Gary Moore and Friends: One Night in Dublin - A Tribute to Phil Lynott Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Gary Moore and Friends: One Night in Dublin - A Tribute to Phil Lynott Blu-ray Movie Review

"We are here to pay tribute to a great man, and that great man is Phil Lynott" Gary Moore

Reviewed by Sir Terrence April 13, 2009

On August 19th 2005 at The Point Theater in Dublin Ireland, Gary Moore assembled the former members of Thin Lizzy and staged a concert to honor its founder and lead man Phil Lynott. Active in its original form from 1969 to 1984, Thin Lizzy is best known for the songs Whiskey in the Jar, Jailbreak and The Boys are back in Town. They recorded 12 albums of which four went gold, and two went silver in the United Kingdom. Bringing all Thin Lizzy former members together again, Gary Moore created a magical evening for Thin Lizzy fans that will last a lifetime. This concert coincides with the unveiling of a statue of Phil Lynott on Grafton Street in Dublin-a moving event shared by all the former members of Thin Lizzy.

Tracklisting:

1. "Walkin' by Myself" (not a Thin Lizzy song but an old blues standard Moore previously covered)
2. "Jailbreak"
3. "Don't Believe a Word" Gary Moore and Brian Robertson
4. "Emerald"
5. "Still In Love With You" Gary Moore and Scott Gorham
6. "Black Rose"
7. "Cowboy Song"
8. "The Boys Are Back in Town" Gary Moore and Eric Bell
9. "Whiskey in the Jar" Gary Moore
10. "Old Town" (excerpt) / "Parisienne Walkways" ("Old Town" was a song from Lynott's solo career and "Parisienne Walkways" was a Moore song which featured Lynott)

Band members:

Gary Moore – lead vocals, guitar (all tracks)
Brian Robertson – guitar, background vocals (tracks 4-5)
Scott Gorham – guitars, background vocals (tracks 6-8)
Eric Bell – guitars, background vocals (track 9)
Jonathan Noyce – bass, background vocals (all tracks) Brian Downey – drums (all tracks)

It is apparent both in the performance and the looks on the faces of each musician that these gentlemen were having a great time. The crowd sure had a great time, enthusiastically welcoming each band member as they came onstage. This bands sound is hard, raw, and driving, which exudes energy and power. I really enjoyed the lead guitar duo where to leads play a solo in two part harmony - it created a unique color that accentuated the solos. I was amazed at the different flavors of rock music covered in this concert. You had Celtic rock, some heavy metal, traditional Irish with a rock flavor, and just plain hard driving rock. Fans of Thin Lizzy or Gary Moore are really going to enjoy this fantastic concert performance.

Gary Moore and Friends: One Night in Dublin - A Tribute to Phil Lynott Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Gary Moore and Friends: One Night In Dublin - A Tribute To Phil Lynott rocks on to the Blu-ray format in a 1080i/AVC encode framed in a 1:78:1 video window. Filmed entirely in high definition, this production features exceptionally clean images full of detail and vibrant colors. Blacks are inky deep, consistent and stable down to the bottom of the gray scale. Colors are well saturated but mostly focused on primaries with just a hint of secondary colors showing up now and then. Detail is excellent, showing everything from the detail on the buttons on shirts, to the fine texture of the leather pants worn by Brian Robertson. Individual members of the audience can clearly be discerned all the way to the furthest reaches of the auditorium. Contrast is excellent right to the top of the gray scale, and with the excellent black levels make for a punchy highly dynamic picture quality. The only artifacts I saw were a very brief case of line twitter that lasted about two to three seconds. Other than that I could find no encoding or compression errors on this release.

Gary Moore and Friends: One Night in Dublin - A Tribute to Phil Lynott Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This concert offers three audio choices to choose from. A DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless track captured at 16/48kHz bit and sample rate, a two channel lossless PCM track at 16/48khz, and a Dolby Digital lossy track at 640kbps bit rate. I chose the lossless 5.1 track, and boy did it perk up my ears. This is one of the most neutral, wide open concert tracks these ears have heard yet. With a high end extending to the top of my hearing, I was able to hear every nuance of the strumming and picking of the individual guitars, every yell and scream from the crowd, and all of the grit and distortion emanating from the guitar speakers. The top end was extended, sweet and airy without being screechy or peaky. The sound stage was huge and wide open, extending from side wall to side wall, ceiling to floor, and a surround field that extended seemingly forever behind me. The bass drum was tight and powerful, sending off bass waves that hit you in the chest. The bass guitar was weak occasionally, but overall well balanced with the other instruments. Vocals lacked clarity, but I am sure it was because of the lead vocalist thick Irish accent and not the recording itself. I was very impressed with what I heard; the audio engineer deserves major congratulations on a job well done.

Gary Moore and Friends: One Night in Dublin - A Tribute to Phil Lynott Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extras on this disc come in the form of a terrific interview with the musicians. They gave great insight into who Phil Lynott is, why he died, and why they continue to pay tribute to him through his music.

Gary Moore and Friends: One Night in Dublin - A Tribute to Phil Lynott Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Having never heard Thin Lizzy or Gary Moore I came into this review completely blind by my lack of experience and information on this band. I was very surprised that I actually enjoyed this concert as much as I did. The saving grace for me is that none of the songs were overplayed, and Gary Moore knew how to work the crowd extremely well. The music is catchy and tuneful, the performances well done, and both audio and visuals were excellent which makes for a well rounded release. If you are into Irish rock, this is a must have disc. If you are a Thin Lizzy fan, do not wait a second - go out and purchase this disc as fast as you can.