Last night, St. Patrick’s Day eve was appropriately spent with the Thin Lizzy tribute band THE ROCKERS at The Bottom Of The Hill. I know on an older post I said I don’t frequent tribute shows very often but here we are. And may I say THE ROCKERS are quite possibly the greatest tribute band I’ve ever seen.
What makes them so great? Well, everything about them. They do it right. They’ve clearly studied the songs with great detail and were well rehearsed. Doing a tribute band requires much more than being a super fan. Example : KISS tribute bands are a dime a dozen these days and most of them suck. Why? Because most of these bands are so focused on the visual presentation that they don’t even bother to learn the songs correctly. Not only that, a lot of them are just crappy, unpracticed musicians to start with that are just excited to dress up like their heroes.
You’ll get none of that bullshit with THE ROCKERS. Not only did they play these Lizzy tunes to perfection but they looked the part. I mean, what are the odds of finding a dude that not only looks and plays like Phil Lynott (pictured) but actually sings exactly like the man. There were people in the crowd in disbelief with how much he sounded like Phil. It was freakish.
There was no shortage of musical talent on the stage either. The aforementioned man playing the role of Phil Lynott was/is Bryce Shelton of SF Stoner Rock legends Acid King. On stage left guitar we had SF scene mainstay Chris Corona of Molten, Hazzard’s Cure and my favorite of his many bands Floating Goat. And filling in on stage left guitar (filling in for Sonny from Necrot) was Tony Campos of Hellfire fame.
But the true star of the night for me was the man behind the skins, Clint Zane of Deathgrave, Owl and Hazzard’s Cure. The drum production and sound has always been an issue with me in regards to Thin Lizzy. But hearing Thin Lizzy drummer Brian Downey’s beats played with the volume and power they so deserve was an absolute pleasure. Clint is without question one of, if not THE best drummer in the SF/Oakland Metal/Rock scene. It’s been very cool watching his trajectory in the Bay Area music scene take off over the years.
I won’t rattle off every song they played but highlights for me were “Johnny”, “Warriors” and the show closer “Whiskey In The Jar”. I know that song is played out, at least Metallica’s version is but it was really special hearing it at the end of such a phenomenal set. And a very fitting way to ring in St. Paddy’s Day. Even if you’re just a casual fan of Thin Lizzy do yourself a favor and see THE ROCKERS the next chance you get.
–Bleeding Priest
