Metallica drummer Metallica’s Lars Ulrich proudly wore a Back In Black tour jacket given to him by his band’s co-manager Peter Mensch, who had previously worked with AC/DC.
Angus being Angus, he wasn’t going to make a song and dance about the band’s resurgence. “We’ve never been the critics’ love,” he said. “The audience were always the critics to me. If a kid came up to me and said, ‘I didn’t like your show’, that would break my heart. But if you make a record and your audience likes it, they buy it.”
AC/DC in 1988: (l-r) Brian Johnson, Simon Wright. Cliff Williams, Malcolm Young, Angus Young (Image credit: Bob King/Redferns)
Angus had been around long enough to know how the music business worked, how fashions come and go, how bands rise and fall. He said he hadn’t heard Guns N’ Roses or Metallica. He was still listening to the same stuff he’d always loved – Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Muddy Waters. He reiterated the simple philosophy that had served AC/DC since their inception. “Rock music is what we do best, nice and loud and tough.” But in the making of Blow Up Your Video, the band had made one significant change – and it would prove pivotal to the greater success that followed at the turn of the 90s.
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AC/DC’s 1983 album Flick Of The Switch had been produced by the band. 1985 follow-up Fly On The Wall by Angus and Malcolm Young. Neither album had been anywhere near as good or as popular as those they had made with the brilliant producer ‘Mutt’ Lange: Highway To Hell, Back In Black and For Those About To Rock.
AC/DC wised up with Blow Up Your Video. It marked the return of the production team that had worked on every AC/DC album from 1975 to 1978: Harry Vanda and George Young, the latter the elder brother of Malcolm and Angus. In this was a tacit admission. When AC/DC were making records, they needed an extra pair of ears – or in this case, two.
In 1988, Malcolm Young gave a rare interview for Japanese TV in which he noted the success of Blow Up Your Video in the same nonchalant manner as Angus. “There’s still people out there that like us,” he smiled.
Malcolm explained that the album’s title was a wry comment on a generation of rock fans glued to MTV. “The idea was to get the kids out of their homes and down to the show. Don’t watch TV – come and see the real thing.” He also cocked a snook at the big-haired rock bands of the period, principally Whitesnake. “David Coverdale’s got success but he’s had to become a pop singer to get it,” he sneered. “There’s always your glamour bands and your denim-clad groups. And you usually find out that your denim-clad groups are still surviving and the glam ones fade away.”
Behind the scenes, however, Malcolm Young had his own problems. In May 1988 he was forced to step down from the North American leg of the Blow Up Your Video tour in order to undergo treatment for alcohol dependency. Standing in for Malcolm at those shows was his nephew Stevie Young, whose former band Starfighters had supported AC/DC in 1980.
“The funny thing was I never drunk heaps, I just drank consistently and it caught right up on me,” said Malcolm in 2004. “Angus was going, ‘I’m your brother; I don’t want to see you dead here. Remember Bon?’ So I took that break and cleaned myself up.”
And shortly after the tour finished in November 1988 came a permanent change in personnel, when drummer Simon Wright was sacked and replaced by Chris Slade, a bald veteran who had previously been a member of Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers’ brief-lived supergroup The Firm. AC/DC’s unsteady 80s was drawing to a close. The new decade was ahead of them, and there was everything to play for.
Classic Rock contributor since 2003. Twenty Five years in music industry (40 if you count teenage xerox fanzines). Bylines for Metal Hammer, Decibel. AOR, Hitlist, Carbon 14, The Noise, Boston Phoenix, and spurious publications of increasing obscurity. Award-winning television producer, radio host, and podcaster. Voted “Best Rock Critic” in Boston twice. Last time was 2002, but still. Has been in over four music videos. True story.
Thanks to albums such as British Steel and Screaming For Vengeance, Judas Priest had ascended to metal’s premier division by the mid-80s. But they hit a bump in the road with 1986’s Turbo, an album that saw the veteran band trying out new technology but left many fans cold . In 2017, singer Rob Halford and bassist Ian Hill looked back on the darkness and tragedy that shaped their most divisive record.
Turbo is the sore thumb in the Judas Priest catalogue. Received wisdom pitches it somewhere between a cynical sell-out with one eye on the pop market and outright career suicide.
Neither is true. Turbo may have been a departure on the surface, but at heart it was a classic Priest album. On a commercial level, it was far from a flop thanks to mainstream American radio and MTV picking up on the singles Turbo Lover, Locked In and the anti-censorship broadside Parental Guidance. “It lost us some friends,” says Priest bassist Ian Hill, a mainstay of the band since their very beginning in Birmingham at the end of the 1960s. “But it made us as least as many as we’d lost.”
Priest were coming off the back of a stellar run of success when they began work on Turbo. While their late-70s and early-80s albums had enshrined them as one of Britain’s pre-eminent metal bands, the platinum-plated one-two of 1982’s Screaming For Vengeance and ’84’s Defenders Of The Faith had turned them into bona fide rock stars in America.
“We were on top of the world,” says Rob, a man whose drily lugubrious manner is amusingly at odds with his Metal God persona. “After slogging away for years, we’d suddenly reached that place all bands strive to get to, which is success. It was an amazing time, not only for Priest but for metal in general.”
After touring Defenders Of The Faith, the band gave themselves a much-needed break. When they reconvened in Marbella in southern Spain in early 1985, they were keen to throw themselves back into the fray. But the last thing they wanted to do was merely repeat past glories.
“Some people would have been absolutely over the moon if we’d done another Defenders Of The Faith,” says Ian. “But we felt like we’d reached the end of the line with that. Some bands get a formula and they stick to it, and people love them for it. But we’ve always moved forwards.”
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Judas Priest in 1986: (l-r) Ian Hill, Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford, KK Downing, Dave Holland (Image credit: Chris Walter/WireImage)
As they soaked up the sun in Marbella, they began to realise that things had changed since they had been away. Launched just a few years earlier, MTV had become a music industry powerhouse with the power to make or break bands. Many of Priest’s peers had latched onto this and altered their approach to fit this revolutionary new format, chief among them ZZ Top and Billy Idol, who had begun incorporating the latest technology into their sound and serving up eye-catching videos to fit in the heavy rotation slots. “We were definitely aware of what was going on with MTV,” says Rob. “It was a gamechanger. It totally changed the face of music, which probably had some influence on the general outcome of Turbo.”
Understandably, when electronic instrument company Roland approached Priest to see if they would be interested in being the people to try out a brand new guitarsynthesizer they had developed, the band jumped at the chance.
“It basically took the straightforward sound that you normally get if you plug a guitar into a Marshall amp, but let you alter the sound completely,” says Rob. “It could give you a non-guitar sound. That was at the heart of Turbo. And that, I think, was part of the pushback from the purists in metal: ‘Why are you messing with the sound? That’s not the Priest we want to hear.’”
The band weren’t oblivious to the ramifications of what they were planning when they flew to the Bahamas to begin work on the album at Nassau’s Compass Point Studios with longtime producer ‘Colonel’ Tom Allom, but they were still determined to push forward. It wasn’t the only radical decision they had made. The original plan was that the new album would be a double, titled Twin Turbos.
“We wanted a double album for the price of a single one,” says Ian. “The label weren’t happy about that. They couldn’t manufacture the album and flog it for what we wanted them to sell it for. So about halfway through the writing process, we decided to go with it as a single album.”
Some of the tracks written for Twin Turbos would appear on their next album, 1988’s Ram It Down, while others would feature as bonus tracks on subsequent reissues.
But clashes with their record label were the least of Rob’s worries. The singer had his own battles to deal with. Ask him today what someone might have seen if they’d have walked in halfway through the sessions, and he laughs drily.
“I’d probably have been in the corner with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and a mound of coke,” he says. “I was out of my fucking tree. That’s where I was at personally. It was a point where I needed help. I don’t know how the guys coped with me.”
“We all went over the top in the 80s,” says Ian. “If you weren’t going over the top, there was something wrong. But we didn’t realise quite how far gone Rob was.”
Rob’s state of mind wasn’t helped by the exotic location. “There were tremendous distractions,” he says. “We’d start work at six o’clock at night, then Tom Allom would have his gin and tonic and that was the end of the session. We’d all go down the pub and get loaded. We had to get the hell out of the Bahamas. Somebody said, ‘Why don’t we go to Miami instead?’ Oh yeah, great idea. ’Cos there were no distractions there either. Ha ha ha, oh my god.”
Instead, the band moved their base of operations to Los Angeles. It was there that Rob checked into rehab. “I came out after 30 days and my life had changed in a million ways,” he says. “The important part was my ability to understand that music is the most important thing in my life and that I don’t need any other chemical influence to do what I need to do.”
He may have been clean and sober, but life had one more tragic twist to throw at him. In 1986, Rob’s boyfriend at the time killed himself in front of the singer. He’s reluctant to talk about specifics, but his voice takes on an understandably solemn note when he recalls the impact it had on his life.
Judas Priest’s Rob Halford onstage in 1986 (Image credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
“I was with someone who was also dealing with their own self-destructive challenges,” he says. “That was my pledge, in the memory of that person, to stay clean and sober. In fact, I just passed my 31st birthday last week. But drug addiction and alcoholism is like a curse, man. Bands ask me about the drink and the drugs, and I say, ‘Fucking do it, it’s a rite of passage – I hope you have a good time with it and I hope it doesn’t kill you.’ Because it can, and it does.”
Ironically, given Rob’s own personal turmoil, Turbo is resolutely uplifting, defiant and even sex-obsessed. It’s there in the titles: Turbo Lover; Hot For Love; Reckless; Wild Nights, Hot And Crazy Days. Even the album’s cover illustration of a woman’s hand clutching a gear stick is a barely disguised visual innuendo.
It also features Parental Guidance, a winking dig at the PMRC, the censorship group who had included Priest’s song Eat Me Alive on their so-called ‘Filthy Fifteen’ – a list of songs that they claimed threatened the moral fabric of America. The PMRC successfully campaigned to put ‘Parental Guidance’ stickers on albums containing explicit material.
“We couldn’t believe our ears when we heard about it,” says Rob. “It’s one of those things that only happens in America. I remember the day we said, ‘We should write a song called Parental Guidance. Take a walk in my shoes and see what you’re afraid of – it’s not real. As it turns out, Turbo was a commercial success, one of the biggest ones Priest had. So the PMRC thing didn’t have any knock-on effect.”
That commercial success must have seemed a long way off when the album was released in April 1986. Initial reactions in the press were at best baffled and at worst outright hostile. More importantly, its synthesized sounds alienated a chunk of their fanbase who wanted Priest’s traditional steel-plated twin guitar attack.
“It was a bit of a kick in the balls. It’s not nice to make a record and somebody goes, ‘This is shit.’ But this is the balancing act – you have to write from the heart, for yourself. You need the opportunity to express yourself and bang into things when you do.”
Age has been kind to Turbo. Its unconventional approach may have scared the horses at the time, but today it sounds shockingly modern. And its opening four tracks – Turbo Lover, Locked In, Private Property and Parental Guidance – are stone cold pop-metal classics, guitar-synths or not.
“It was a grand experiment,” says Ian. “We weren’t sure what the reaction would be, but we believed we were doing the right thing. And that’s why it’s honest.”
“The original kickback has mellowed over the years,” adds Rob. “People appreciate it now for the songs. They’ve embraced it. We could bang out any of those tracks live now and they’d do the business. Judas Priest are this band that has many metal heads attached to its shoulders, and Turbo has become part of the legend.”
Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 281, February 2017
Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on Kerrang! and Classic Rock, Associate Editor on Q magazine and staff writer/tea boy on Raw, not necessarily in that order. He has written for Metal Hammer, Louder, Prog, the Observer, Select, Mojo, the Evening Standard and the totally legendary Ultrakill. He is still waiting for Billy Gibbons to send him a bottle of hot sauce he was promised several years ago.
(Image credit: Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Given the incendiary, fragile alchemy that made them such an explosively brilliant band, it’s no surprise that it took a few attempts to get the classic Guns N’Roses line-up right. It was a formula they had been trying to get right over the course of a few years, first with Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin’s band Hollywood Rose and then as they merged with fellow Los Angeles band L.A. Guns in early 1985. But still, something was amiss.
The line-up took its first steps towards their definitive crew with the addition of bassist Duff McKagan shortly before their first gig as Guns N’Roses at the Troubadour in March 1985. This version of the quintet did not last long, though. Instead, with a short tour of the Pacific Northwest planned for early summer fast approaching, it all looked like it might fall to pieces when lead guitarist Tracii and drummer Rob Gardner departed on the eve of the booked dates.
Whilst Tracii would later claim he left because the band “wasn’t fun anymore”, the members he left behind said it was down to the six-stringer being uncomfortable with arrangements regarding the forthcoming tour. “Izzy and Axl were like, ‘Let’s do it, let’s go on the road’!” McKagan explained in Marc Canter’s book Reckless Road, documenting the band’s first 50 shows. “Tracii and Rob were more concerned with where they were going to stay or how we were going to get there. They got cold feet at the eleventh hour for doing a tour of the Northwest. Izzy, Axl and I just didn’t care.”
Suddenly the fledgling rockers had two spaces to fill, but McKagan knew just the guys. The bassist took Axl Rose to watch Slash’s then-band Black Sheep play at L.A. venue Country Club on the last day of May, 1985, the pair convincing the guitarist to bin off Black Sheep and join them instead. McKagan chucked a bonus ball in too, telling Slash they also needed a drummer and to bring along his pal Steven Adler.
It was just two days before a previously-scheduled show at LA’s The Troubadour when Rose, Stradlin, Slash, McKagan and Adler got together in a rehearsal space in the city’s Silverlake neighbourhood to play together. This needed to work, or GN’R was over before it had even started. They dived into a rendition of Shadow Of Your Love, a rollicking, rattling rock tune that had been knocking around since Hollywood Rose, and all five of them immediately clocked that something electrifying was going on. “We could all hear and feel that the fit was right,” Duff wrote in his autobiography It’s So Easy (And Other Lies). “The chemistry was immediate, thunderous and soulful. It was amazing and all of us recognised it instantly.”
“We were playing Shadow Of Your Love and Axl showed up late,” Steven Adler recalled. “We were playing the song and right in the middle of it Axl showed up and grabbed the mic and was running up and down the walls screaming. I thought, ‘This is the greatest thing ever’. We knew right then what we had.”
Reminiscing about the rehearsal in Reckless Road, Duff said it was a live-changing moment. “That day was probably the most important day of our lives, as players and musicians,” he marvelled. “It definitely ranks up there because that’s when we all knew it was solidified. This was the best band that any of us had come close to being in.”
Their live debut had to be at the Troubadour, the West Hollywood venue from which a string of giant 80s rockers including Mötley Crüe and Poison had launched their careers. It was, as McKagan recounted, the epicentre of L.A. rock’n’roll. “Most bands started there in an opening slot on a Monday or Tuesday night,” he said. “If and when you began to draw in an audience, you could earn a chance to move up the bill, maybe even to a headlining slot, and you could shift to more desirable days of the week, and finally to weekend gigs.”
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If you managed to headline on a Friday or Saturday, Duff said, you were on the cusp of something big, those slots an indicator that you had real momentum behind you. But GN’R weren’t there yet. “For now we were a little too dirty to get even an opening slot on those coveted Friday and Saturday night bills. We would have to start at the bottom and get there on our own.”
“The bottom” meant propping up the bill on Thursday 6 June, 1985, in support of Fineline and Mistreater, the band who would shortly be one of the world’s biggest and best groups taking to the stage in front of a sparse crowd.
One of those present in the audience was Slash’s old high school buddy Marc Canter, whose family ran a local deli often frequented by the band, and who took photos of the show so the band would have some promo snaps for their dates in the northwest. One of his pictures would go on to be used on the back cover of their Live! Like A Suicide EP.
With a polite “Thank you everyone for coming out tonight, we’re Guns N’ Roses” from Axl and a less polite “Come up here closer to the fucking stage, move your fucking asses!” from Slash, the classic line-up of GN’R was born, the group launching into a punchy 10-song set that included future classics Don’t Cry and Anything Goes alongside covers of Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Heartbreak Hotel.
“I definitely had a sense that something special was brewing,” Adler said. “Something permeated the show at the Troubadour, it went pretty well. We played for only about 10 people and it didn’t matter. We were playing for the music, for the sheer excitement of performing live.”
By the time they returned from the troubled run of dates in the northwest – a story for another day – they were all fully invested. It was a line-up that couldn’t, wouldn’t and didn’t last long, far too volatile for that, but one that would lay down a marker against which all subsequent rock bands would be measured. “We started rehearsing with a burning sense of purpose fuelled by the knowledge that each of us was all in,” said McKagan. World domination beckoned.
Niall Doherty is a writer and editor whose work can be found in Classic Rock, The Guardian, Music Week, FourFourTwo, on Apple Music and more. Formerly the Deputy Editor of Q magazine, he co-runs the music Substack letter The New Cue with fellow former Q colleagues Ted Kessler and Chris Catchpole. He is also Reviews Editor at Record Collector. Over the years, he’s interviewed some of the world’s biggest stars, including Elton John, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant and more. Radiohead was only for eight minutes but he still counts it.
Metallica has expanded their M72 world tour into 2026, announcing a series of European dates for next spring and summer with support from some of metal’s heaviest hitters.
The European leg will begin on May 9 in Athens, Greece, and conclude on July 5 in London. Four cities — Frankfurt, Budapest, Dublin and London — will feature two consecutive shows as part of the band’s No Repeat Weekend tradition, while other locations will receive one-night-only performances.
French metal titans Gojira and hardcore buzz band Knocked loose will open the majority of the dates, while Pantera and Swedish theatrical metallers Avatar will open some of the No Repeat Weekend shows.
The ongoing M72 world tour is in support of Metallica’s most recent album, 2023’s 72 Seasons. The band promised “the same unique stadium production at mid-field in-the-round, with the Snake Pit in the center of the stage providing a complete 360° view of the show.” They’ll also be returning to some cities for the first time in decades, such as Cardiff, Wales, which they haven’t visited since 1996.
Tickets for the 2026 shows go on sale to the general public on May 30. You can find more information at Metallica’s website and see the full list of dates below.
Metallica M72 2026 European Tour Dates May 9 – Athens, Greece @ Olympic Stadium * May 13 – Bucharest, Romania @ Arena Nationala * May 19 – Chorzow, Poland @ Stadion Slaski * May 22 – Frankfurt, Germany @ Deutsche Bank Park * May 24 – Frankfurt, Germany @ Deutsche Bank Park + May 27 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Stadion Letzigrund * May 30 – Berlin, Germany @ Olympiastadion * June 3 – Bologna, Italy @ Stadio Renato Dall’ara * June 11 – Budapest, Hungary @ Puskas Arena + June 13 – Budapest, Hungary @ Puskas Arena * June 19 – Dublin, Ireland @ Aviva Stadium + June 21 – Dublin, Ireland @ Aviva Stadium * June 25 – Glasgow, Scotland @ Hampden Park * June 28 – Cardiff, Wales @ Principality Stadium * July 3 – London, England @ London Stadium * July 5 – London, England @ London Stadium +
* Support: Gojira and Knocked Loose + Support: Pantera and Avatar
Metallica Albums Ranked
There are moments of indecision when compiling this list. After all, we really could have had – for the first time ever – a three-way tie for first.
“I’m sure there are many fans who will not accept me or anyone on that throne except for Zak,” he writes. “I know that this will be the case for some and I acknowledge that. For others, perhaps the jury is still out. Maybe I’ll need to let the music do the talking?
“In my world, there are no bigger shoes to fill than those behind Pete and Roger. The weight of this responsibility is enormous and I am feeling every ounce of it. What I want to say to all of the fans is that I will do everything I can to honour the legacy of The Who, Zak, Kenney Jones, Simon Phillips and the memory of the great Keith Moon.
“For my name to even be mentioned in a sentence like that literally sends shivers down my spine and I know I need to earn this honor. Since this is the last time Pete and Roger will be touring the US, playing the greatest songs ever written, I will be giving them every second of my time, every beat of my heart, and every drop of my sweat and blood. This is my ultimate goal.”
Starkey, who became The Who’s drummer in 1996, was fired by the band for a second time before Devours’ introduction. The dismissal occurred just a month after Starkey was initially fired and quickly reinstated, reportedly after a dispute with frontmanDaltrey became public during a Teenage Cancer Trust Performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Devours’ first date with The Who is scheduled for August 16 at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, FL, on the first date of the band’s The Song Is Over Tour. Full dates below.
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The Who: The Song Is Over tour 2025
Aug 16: Sunrise Amerant Bank Arena, FL = Aug 19: Newark Prudential Center, NJ = Aug 21: Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center, PA ^ Aug 23: Atlantic City Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, NJ + Aug 26: Boston Fenway Park, MA ¶ Aug 28: Wantagh Northwell at Jones Beach Theater, NY º Aug 30: New York Madison Square Garden, NY º Sep 02: Toronto Budweiser Stage, ON > Sep 04: Toronto Budweiser Stage, ON > Sep 07: Chicago United Center, IL < Sep 09: Chicago United Center, IL < Sep 17: Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl, CA ¶ Sep 19: Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl, CA ¶ Sep 21: Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheatre, CA ¢ Sep 23: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC ¢ Sep 25: Seattle Climate Pledge Arena, WA ¢ Sep 28: Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena, NV ø
= with Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters ^ with ZZ Ward + with Booker T. Jones ¶ with The Joe Perry Project º with Feist > with Tom Cochrane < with Joe Bonamassa ¢ with Candlebox ø with Billy Idol
Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazinesince 2014. 39 years in music industry, online for 26. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.
The Birmingham metal veterans today (May 21) announced via Variety that The Ballad Of Judas Priest, directed by Morello and Sam Dunn (Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey), will come out via Sony Music Vision, in association with Sony Music Entertainment UK and Epic Records.
Morello and Dunn say that the film, the release date of which is yet to be announced, will trace Priest’s “incredible 50-year journey” and “capture how Judas Priest both defined the sound and look of metal [and] made it a more inclusive place along the way”.
The band comment: “We have lived and breathed metal for over five decades, and finally in this documentary we are summoning our congregation to officially witness our lives uncensored, in a never-before-seen way… the cassock comes off, revealing Priest in all its metal glory!”
Dunn’s Banger Films produced The Ballad Of Judas Priest, with Morello also serving as executive producer and Dunn as co-producer. As well as the Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey documentary, Banger Films have made live albums and concert films with Iron Maiden, Rush, ZZ Top and more.
The Ballad Of Judas Priest’s announcement adds to what was already shaping up to be a blockbuster 2025 for the band. They recently wrapped up the touring cycle for their 2024 album Invincible Shield but have plenty more live plans for the coming months, including co-headline shows with shock rock icon Alice Cooper, a set at the 60th-anniversary celebration for hard rockers Scorpions, and dates celebrating the 35th anniversary of their landmark 1990 album Painkiller.
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As well as being The Ballad Of Judas Priest’s co-director, Morello is the musical director for the upcoming Black Sabbath farewell show, taking place at Villa Park in Birmingham on July 5. Priest are one of very few high-profile metal acts to not be on the stacked bill, about which singer Rob Halford said he’s “gutted” in a recent Metal Hammer interview.
Priest aren’t the first long-serving UK metal band to recently announce a documentary. In March, Iron Maiden revealed that they’ll be the subject of a film, due out later this year. It will be part of the London-based titans 50th-anniversary festivities, which start next week with a headline tour across Europe.
Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.
As a founding member of Thin Lizzy and the band’s original guitarist, Eric Bell’s six-string talents accentuated the trio’s first three albums: 1971’s Thin Lizzy, 1972’s Shades of a Blue Orphanage, and 1973’s Vagabonds of the Western World.
If those don’t ring a bell, to be specific, it’s Bell’s fiery chops that you hear on Lizzy’s iconic cover of “Whiskey in the Jar.” Since leaving Lizzy in 1973, Bell has done his best to champion Ireland’s bluesy past, present, and future… with a rock ‘n’ roll twist. “Ireland has always seemingly had the blues around,” Bell tells ClassicRockHistory.com.
“Belfast was buzzing with it,” he adds. “It’s fabulous. It’s still got a lot of blues, and so does the rest of Northern Ireland. It’s very popular. I don’t know why, they don’t seem to be into folk music the way Southern Ireland and Dublin us. Belfast always was and is interested in the blues.”
To that end, Bell has a new—and very bluesy—record called Authenticity, the title of which came via one of Belfast’s blues-loving listeners. “For some reason, one night,” Bell says. “I was playing in London, and a girl came up to me and said, ‘Oh, your band sounds very authentic.’ I started hearing this word everywhere I went; it’s like a new word in society. So, I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll call the album Authenticity.’”
Bell says that, despite his stature in Ireland’s rock and blues scenes, it has been hard for him to step out of Thin Lizzy’s shadow. For a long time, this meant that most of his live setlists were filled with Thin Lizzy covers.
But not anymore, as Bell’s confidence in his songwriting has finally come head-to-head with his guitar playing. “It’s mostly my songs, and a few Lizzy covers,” he explains. “The whole is basically geared toward improvisation. That’s the way I present it, which I love.”
“I love having to wonder what I’m going to play,” he says. “Sometimes, you’re in that frame of mind and body, and it just pours out. And then, some other nights, it’s a little bit different, you know? But I really do enjoy it, it keeps me interested.”
What inspires you these days?
The Shadows. They’re one of my earliest influences, and I still love them. I find that there’s a million great guitar players out there, but I find them all pretty boring, to be honest with you. I don’t really listen to new rock music much, so if I’m trying to get my rocks off, I actually still put on the early Shadows music. It sounds old-fashioned, or dated, but I still get a real buzz, and a chill up my back listening to that type of stuff.
Why do modern guitar players bore you?
Everybody is just playing the blues, but with a bit of distortion, and sometimes, as fast as possible, like electric typewriters. [laughs] But don’t me wrong—all these players are great; it’s just the way they play doesn’t do anything for me. I listen, and go, “Yeah, he knows what he’s doing, but there’s nothing there that makes me go, ‘Wow.’”
Can you describe the type of player that you are for new listeners?
I don’t know… I remember when I was in Thin Lizzy, and we came over to London from Ireland, and recorded our first album and released it, all the critics said, “This band has no sense of direction. Every track is different, blah blah blah.” We said, “So what?” And it’s the same with my album. Every track is different. Why not?
Are you still using the same Fender Strat from your Thin Lizzy days?
Yeah, because I just like the sound of the guitar to be sort of pure. And that guitar is about 53 years old now. I bought it brand new when Thin Lizzy first started because I had a white Strat that was falling apart, and the manager suggested I get a new guitar. So, I got this Fender Stratocaster in 1972, and I’ve been playing it ever since. I still play it. It’s a beautiful guitar.
Digging into the tracks on Authenticity, what’s the story behind “Tale of Thin Lizzy?”
That’s exactly what happened, you know, the whole thing. It’s basically like an autobiography; it’s exactly what happened. Like, the whole song is true. I left the show band I was in, went to a club called Countdown, had my first trip on acid, met Philip [Lynott], and we decided to get a band together. That song tells the whole story of what happened. It’s all in the song.
How about “Honeycomb Nights?” What’s the backstory of that track?
When I was a kid, maybe about eight or nine years of age, I’d be playing out in the street with some of my friends, and it would start becoming evening time. And around that time, I could sort of sense the smell in the air, which was like honeycomb. So, a few years ago, I was thinking about that, and why it was.
So, what we used to do in Belfast was we’d only have one fire because there was no central heating, it was just one fire in this one room in the house. My parents used to light the fire, and sometimes, it wouldn’t catch; it just wouldn’t happen. So, they would get a big handful of sugar, white sugar, and throw it on the flames, and then, the fire would start igniting.
I got this idea of all the houses in Belfast doing this, and then, the smell of the burnt sugar would go up the chimney and go out into the street. And then, there’d be hundreds and hundreds of houses doing this, and that’s what the song is really about. It’s about throwing sugar on the fire, it going up the chimney, and that sweet smell is spreading while I was out playing with my friends.
What’s the meaning behind “I Wasn’t Born in the Delta?”
Yeah, that’s just a funny one. There are lots of blues groups in Belfast, in Ireland, there are loads. I’ve played quite a few gigs around Ireland, and sometimes, there are bands on with us, support bands. One night, before we went onstage, this blues band was playing, and the guy from Ireland was singing, “I was born in the Delta,” and I thought, “No you fucking weren’t.” [laughs]
You know, he lived on that same street in Ireland. [laughs] But that stuck in my head, so I thought it would be a funny take on a blues song, saying, “I wasn’t born in the Delta.” But I’ve still had my share of blues, you know? The nine-to-five jobs I had were absolutely bizarre, so I’ve had the blues myself, even though I wasn’t born in the Delta.
Do you have plans to tour behindAuthenticity?
I have a band called the Eric Bell Trio. As of now, we’re doing shows, and we do one track off the album, “I Wasn’t Born in the Delta.” But the rest of the tracks that I do now, probably nine or ten, are still my own songs. But that took forever for me to do because most people aren’t interested in hearing new songs; they just want Thin Lizzy covers.
It took me forever to actually have the confidence and the nerve to go into a club and play a lot of my own songs. It took a lot for me to get the courage to do that, but there’s hundreds of Thin Lizzy cover bands all over the world. Thank God they’re keeping the name alive, but I just do three Lizzy songs, and the rest is blues, and a few rock numbers done a certain way.
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Sarah McLachlan began her musical journey in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where her classical training in voice, piano, and guitar helped shape the sound that would later become her signature. Signed to Vancouver-based Nettwerk Music Group while still in her teens, she relocated across Canada and released her debut album, Touch, in 1988. The album garnered early attention with songs like “Vox,” which hinted at her future as a deeply emotional and technically gifted songwriter. It marked the beginning of a career that would span decades and elevate her to global acclaim.
McLachlan’s second album, Solace (1991), expanded her audience and deepened her lyrical scope. Songs like “Into the Fire” and “The Path of Thorns (Terms)” captured both spiritual yearning and romantic complexity, and the album was a critical and commercial success in Canada. Her introspective lyricism and ethereal vocals struck a chord with listeners seeking authenticity and vulnerability in pop and alternative music.
Her breakthrough came with the 1993 release of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, which marked a major leap in both production and songwriting. Produced by Pierre Marchand, a frequent collaborator who helped shape her atmospheric sound, the album included tracks such as “Possession,” “Hold On,” and “Good Enough.” The international success of the record solidified her presence on the global music stage, especially in the U.S. and Europe, where she gained a devoted fanbase. The album’s emotionally intense subject matter, including references to obsession, grief, and personal resilience, revealed the depth and ambition of McLachlan’s artistry.
By the time Surfacing arrived in 1997, McLachlan had become a household name. Released during the height of the Lilith Fair concert tour she founded, the album was both a commercial juggernaut and a creative high point. “Building a Mystery,” “Adia,” “Sweet Surrender,” and “Angel” all became major radio hits, and the album won four Juno Awards and two Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Instrumental Performance and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. “Angel,” in particular, became an enduring classic—used in film, television, and charitable campaigns—its haunting piano melody and lyrical sorrow emblematic of McLachlan’s ability to transmute grief into beauty.
Beyond her solo work, McLachlan made an indelible mark on the music industry with the creation of Lilith Fair, a groundbreaking all-female music festival launched in 1997. At a time when many promoters refused to book women back-to-back, McLachlan responded by creating an event that celebrated female musicians across genres. Lilith Fair became a cultural touchstone, touring from 1997 to 1999 and grossing tens of millions while giving a platform to artists such as Sheryl Crow, Tracy Chapman, and Jewel. It wasn’t just a concert—it was a movement.
In 2003, McLachlan returned with Afterglow, featuring the hit single “Fallen.” Though more subdued than her previous records, the album demonstrated artistic maturity and vulnerability. While it didn’t match the blockbuster success of Surfacing, it went multi-platinum in several countries and earned multiple Juno nominations. She followed it in 2006 with Wintersong, a holiday album featuring traditional carols and original songs. Her rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “River” became a seasonal staple.
McLachlan’s ability to blend sorrow and solace remained at the core of her appeal. Whether singing of loss, personal transformation, or spiritual transcendence, her music provided comfort to millions. She consistently addressed difficult emotional terrain with grace, a skill that resonated not just with listeners, but with critics who praised her vocal control and nuanced performances.
Her 2010 album Laws of Illusion came after a period of personal upheaval, including a divorce. The album was deeply autobiographical, exploring themes of separation, rebuilding, and emotional survival. Though it received mixed reviews, it reaffirmed her commitment to personal storytelling and further deepened her bond with longtime fans.
In 2014, McLachlan released Shine On, a project inspired in part by the loss of her father. Songs such as “In Your Shoes” and “Song for My Father” displayed a renewed sense of energy and optimism, mixed with her trademark melancholy. The album debuted in the top five on the Canadian Albums Chart and was supported by an extensive North American tour. That same year, she was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, a recognition of her contributions to the national and global music landscape.
Over the course of her career, McLachlan has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and earned three Grammy Awards and over a dozen Juno Awards. But her influence extends far beyond record sales. She has been a tireless advocate for women in music, mental health awareness, and animal welfare. Her long-standing partnership with the ASPCA brought her face—and voice—to one of the most recognizable and emotionally resonant public service campaigns in television history.
In 2002, she founded the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, which provides free music education to underserved youth in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Surrey. The school stands as one of her most lasting contributions outside of music, blending her belief in the transformative power of art with her commitment to community impact.
Though McLachlan has scaled back the frequency of her album releases in recent years, her touring remains active, and she continues to appear at benefit concerts, television specials, and musical collaborations. Her influence can be heard in a generation of singer-songwriters who followed in her wake—artists who prioritize lyrical depth, atmospheric production, and emotional truth.
Sarah McLachlan’s career has never been about flash or trend-chasing. It’s been about clarity, craftsmanship, and connection. She has built a legacy rooted in empathy, artistry, and advocacy—and in doing so, has earned a place not just on the charts, but in the hearts of millions who see their own stories reflected in her voice.
Complete List Of Sarah McLachlan Songs From A to Z
Adia – Surfacing – 1997
Amazing Grace – Wonderland – 2016
Angel – Surfacing – 1997
Angels We Have Heard on High – Wonderland – 2016
Answer – Afterglow – 2003
Away in a Manger – Wonderland – 2016
Awakenings – Laws of Illusion – 2010
Back Door Man – Solace – 1991
Beautiful Girl – Shine On – 2014
Ben’s Song – Touch – 1988
Ben’s Song (78 remix) – Touch – 1988
Black – Solace – 1991
Black & White – Surfacing – 1997
Brink of Destruction – Shine On – 2014
Bring on the Wonder – Laws of Illusion – 2010
Broken Heart – Shine On – 2014
Building a Mystery – Surfacing – 1997
Changes – Laws of Illusion – 2010
Christmas Time Is Here – Wintersong – 2006
The Christmas Song – Wonderland – 2016
Circle – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
Dirty Little Secret – Afterglow – 2003
Do What You Have to Do – Surfacing – 1997
Don’t Give Up on Us – Laws of Illusion – 2010
Drawn to the Rhythm – Solace – 1991
Drifting – Afterglow – 2003
Elsewhere – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
Fallen – Afterglow – 2003
Fear – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
The First Noel / Mary Mary – Wintersong – 2006
Flesh and Blood – Shine On – 2014
Forgiveness – Laws of Illusion – 2010
Full of Grace – Surfacing – 1997
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
Go Tell It on the Mountain – Wonderland – 2016
Good Enough – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – Wintersong – 2006
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Wintersong – 2006
Heartbreak – Laws of Illusion – 2010
Hold On – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
Home – Solace – 1991
Huron Carol – Wonderland – 2016
I Love You – Surfacing – 1997
I Will Not Forget You – Solace – 1991
I’ll Be Home for Christmas – Wintersong – 2006
Ice – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
Ice Cream – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
Illusions of Bliss – Laws of Illusion – 2010
In the Bleak Mid-Winter – Wintersong – 2006
In Your Shoes – Shine On – 2014
Into the Fire – Solace – 1991
Last Dance – Surfacing – 1997
Let It Snow – Wonderland – 2016
Little B – Shine On – 2014
Lost – Solace – 1991
Love Beside Me – Shine On – 2014
Love Come – Laws of Illusion – 2010
Loving You Is Easy – Laws of Illusion – 2010
Mary – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
Mercy – Solace – 1991
Monsters – Shine On – 2014
O Come All Ye Faithful – Wonderland – 2016
O Holy Night – Wonderland – 2016
O Little Town of Bethlehem – Wintersong – 2006
Out of the Shadows – Touch – 1988
Out of Tune – Laws of Illusion – 2010
The Path of Thorns (Terms) – Solace – 1991
Perfect Girl – Afterglow – 2003
Plenty – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
Possession – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
Push – Afterglow – 2003
River – Wintersong – 2006
Rivers of Love – Laws of Illusion – 2010
Sad Clown – Touch – 1988
Shelter – Solace – 1991
Silent Night – Wintersong – 2006
Silver Bells – Wonderland – 2016
Snow – Wonderland – 2016
Song for a Winter’s Night – Wintersong – 2006
Song for My Father – Shine On – 2014
The Sound that Love Makes – Shine On – 2014
Steaming – Touch – 1988
Strange World – Touch – 1988
Stupid – Afterglow – 2003
Surrender and Certainty – Shine On – 2014
Sweet Surrender – Surfacing – 1997
Time – Afterglow – 2003
Touch – Touch – 1988
Train Wreck – Afterglow – 2003
Turn the Lights Down Low – Shine On – 2014
U Want Me 2 – Laws of Illusion – 2010
Uphill Battle – Touch – 1988
Vox – Touch – 1988
Vox (extended remix) – Touch – 1988
Wait – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – 1993
Wear Your Love Like Heaven – Solace – 1991
What Child Is This? (Greensleeves) – Wintersong – 2006
What’s It Gonna Take – Shine On – 2014
White Christmas – Wonderland – 2016
Winter Wonderland – Wonderland – 2016
Wintersong – Wintersong – 2006
Witness – Surfacing – 1997
World on Fire – Afterglow – 2003
Albums
Touch (1988): 10 songs
Solace (1991): 11 songs
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (1993): 12 songs
Surfacing (1997): 10 songs
Afterglow (2003): 10 songs
Wintersong (2006): 12 songs
Laws of Illusion (2010): 12 songs
Shine On (2014): 13 songs
Wonderland (2016): 13 songs
Check out our fantastic and entertaining Sarah McLachlan articles, detailing in-depth the band’s albums, songs, band members, and more…all on ClassicRockHistory.com
“Gary was so talented it actually haunted him. He wasn’t really in control of what was coming through him. That sort of thing always comes at a price”: How guitar icon Gary Moore snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with his early 80s solo albums
In the summer of 1984, Gary Moore was 32 and living off his reputation as one of the greatest guitarists in Britain. But so what? He’d been hearing about how great he was on guitar since he was 10 years old and playing in Irish showbands. That wasn’t what kept him up at night scowling.
With his disconcertingly scarred face (the result of a pub-fight glassing he was too wasted to remember the next morning) and overeager-Spaniel hair (the result, common at the time, of long-haired 70s rockers updating their haircuts to accommodate the rock-is-dead 80s), Moore appeared a haunted figure, both on stage, where his playing was intensely aggressive even at its most tender moments, and, especially, off stage, where even old friends sometimes came away a little frightened.
“Gary enjoyed success,” guitarist Eric Bell, his boyhood friend and predecessor in Thin Lizzy, told me. “But I don’t know if he was ever really happy. He was a perfectionist, but it was often to his own detriment.”
Moore walked out on his first professional band, Skid Row, on the eve of a US tour, citing frustration with their “limitations”. He was 19 and “very mixed up”. Or as Lizzy’s leader Phil Lynott said: “Gary’s the most contrary c**t I know.”
Belfast-born Moore was the son of a protestant concert promoter. His career began in Dublin working with predominantly Catholic musicians. Naturally left-handed, he had taught himself to play right-handed. “He was always looking gift horses in the mouth,” said Lynott.
Moore shared a bedsit in Dublin with Lynott, who was three years older and a lifetime tougher, having grown up the only black kid in school. Moore saw Lynott as “like a big brother. He would cook breakfast and take me to the best market stalls to buy cheap stage clothes”.
Lynott had formed Thin Lizzy, featuring guitarist Bell, in ’69. They released their self-titled debut album in ’71 and relocated to London.
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Moore formed his own group, the Gary Moore Band, whose debut album, Grinding Stone, came out in ’73. Unlike Lizzy’s heightened blend of Irish roots music, Gaelic poetry and the new electric rock, Grinding Stone was a heady brew of Jeff Beck Group blues, Mahavishnu Orchestra fusion and the Allman Brothers. It was neither a commercial nor critical hit.
Gary Moore (left) with Thin Lizzy in 1974 (Image credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images)
That same year, Lizzy broke through with their wised-up version of Whiskey In The Jar: No.1 in Ireland, No.6 in the UK. But their next album was their third flop in a row. When a disillusioned Bell walked out after a bad acid trip on stage, Moore seemed the obvious replacement. He jumped at the chance, disbanding the Gary Moore Band on the spot. True to form, however, Moore ditched Lynott and Lizzy after one flop single, Little Darling, which had Moore’s Beck-inspired fireworks on full display.
“Gary always had his own thing going on,” says Lizzy drummer Brian Downey. “He didn’t see himself playing second fiddle to anyone, not even Phil.”
Maybe Moore had simply grown impatient with Lizzy’s ‘limitations’, because his next musical move was to join jazz-rock drummer Jon Hiseman in Colosseum II, a prog-oriented, mainly instrumental band that included keyboard player Don Airey and bassist Neil Murray, future go-to session guys for every major British band of the 80s, including various Gary Moore albums. Between 1976 and ’78, Moore co-wrote, played lead guitar and occasionally sang on four Colosseum II albums. The beard-stroking plaudits were many; the record sales pitifully few.
When Brian Robertson, who with Scott Gorham had replaced Moore in Lizzy, cut his hand so badly in a barroom fight that it was thought he might never play guitar again, Moore, at Lynott’s urging, agreed to take Robbo’s spot for a 1977 US tour with Queen. The second Colosseum II album had just been released, but Lizzy were huge at the time and, Gary confessed: “I found the idea of a couple of months of five-star hotels and limos very appealing.”
Gary Moore onstage at London’s Alexandra Palace in 1973 (Image credit: David Warner Ellis/Redferns/Getty Images)
When, in August 1978, fiery Robbo talked himself out of the band again, Lynott immediately phoned Moore and told him he was back, no arguments allowed.
“When Gary left Colosseum II he didn’t even tell me,” says Airey. “Then I was doing a Black Sabbath session and I heard Gary was in the next-door studio. I went in and there he was in a white satin jacket, white trousers, flowery shirt.
“He was embarrassed to see me. So we never mentioned him leaving. I said: ‘Right, I better get back to Ozzy. See you soon, eh?’ Then I didn’t see him again for two years.”
The next nine months turned Gary Moore into the hottest guitarist in the coolest rock band in the country. Black Rose, Moore’s only full Lizzy album, included three hit singles and went to No.2. The sight of them on The Kenny Everett Video Show blasting out Waiting For An Alibi while draped in Hot Gossip dancers helped establish Moore as an upgrade on Robbo. Moore held the same menace, but had more flash; scar-faced white lightning in skintight pants and gangster shades.
This was a new career peak for Moore. He’d recorded a solo album, Back On The Streets, that featured both Lynott and Downey. Lynott and Downey also joined for what became the album’s hit single, Parisienne Walkways. Sandwiched in the UK chart between Waiting For An Alibi (No.9) and Do Anything You Want To (No.14), Parisienne Walkways (No.8) was more than just pop-catchy – it was rock-immortal.
It was also in 1979 that Moore met former Deep Purple singer/bassist Glenn Hughes. Lizzy were in Los Angeles, where Hughes now lived, readying for a US tour. Scott Gorham introduced them at LA’s numero-uno rock star hangout, the Rainbow, and by the end of a very long night they were best buds till the end.
When, five months later, Moore stormed off stage after Lizzy’s set in front of 63,000 at the Day On The Green Festival in San Francisco, it came as a shock to everyone. Except Moore.
“It got to the point where the party after the show was more important than the show itself,” Eric Bell says.
When Lynott was so wasted he began forgetting lyrics, Moore decided he’d enough.
“There was never any half-measures with Gary.” Bell says. “Such a nice guy on our own, laughing and joking. But if he didn’t like something he’d soon tell you to fuck off.”
With Moore hiding out at Hughes’s place, AWOL from Lizzy, the two talked about starting their own band, to be called G-Force – geddit?
The self-titled G-Force album, released in May 1980, was heavily tipped for the top but sank without trace, helped on its way by the fact that Hughes was nowhere to be found on it – not instrumentally, not vocally, not even any co-writer credits. The two Gs had fallen out after a heavily coked-and-boozed Hughes tumbled over a table at his birthday party and Moore had laughed. They didn’t speak again for years.
Gary Moore in 1979 (Image credit: Mirrorpix/Getty)
Moore was used to people he worked with smoking dope and snorting coke; it was the 70s. But despite an over-fondness for downers when he was younger, Moore didn’t do drugs. He was a drinker. So he tolerated Hughes’s coke habit. Hughes recalls: “Gary didn’t tell me not to do it until 1984, when I was properly high around him.”
After G-Force there was talk of hooking up with Ozzy, who’d been sacked from Sabbath. But Moore didn’t want to be somebody else’s guitarist any more. Born under the sign of Aries, the ram. Zodiac element: Fire. Sign ruler: Mars. Gary Moore was a natural-born leader.
“Gary always hogged the stage,” Downey says. “Even in Thin Lizzy. Phil was the leader – except when Gary joined. Now it was like we had two leaders, which wasn’t very clever.”
Moore returned to London, and in 1982 released his second solo album, Corridors Of Power, another expertly dealt stack of cards with Moore back on lead vocals. But his reputation in the UK was still as the disgraced Thin Lizzy guitarist. The album barely scratched the Top 30.
Hughes also staged a comeback in 1982, teaming up with super-god American guitarist Pat Thrall to create one of the great lost masterpieces, the album Hughes/Thrall.
“Gary was a massive Hughes/Thrall fan,” Hughes says. “He’d completely forgotten about the G-Force incident.”
In the summer of ’84, Moore was touring US arenas opening for Rush, before coming ‘home’ in August to appear at the Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington. His latest album, Victims Of The Future, had found a winning formula that fitted the Kerrang! crowd – guitar-heavy rock blended with American-flavoured pop-metal – and had a woulda-coulda-shoulda hit in the power ballad Empty Rooms. It was his first UK Top 20 album, despite Empty Rooms failing to reach the Top 50. A first headline solo show at London’s Hammersmith Odeon followed. Then a headline solo Japanese tour.
With a week to kill in LA on the Rush tour, Moore had arranged to stay at Hughes’s palatial Northridge mansion. The only snag was that his host was now a full-time, pipe-sucking crack addict. Hughes “put the pipe down” for a few days while he showered, shaved and tried to “look like a normal guy – for Gary”.
The illusion held long enough to persuade Moore that another team-up with Hughes could work. So the seeds were sewn for what would become Moore’s pinnacle 80s solo album: Run For Cover.
There would be more albums to come on which Moore incorporated trad-Irish rhythms, pure American blues, burlesque pop-electronica, even drum’n’bass into his sound, but he never made another true-blue rock album like Run For Cover. He’d walked out.
Gary Moore in 1984 (Image credit: Fin Costello/Getty)
When Hughes flew into London to begin work, Moore’s manager insisted that Glenn lay down some collateral. “In case I fucked up.” They took one of his cars, a black Volvo he kept as a runaround. In return, Hughes was given at a luxury flat to stay in while the two began writing material. Material that Hughes would later receive no credit for, he explained, because Moore “controlled every aspect – from the syncopation of your bass, to what notes you play, to what you sing”.
Once, Hughes screamed at him: “Why don’t you play the fucking bass yourself?” So Moore did.
Moore adored Hughes’s singing voice, and decided all lead vocals would be split between them 50-50. Hughes would eventually sing lead on four of the album’s 10 tracks.
Moore was such a Hughes/Thrall fan, according to Hughes, that the title track, Run For Cover, was “basically a rip-off of I Got Your Number”, the opening track on Hughes/Thrall. In his 2011 memoir, Hughes writes: “I Got Your Number was a huge influence on Gary. You can definitely hear it on Run For Cover.”
It was true, especially the tracks Hughes sings on, like the strutting Reach For The Sky or the swaggering Nothing To Lose or, best of all, the sassy All Messed Up. Even the freshly frosted Empty Rooms shone like new.
But with Hughes jonesing for crack and Moore oblivious to his pain, the tension in the studio quickly escalated. Hughes would wait for Moore to leave for the weekend, then hit the Embassy Club in Mayfair with Lemmy, who “could handle his drugs, I couldn’t”. Hughes was also midnight feasting, and at one point tipped the scales at 220 pounds/15 and a half stones.
He had originally sung lead on the new Empty Rooms. When Moore’s manager insisted Hughes lose weight and get his teeth fixed in order for them to perform it on Top Of The Pops, it led to a full physical examination. When blood-test results revealed the hideous truth of what Hughes had been up to in his spare time, he recalled: “I was on the next fucking plane. There was no conversation about it. I was gone.”
Needless to say the Hughes version of Empty Rooms never saw the light of day. When a still disgruntled Moore ‘revealed’ in an interview that Hughes had a food addiction, calling him Mr Creosote, “it really hurt me”, Hughes confessed. Moore was “not a man to fuck with. He didn’t have the scars on his face for nothing.”
Another estranged friend that Run For Cover would reconnect Gary with was Phil Lynott. Moore had guested one night on Lizzy’s official farewell tour the year before. Lynott spent all of ’84 trying to get a new band, Grand Slam, off the ground, but there were no takers. Meanwhile, it was common knowledge that Lynott was filling the void with heroin.
When Moore embarked on a four-night run in Ireland that Christmas – two in Belfast, two in Dublin – he invited his ‘big brother’ to come on for the encores each night and do Parisienne Walkways. Back in London, in January ’85, Moore invited Lynott to join him in the studio to record a track he wanted them to do together. It was called Out In The Fields, a song about equality based on the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Phil, though, had endured a “heavy Christmas” and was in bad shape. Moore once described him as “one of the most charismatic and charming fellers you could ever hope to meet, a real Irish gentleman”, quickly adding: “Unless you got on the wrong side of him, of course, and then he could be a real fucker.”
The Lynott in the studio that day, however, was different. “Phil in the early days was always the first guy in the studio and the last guy out. Such a workaholic. But when the drugs kicked in I saw a big change. He’d start each day with a spliff in one hand and a glass of whisky in the other.”
Gary Moore and Phil Lynott in 1985 (Image credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo)
Losing Thin Lizzy had affected Lynott deeply. Now his wife, Caroline, had left him too. “Without his wife and his kids, Phil was living on his own in this big house with a bunch of leeches,” Moore seethed. “Dealers and smack-heads.”
Moore begged. “Please, Phil… Saying I loved him and how I really wanted him to stop. He’d be like: ‘Oh yeah, I’m gonna do it but I’m not gonna do it overnight.’ Then the next day he’d be back to his old tricks.”
When the Out In The Fields single went Top 5 in June, it not only transformed Moore’s career, it also opened doors to a new solo deal for Lynott. “John Sykes said: ‘Oh, it’s really nice of you to work with Phil,’” Moore recalled. “But I didn’t see it as doing Phil a favour. It was his packaging of the whole thing which helped to make it such a big hit. The military uniforms we wore during the promotion were Phil’s idea. He had a gift for marketing, a great sense of how to sell to an audience.”
When Run For Cover was released in September, Moore toured the UK, and Lynott guested on Parisienne Walkways and Out In The Fields at Manchester Apollo and both nights at Hammersmith Odeon. “No pressure, no hard work, no hassle, but plenty of limelight and a great excuse to get wasted every night. I knew what he was up to,” Moore said.
The new Empty Rooms was the follow-up single to Out In The Fields. It reached No.23, didn’t become the hit that Moore thought it should have been.
“Gary was so talented I think it actually haunted him,” says Don Airey. “Once he got the guitar on, he seemed to connect. But he wasn’t really in control of what was coming through him. He couldn’t stop it. He was a genius, really. That sort of thing always comes at a price.”
Mick Wall is the UK’s best-known rock writer, author and TV and radio programme maker, and is the author of numerous critically-acclaimed books, including definitive, bestselling titles on Led Zeppelin (When Giants Walked the Earth), Metallica (Enter Night), AC/DC (Hell Ain’t a Bad Place To Be), Black Sabbath (Symptom of the Universe), Lou Reed, The Doors (Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre), Guns N’ Roses and Lemmy. He lives in England.
