black star riders us tour

Friday 25th August - Nuneaton,UK - Queens Hall

Saturday  26th August - Newark Showground, UK - Stonedead 

Past Tour Dates

Friday 2nd December - Hackney, UK  Oslo

Saturday 3rd December - Trecco Bay, UK  Planet Rockstock

Saturday 11th February - Belfast, UK - Limelight

Monday 13th February - Nottingham, UK - Rock City

Wednesday 15th February - Norwich,UK - UEA

Thursday 16th February - Ipswich, UK - Corn Exchange

Friday 17th February - Manchester, UK - O2 Ritz

Saturday 18th February - Wolverhampton, UK - KK's Steel Mill

Sunday 19th February - Leeds, UK - O2 Academy

Tuesday 21st February - Cardiff, UK - Tramshed

Wednesday 22nd February - Bristol, UK - O2 Academy

Thursday 23rd February - Glasgow,UK -  SWG3

Friday 24th February - Newcastle, UK - O2 City Hall

Sunday 26th February - London, UK - O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

• Discover all
• DVDs & Blu-Rays
• Longsleeves
• Hoodies & Sweaters
• Sweat Pants & Leggings
• Skate Shoes
• Jigsaw Puzzles
• View All Bands
• Iron Maiden
• Heavy Metal
• Thrash Metal
• Death Metal
• Black Metal
• Power Metal
• View All Brands
• Fuchsteufelswild
• Label Bands

Get Your 5€ Voucher Learn More

Get Your 5€ Voucher

Subscribe to the Nuclear Blast newsletter and get yourself a 5€ gift.

Cookie policy

I agree to the processing of my data in accordance with the conditions set out in the policy of Privacy.

Your cart is empty

BLACK STAR RIDERS: NATIONWIDE TOUR LAUNCHES

• Black Star Riders

Hard rock supergroup BLACK STAR RIDERS will quickly be storming stages across the U.S. in support of their highly-acclaimed debut album All Hell Breaks Loose. The headlining trek of thirty-four shows launches tonight in San Antonio, Texas and will wind its way to Falls Church, Virginia on June 22nd. Six performances will be co-headlined by SKID ROW.

Featuring veteran rock musicians Ricky Warwick (THIN LIZZY / The Almighty) on vocals, Scott Gorham (THIN LIZZY / 21 Guns) on guitar, Damon Johnson (THIN LIZZY / Alice Cooper / Brother Cane) on guitar, Marco Mendoza (THIN LIZZY / Ted Nugent / Whitesnake / Blue Murder) on bass, and Jimmy DeGrasso (Alice Cooper / Megadeth / Y&T) on drums, All Hell Breaks Loose was produced by the legendary Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Aerosmith, Rush) & debuted on the American Billboard Heatseekers chart at #5 & the Billboard Hard Music chart at #19 last May.

BLACK STAR RIDER guitarist Damon Johnson recently spoke with Houston Press journalist Bob Ruggiero about the recording sessions for the band’s debut album:

“I give [album producer Kevin Shirley] a lot of credit. Kevin pushed Scott, and Scott needed to be pushed. But I'll admit I was super-nervous when [vocalist Ricky Warwick and I] played Scott the demos, some of it recorded on my phone! But he liked everything we played for him so it turned from fear to elation!”

Read the entire Houston Press interview here: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2014/05/black_star_riders_roar_out_of.php

U.S. tour dates for BLACK STAR RIDERS are:

5/01/14 The Aztec Theater – San Antonio, TX 5/02/14 Queen City Music Hall – Fort Worth, TX 5/03/14 Concert Pub North - Houston, TX 5/04/14 Juanita’s Café & Bar – Little Rock, AR 5/05/14 Neumeier’s – Fort Smith, AR 5/08/14 Rialto Theater – Tucson, AZ* 5/09/14 The Marquee - Tempe, AZ* 5/10/14 M15 Concert Bar & Grill – Corona, CA* 5/12/14 Harlow’s Night Club – Sacramento, CA* 5/13/14 DNA Lounge – San Francisco, CA 5/14/14 Fulton 55 – Fresno, CA 5/15/14 Canyon Club - Agoura Hills, CA* 5/16/14 The Coach House - San Juan Capistrano, CA* 5/24/14 Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY 5/25/14 Iron Works – Buffalo, NY 5/26/14 Altar Bar – Pittsburgh, PA 5/27/14 Agora Theatre – Cleveland, OH 5/29/14 Turner Hall – Milwaukee, WI 5/30/14 Rascals Live – Moline, IL 5/31/14 The Arcada Theatre – St. Charles, IL 6/01/14 The Intersection – Grand Rapids, MI 6/03/14 Exit/In – Nashville, TN 6/04/14 The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC 6/05/14 Amos Southend – Charlotte, NC 6/06/14 Blue Fox Billiards – Winchester, VA 6/08/14 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA 6/09/14 Vinyl Music Hall – Pensacola, FL 6/12/14 Republic of Texas Biker Rally @ County Expo Center – Austin, TX 6/14/14 Varsity Theater – Baton Rouge, LA 6/15/14 Workplay Theatre – Birmingham, AL 6/17/14 BB Kings – New York, NY 6/19/14 The Chance - Poughkeepsie, NY 6/20/14 Theatre of Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA 6/22/14 State Theatre – Falls Church, VA

*co-headlining with SKID ROW

Purchase links for the album – which features artwork is by renowned American pin-up artist Gil Elvgren - can be found on the All Hell Breaks Loose Landing Page: http://bit.ly/BSR-AHBL

BLACK STAR RIDERS videos include:

• “Kingdom Of The Lost (official) - http://youtu.be/--N4ISYI-4c • “Kingdom Of The Lost” (lyric video) - http://youtu.be/OEWPbi3Jtm4 • “Hey Judas” (official) - http://youtu.be/sUFhANBJPwY • “Bound For Glory” (lyric video) - http://youtu.be/kq6Z6C3ipMk

This fall, BLACK STAR RIDERS will enter the studio in Dublin, Ireland to start recording their sophomore album, which will be produced by DEF LEPPARD frontman Joe Elliott and engineer by Ronan McHugh.

Visit BLACK STAR RIDERS online at www.BLACKSTARRIDERS.com.

Like: www.facebook.com/BLACKSTARRIDERSOFFICIAL Follow: Twitter.com/BLACKSTARRIDERS Watch: www.YouTube.com/BLACKSTARRIDERS

Discover our

Black star riders merch.

Continue reading

Slayer: loudwire.com launches #screamforjeff, sabaton: "resist and bite" lyric video.

Black Star Riders Verified

Similar artists on tour, bandsintown merch.

Live Photos of Black Star Riders

Concerts and tour dates

Fan reviews.

About Black Star Riders

Thin Lizzy’s Scott Gorham on Phil Lynott’s Legacy, New Black Star Riders LP

By Bill Murphy

Bill Murphy

Scott Gorham can’t recall exactly when he was introduced to a certain towheaded youngster who’d never heard of Thin Lizzy , but at the time, the encounter irked him. “This kid looked at me like, ‘Thin what? Who’s that?’ Then somebody told him, ‘You know, they did “The Boys Are Back in Town” and “Jailbreak,”‘ and it still didn’t register. And I thought, ‘ Really? ‘ We made all these records, traveled all over the world, played to millions of people, and it’s like, ‘Nope, never heard of you!’ It wasn’t so much for me, but knowing that Phil was getting lost in the shuffle – that kind of pissed me off.”

It was a wake-up call. It had been nearly a decade since the death of Phil Lynott – Lizzy’s charismatic lead singer, bassist, warrior-poet and proud black Irishman, and at just 36, a tragic casualty of the rock & roll lifestyle. When Lynott was alive, he had almost single-handedly elevated Irish rock to the world stage, infusing the band’s sound with a soulful honesty and rebel swagger that coaxed drummer Brian Downey into backbeats as steeped in hard funk as they were hard rock. Meanwhile, the twin-guitar attack of Gorham and Scottish firebrand Brian “Robbo” Robertson became a boldface signature of their melodic prowess as a unit.

Lizzy peaked in 1976 with their exuberantly confrontational Jailbreak album, which went gold in the U.S. Throughout the latter half of the Seventies until their drug-fueled crackup in 1983, the band also shared some incendiary live dates (and legendary nights of hell-raising) with the likes of Aerosmith, AC/DC, Journey, Rush and, most famously, Freddie Mercury and Brian May, on the North American leg of Queen’s A Day at the Races tour.

In one sense, Gorham’s current band Black Star Riders grew out of his long-running quest to cement Thin Lizzy ‘s legacy. After he kick-started a new touring version of the latter group in 1994 with latter-day Lizzy guitarist John Sykes, Gorham guided the lineup through several personnel changes until he finally brought singer Ricky Warwick (frontman for the Scottish metal band the Almighty, and a fiery Northern-born Irishman himself) and guitarist Damon Johnson (formerly with Alice Cooper) into the fold. Right off the bat, there was a chemistry, a camaraderie, that led them to start writing new material together.

Editor’s picks

The 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, the 50 worst decisions in movie history, every awful thing trump has promised to do in a second term.

“People kept asking me, ‘So, when are you gonna bring out a new Thin Lizzy album?'” Gorham says, his California drawl still prominent after years of living in London. “And all along, to think about doing that without Phil was pretty incomprehensible for me. To be honest, you take a leap into the unknown when you say, ‘Well, we need to drop the Thin Lizzy name and create this new thing out of the ashes.’ So when it came down to crunch time, I just couldn’t take it any longer. I told Ricky and Damon, ‘Listen, I can’t bring myself to bring out a new Thin Lizzy album.’ And the relief on their faces was pretty comical really, because we’d all been thinking the same thing.”

Recorded at Rock Falcon Studio in Nashville, Heavy Fire – out Friday – is the third studio outing by the band that eventually took the name Black Star Riders, and their second with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who’s known for the densely layered, muscular sound he has brought to albums by Alice in Chains, Deftones, Evanescence and Mastodon. And while vestiges of Thin Lizzy remain – most notably in the dueling guitars of Gorham and Johnson, and in the Lynott-like vocal phrasings of Warwick on such cuts as the rollicking single “When the Night Comes In” and the downtempo rock ballad “Cold War Love” – this is still the work of a band that’s carving out its own turf.

“I think we really had enough time to do what we wanted to do,” Warwick says. “I mean, three weeks for us is plenty because these guys are such great players. But that made a big difference because we could actually sit and live with stuff a little bit more. And I think now, with this record, we have our own sound that’s set in stone. It’s very established. Nick really pushed us, and I’m really glad he did. It was worth every ounce of sweat we put into it.”

Anchored by the rhythm section of bassist Robbie Crane and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, Black Star Riders have certainly expanded their palette; the more melodic and even folk-tinged sensibilities that the band hinted at on 2013’s All Hell Breaks Loose and the follow-up The Killer Instinct are now well-honed features on the new album. They’re still quite happy to butter their bread with bludgeoning proto-metal riffs – check the Sabbath-y title track and the headbanging “Who Rides the Tiger?” – but in taking another page from Thin Lizzy, the Riders can deliver soul-flavored rock (“Ticket to Rise”) and even power pop (“Letting Go of Me”) without irony.

Hear Ace Frehley, Slash Cover Thin Lizzy's 'Emerald'

“I think with Ricky and Damon being such huge fans, they caught on to that way of doing things,” Gorham observes. “You don’t have to be afraid to ease down into something a little slower or more meaningful, or a little bit more melodic. Even in the Lizzy days, when Phil would bust out the studded belts and the whole rock look, we were never afraid to show the softer side. Whatever we wrote, however we were feeling at the time, that’s what we were gonna record, because we actually liked that, and we weren’t embarrassed to show that other side of us.”

Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff Have Reached Their Limit

Meet the girthmaster, the onlyfans creator who makes up to $80,000 per month, opioids came for country music. it’s fighting back, from vmas drama to 'thank you aimee': a timeline of taylor swift's feud with kim kardashian, kanye west.

More than thirty years after Lynott’s death – he collapsed in his home on Christmas Day 1985, and succumbed 10 days later to complications related to septicemia – his presence still looms as a benevolent force not just for Black Star Riders, but for a sprawling vanguard of younger bands, among them Mastodon (known for their rousing encores of the Jailbreak -era chestnut “Emerald”), Sheer Mag, Christian Mistress, Hammers of Misfortune and Earthless, as well as seasoned vets like U2, Metallica and Def Leppard. Gorham, Warwick and Johnson still pay their respects; just recently, they played the last in a series of Thin Lizzy tribute shows with Aerosmith’s Tom Hamilton on bass and Judas Priest’s Scott Travis on drums. And for their upcoming tour, which will hopefully hit American shores later this spring with an as-yet-unnamed headliner, the Riders plan to fold a rotating menu of Lizzy classics into the set.

To this day, the connection to Lynott feels especially close for Warwick, who still thrives on the music, poetry and politics of his Irish upbringing. “I never got to meet him, but Phil was the soundtrack to my youth,” he says. “In the North where we were from, with the Troubles and all the bullshit that was going on, it was quite an insane existence, but that’s normal if you’ve never known anything different, which we didn’t. With the security, the curfews at night, the bombs going off, the British soldiers in the streets – nobody wanted to come and play. So the Irish bands were our heroes, because they were the ones that played – Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher, Stiff Little Fingers, Horslips, the Undertones, all those bands. We latched onto them, and as they became big and broke out into the world, they gave kids like us hope. We thought, we can do that too. We can get out of this, and change our lives for the better.”

Gorham felt similar pangs of expectation and wonder when he first auditioned for Thin Lizzy back in 1974. It’s a story he’s chuffed to recount enthusiastically and often – and with Universal Music in London making plans to roll out a long-awaited box set of studio outtakes and rarities later this year, he might consider getting used to telling it even more. “I mean, I had no idea what the hell I was walking into,” he quips. “The first person I meet is this black guy with an Irish accent, and that really threw me. It’s like, ‘Wow, this is different straight off the bat.’ And then we got up onstage, and the power that these three guys were generating – forget about me, you know? Just on their own, they were incredible. As soon as we got together and started to play and started to jell, things fell together pretty quickly. I think Phil was looking for a new sound, and he got it.”

Maya Hawke Has Been There in New Single, 'Hang in There'

• Chaos Angel
• By Charisma Madarang

Rick Ross' Drake Diss Video Is Actually Self-Promo (And It's Genius)

• Laughing With You
• By Tomás Mier

St. Vincent Looks Inside to Reveal 'Big Time Nothing' on New Song

Beyoncé and the 'renaissance' of black country music highlighted in 'call me country' doc.

• Bey's Impact
• By Larisha Paul

Most Popular

Anne hathaway says 'gross' chemistry test in the 2000s required her to make out with 10 guys: that's the 'worst way to do it' and 'now we know better', quentin tarantino no longer making 'the movie critic' as final film, prince william’s bond with his in-laws sheds a light on his 'chilly' relationship with these royals, judge grants nicki minaj's husband, kenneth petty, permission to travel internationally for 'pink friday 2' tour, you might also like, ‘uncropped’ review: an enticing portrait of james hamilton makes you wonder: is he the greatest new york photographer ever, what happens when you combine uniqlo, andy warhol’s art and kaws, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, stephen colbert once laughed so hard at ‘tropic thunder’ his wife thought he was dying, ftc noncompete ban looms over sports execs, coaches, nil.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

• Moscow concerts Moscow concerts Moscow concerts See all Moscow concerts ( Change location ) Today · Next 7 days · Next 30 days
• Most popular artists worldwide
• Trending artists worldwide

• Tourbox for artists

Search for events or artists

• Sign up Log in

• Get the app
• Moscow concerts
• Change location
• Popular Artists
• Live streams
• Deutsch Português
• Popular artists

Black Star Riders

• On tour: no
• Upcoming 2024 concerts: none

14,306 fans get concert alerts for this artist.

Join Songkick to track Black Star Riders and get concert alerts when they play near you.

Find your next concert

Join 14,306 fans getting concert alerts for this artist

Tours most with

Past concerts.

Queens Hall

O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

O2 City Hall, Newcastle

View all past concerts

Live reviews

Second time I've seen BSR, and they never fail to deliver. Awesome set covering all 3 albums, a rollicking cover of Lizzy's Jailbreak and a finale of Whiskey In The Jar! These guys are a proper good rock band, I'd go as far as saying they are the best band I've seen in this size of venue, and I've seen plenty. Ricky Warwick is energetic on vocals and guitar, getting the crowd rocking on every number, backed by the brilliant guitar of Damon Johnson, boy he can play! Robbie Crane was superb on bass and new drummer Chad Szeglia was superb, with a brilliant solo towards the end. Then you've got the legendary Scott Gorham, summed up by Ricky as "you don't need any more edumacting than this man".

All in, if you like rock, you've gotta see BSR. Miss them, and you're missing out, big time. 11 out of 10, buff said!!

Report as inappropriate

All in, if you like rock, you've gotta see BSR. Miss them, and you're missing out, big time. 11 out of 10, nuff said!!

Stone Broken opened and played a fantastic set full of energy and back to back songs they had to play an extended set due to Toby Jepson of Wayward Sons falling ill and was unable to perform but they filled in perfectly

Black Star Riders opened with Another State Of Grace and just got better and better as the night went on none stop Rock n Roll every song a hit ending the night with the amazing Bound For Glory

Cant wait for these bands to return

The whole show was great. Gun started the show with their set and then came the backyard babes who were awesome and to finish came on the BLACK STAR RIDERS who are one of the most improved bands I have seen for a long time. Excellent show for the price and well worth going to see. A great night in Newcastle and would recommend to all to go and enjoy this great band.

Fantastic show, love these smaller venue gigs the atmosphere was brilliant. If you get a chance see these guys they give 100%. Also impressed that there were 3 bands on the bill. Was nice touch that the band were notified by members of Gun that new album had won awards then to top it off the birthday cake on stage for the legend that is Mr Scott Gorham.

This is probably the easiest review I've written, because as usual with BSR, they were awesome from the first chords of Bloodshot right through to a storming version of Whiskey to finish, and a catalogue of songs from all 3 albums in between.

They all rocked, literally for an hour and a half.

In short, if you haven't seen them yet, you need to.

FUCKING AWESOME. Great set, shame it had to be cut short because of the venue change. Plenty of energy, Ricky Warwick was clearly enjoying himself which made it all the more enjoyable for the audience. Waiting for the next time their playing in London!

Excellent show we worth the money and played plenty of new album. Also great band to start the show in STONE BROKEN , really good show from them and extended due to Wayward sons unable to play. All in all an great night to rock to.

Awesome show. These guys really deliver. Amazing performance by Ricky Warwick whose energy rubbed off on the audience. Great sound and just great tunes and rock'n'roll. I highly recommend this band.

Photos (21)

Posters (23)

Find out more about Black Star Riders tour dates & tickets 2024-2025

Want to see Black Star Riders in concert? Find information on all of Black Star Riders’s upcoming concerts, tour dates and ticket information for 2024-2025.

Unfortunately there are no concert dates for Black Star Riders scheduled in 2024.

Songkick is the first to know of new tour announcements and concert information, so if your favorite artists are not currently on tour, join Songkick to track Black Star Riders and get concert alerts when they play near you, like 14306 other Black Star Riders fans.

Last concert:

Concerts played in 2024:

Touring history

Most played:

• London (11)
• Sheffield (9)
• Glasgow (8)
• Wolverhampton (8)
• Nottingham (7)

Appears most with:

• Europe (26)
• Judas Priest (21)
• The Weyers (19)
• Tax The Heat (18)

Distance travelled:

Similar artists

• Most popular charts
• API information
• Brand guidelines
• Community guidelines
• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Cookies settings
• Cookies policy

Get your tour dates seen everywhere.

• But we really hope you love us.

At The Barrier

Live music, reviews and opinion / est. 2018, black star riders – tenth-anniversary tour and new album: news.

Black Star Riders – the new album, the tour and a chance to hear the new single…

Following the announcement of their forthcoming studio album Wrong Side Of Paradise (“an anthemic statement of intent”)   Black Star Riders announce the second single taken from the new record:  Pay Dirt,  out globally on 7 th  September 2022, via Earache Record s.

Pay Dirt  further showcases the band’s songwriting evolution and is the perfect sneak peek of what fans can expect from the new record.  Front-man Ricky Warwick comments: “ Rock’n’Roll is my lover, friend, enemy, ally, religion and saviour. Rock’n’Roll is my life.   Christian Martucci and the late Todd Youth wrote the music for this. And when I heard it, it stank with defiance and attitude. It didn’t need changing, just some words to echo the power of the chords.   It’s an ode to Rock’n’Roll… But also a dig at those that don’t learn their art and don’t play from the heart!”

In addition to the new record, Black Star Riders will embark on their 10 th  Anniversary tour, which starts on 13 th  February 2023.

Ricky Warwick further comments:  “Can you believe 2023 is 10 years of Black Star Riders? … How time flies while you are having fun!  We decided to do something special to commemorate this occasion. For the UK tour only, to coincide with the album’s release, we will be bringing back the legendary Scott Gorham (guitar) and Jimmy DeGrasso (drums) for the dates to make them extra special!”

Wrong Side Of Paradise  is available for pre-order worldwide  here . Formats include: limited coloured vinyl (including green, blue, red and black/white split), black vinyl, signed CD, cassette and digital download. A special edition of the album containing two bonus tracks can be found on CD (which comes with a 24-page song booklet) and USB stick formats. Various collector bundles are also available, including one with an exclusive 12”.

Black Star Riders  online: Website ,  Facebook ,  Twitter ,   Instagram ,    YouTube

If you would like to keep up with At The Barrier, you can like us on Facebook  here , follow us on Twitter  here , and follow us on Instagram  here . We really appreciate all your support.

Share this:

Categories: News

Tagged as: Black Star Riders , Featured , Hard Rock , new album , pay dirt , Ricky Warwick , Scott Gorham , tour news , wrong side of paradise

Published by At The Barrier

An open minded live music and reviews site. View all posts by At The Barrier

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Discover more from At The Barrier

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading

Outsider Rock

Black star riders: interview with ricky warwick.

Ricky Warwick is the lead singer, guitar player, and main songwriter in Black Star Riders. BSR began as a reformed Thin Lizzy, but changed the name when they decided to move on to recording original material. The band’s brand new (and fifth) album is titled Wrong Side Of Paradise (Earache Records), and features the singles “Riding Out The Storm” and “Better Than Saturday Night” (featuring Joe Elliott).

I recently spoke to Ricky about the band’s new album, new line-up, and upcoming tour, among things. Check it out, and check out the links below!

What’s the current line-up of Black Star Riders? You’ve had more changes since making the album.

Yeah, Christian Martucci is no longer with us. He’s had to go back to Corey Taylor because Corey’s busy, working on a new solo record. So sadly Christian had to depart because that’s really Christian’s main gig and the pandemic kinda screwed with our time-line a little bit, and availability and stuff like that. So, right now the line-up of the band is myself, Robbie Crane on bass, Sam Wood on (the other) guitar, and Zak St John on drums. But, for the current 10th Anniversary tour we’re doing in the UK we have Jimmy DeGrasso back on drums, and Scott Gorham is rejoining for the tour – but this tour only!

On the new album you’ve handled most of the writing. How did that go because on previous albums you worked with Scott …

Well I’ve always done the majority of the writing on every Black Star Riders record. I split it with sorta Damon Johnson but i wrote most of the main guitar riffs, I’ve always done that. So it wasn’t really any different for me, I just continued doing what I was doing, and bounce some ideas off Christian. So it didn’t really phase me, I’m a songwriter that’s kinda what I do. You know, Scott didn’t bring in a lot of ideas but what he brought in was always amazing! He’d bring 3 or 4 ideas in on a record, and they were always just fantastic, as you can imagine. So, it wasn’t like suddenly it was all down to me to write it on my own because I’d been doing a bunch of that anyway. Just with the pandemic and not being able to get together I just felt I was able to finish more of the songs on my own before sending them to the guys this time. And in fairness – when I sent them to the guys they were like ‘These are done, let’s record them! We don’t really want to change anything.’ So that’s good on those guys for not tinkering with my vision of what the songs were and just getting it. And that’s just the way it worked out this time around, really.

You’ve got a lot of great riffs on the album. What is your process for coming up with ideas and that? Do you carry around a recorder?

Yeah, it’s old-school. It’s an I-phone, it’s as simple as that. Everything is sung and played in to my I-phone, and then i ‘garage-band’ it, very very basic, and send it to the others and get their input and see what they think. I’m a big believer in the song has to be something you can sit down and play and I’d say 90& of when we write is based around that in it’s purest form so you can pick up an acoustic guitar and play the song right through. And then you can start to embellish it, take it apart and start adding riffs and ideas and stuff like that.

Lyric-wise, what do you draw from?

Everything! Lyrics to me, you’re giving your opinion – your opinion on the world, and your life as you see it, and what effects you. Lyrics are like a diary, so that’s just really what it is – ‘this is what I think, and this is what’s going on around me, this is what’s happening to my friends, my family, and this is what I think is going on politically in the world.’ And you’re giving an opinion. I like to tell stories, I like to create a lot of images lyrically, as well, and bring the person in and have some narrative going on. That’s because the lyricists I admire tend to write that way as well.

Can you talk about a few of the songs here, like the title track, Riding Out The Storm , and Better Than Saturday Night – those all stand out.

Sure. ‘Wrong Side of Paradise’ came about out of sheer frustration with the fact that as a species in society, we have all this fantastic technology and all this wealth and instead of it making us better it seems to be dragging us backwards and making us worse. There’s more hunger and starvation and bigotry and hatred; it’s just complete craziness going on in the world – more than there ever seems to be, when we have the means at our disposal to make the world a better place. And growing up in Northern Ireland I saw what hatred and bigotry and guns and bombs did all throughout my childhood. And it solves nothing, we don’t seem to learn from it, we just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again. And it’s people working 3 jobs just to keep a job over their heads, and people just can’t get a head in life, you can’t get that little bit of hope, and we’re all chasing that dream, you know just to get a little piece, and we’re just lied to by politicians, there’s people that are in power that I think should be locked up in jail, and lots of those people should not be anywhere near deciding what’s right for humanity. And it’s just sad. And it’s really directed at that and people that buy in to the whole myth and that whole lie that they have our best interests at heart – because they don’t. And we keep making the same mistakes. So that’s really where ‘Wrong Side Of Paradise’ is about. ‘Riding Out The Storm’ is quite a personal song. It’s quite a narrative of where I’m at in my own life, after losing my parents over the last couple of years and some close friends that passed away, and myself getting older, and the road ahead of me is definitely shorter than the road behind me, And just where I see the rest of my life and where I see what’s happened in the road that I’ve gone down, the choices that I’ve made, the friends that I’ve made And lost. It’s just a reflection of my own life. You know, I gave up drinking alcohol about a year ago and it’s mentioned in the lyrics that ‘the devil comes out when the whiskey goes in’ – I could trace a lot of bad decisions and things being associated with that. And when I stopped things got infintely better. It’s just a reflection on growing up where I grew up and the culture that I grew up in. And ‘Better Than Saturday Night’ I wrote for my youngest daughter, because she’s such an inspiration – she’s so full of life, she’s so positive, she’s so great. I love her attitude, I love the way she deals with things, and I just find that really inspiring so I wrote that song for her. And that’s just a real upbeat, positive tune.

There’s a lot of great tunes here – As far as the live set, how much of it do you hope to play and put in to the live show?

Thank you. We’re playing a few; I think we’re playing 5 from the new record in a 20 song set. So plenty of old material, but you’re going to get 5 new songs as well.

Where did the idea to cover Crazy Horses come from?

(haha). You know, I’ve just always loved that song since I was a kid, and the guys dug it as well. And I said ‘we should just do it’, and we started messing around with it, and it sounded really good, and they said ‘just do it, let’s put it on the album.’ This is the first cover version that Black Star Riders have ever done. People wouldn’t think that would be an obvious choice for us, but it’s such a great riff and a great song. And great lyrics – there’s great meaning in those lyrics. They were way ahead of their time when they’re talking about the pollution of the planet back in the early ’70s. It just always resonated with me, and I thought let’s just do it, let’s have some fun with it, nothing other than that.

So Scott’s gone on to do the Thin Lizzy thing again, will you be involved with that?

Absolutely, yes!

Is there anything lined up with that?

I’m not sure. I really kinda let Scott that’s his thing, I’ll let him work on that. And if he’s ‘Hey we got some shows.’ Boom – I’m there! I know he’s working on some stuff for later in the year, so I’m sure when it’s all put in place I’ll get a call. So yeah, I’m very much still involved in that, which I’m very honored to be, of course!

The Live and Dangerous box came out, did you get it?

Not yet, it came out a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been in the UK for the last (almost) 3 weeks now, so I believe there’s one waiting for me when I get back to Los Angeles.

How much of an impact did that album have on you?

Huge! Thin Lizzy had a huge impact on me.. and still do to this day. It’s an honor and a privilege that I get to sing those songs, but take away and I’m a Thin Lizzy fanatic – I’m a nut! Phil, to me is the greatest frontman that there ever was. So yeah – huge impact, I can’t stress that enough!

So you have a UK tour coming up. With Scott being there, will that also include songs from the new album?

Oh yeah, we’re absolutely playing songs from the new album. Scott won’t be playing on those. What happens is we come out as a 4-piece and we do about a half dozen songs as a 4-piece and some songs from the new album, and then Scott comes out and rejoins us, and we do stuff from the back catalogue for the rest of the show.

Simon McBride is also from Northern Ireland, I’m wondering what your thoughts are on his being apart of Deep Purple(?)

Oh that’s great! I don’t know Simon, I’ve never met him. But that’s a fantastic opportunity for him, and he’s a great guitar player, so I’m sure he’ll do really really well.

I usually ask people for a Top 10, so I was wondering if you can give me a few albums, obviously the Thin Lizzy stuff….What other albums growing up..

Nevermind The Bollocks by the Sex Pistols, No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith Motorhead, Stiff Little Fingers – Inflammable Material , MC5 – Kick Out The Jams , London Calling by The Clash, Ogdens Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces… yeah, stuff like that. It’s hard to pick 10 off the top of my head.

Are you familiar with any Canadian bands?

Yeah. I’m a big fan of Danko Jones. I love Danko, I think he’s brilliant, I think the band’s great, I think they’re an amazing band. Obviously so many greats like Bachman Turner Overdrive.

Can you give me a few words on the new album cover?

It just depicts me growing up in Northern Ireland where barricades and walls were everywhere because of the situation back then. You know as a kid I was always like ‘Why is our street barricaded off? Why is there a wall there? What’s on the other side of it? Is it better?’ You become fascinated with it. And sadly, I think as we’ve gone on we’re still erecting walls, we’re still erecting barricades to keep us segregated and separated instead of building bridges to unite us and bring us together and get a bit more empathy and understanding going on in the world.

With all the albums coming out, the variants and stuff – do you keep a collection yourself?

I do! I’m a big vinyl junkie myself. I’ve just done a huge in-store tour in the UK where I did 20 record stores in the last 13 days, And I played acoustically at every in-store as well. I love vinyl, and I love record stores. It’s a great way to meet people who have bought the new album. It was fantastic! So yeah, I’m full on when it comes to that.

Anything else you can tell me about the new album?

Well, obviously we’ve got Joe Elliott singing on ‘Better Than Saturday Night’, so that’s cool – if people want to check that out. Joe’s on there, and sounding great! It’s just a killer record! I’m really proud of it. I think it sounds huge, and it rocks very very hard, and people should check it out.

How did you get Joe on the album?

Joe has been a friend for many many years, and Joe produced 2 of my solo records. He’s a really good friend, and I’ve collaborated before with him on stuff. It’s just a no-brainer, I thought he’d be great on the track, and he’s only too happy to do it, which is just amazing.

https://webstore.earache.com/black-star-riders

Website:  https://www.blackstarriders.com

https://www.facebook.com/BlackStarRidersOfficial

https://www.facebook.com/rickywarwickofficial/

https://www.instagram.com/blackstarriders/

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/artist/1COfrboArH3tNjlhFsG5ys?si=ZxBgd0ckTiCjVe4hp7i6wg&nd=1

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWzvnsjhqlGfpXBtpXqp-ug

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

2 thoughts on “BLACK STAR RIDERS: Interview with Ricky Warwick”

Great interview and read KJ. Plus Ricky is a Danko fan!

Like Liked by 1 person

thanks deke!

Leave a comment Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Rock, reviews, news, interviews, & more.

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

Alternative/Rock

Black star riders announce new guitarist and 2023 anniversary tour dates.

Hard rockers Black Star Riders have announced a new guitarist and details of their 2023 UK tour. Get all the news here.

Hard rock band Black Star Riders have announced the replacement for Stone Sour / Corey Taylor guitarist Christian Martucci , who parted the band earlier this year.

Sam Wood , from Wayward Sons , joins the band and his first dates will be the UK shows this coming weekend in London (the band’s label Earache’s 35th Anniversary party) and Trecco Bay in South Wales for Planet Rockstock .

Frontman Ricky Warwick had this to say about Sam:

“I first saw Sam back in 2019 when Wayward Sons were guests to Black Star Riders and I was absolutely blown away! I had Sam join me for some Fighting Hearts dates a few months back and knew he was the guy for us. If ever there was a new GUITAR HERO waiting in the wings, then it’s Sam! Black Star Riders have had some of the World’s finest guitar players in their ranks and Sam is truly up there as one of them. We couldn’t be happier!”

The line-up for the two aforementioned shows together with the 10TH anniversary UK tour in February 2023, will see Black Star Riders welcome back guitarist Scott Gorham and original drummer Jimmy DeGrasso for the celebrations.

Ricky adds “we are really looking forward to playing with Scott and Jimmy again and this is the only time you will get to see us all together again for this 10th anniversary of the band. After February Zak will be with us for all future dates. The set list will be tracks from the new album Wrong Side Of Paradise to start the show then we welcome Scott on stage for the “greatest hits” set to celebrate our 10 years.”

Tour Dates :

02/11 – Belfast, Limelight 02/13 – Nottingham, Rock City 02/15 – Norwich, UEA 02/16 – Ipswich, Corn Exchange 02/17 – Manchester, O2 Ritz 02/18 – Wolverhampton, KK’s Steel Mill 02/19 – Leeds, O2 Academy 02/21 – Cardiff, Tramshed 02/22 – Bristol, O2 Academy 02/23 – Glasgow, SWG3 02/24 – Newcastle, O2 City Hall 02/26 – London, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

Special guests are Michael Monroe and Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons on all shows except Belfast where Trucker Diablo open.

The band’s forthcoming album Wrong Side Of Paradise is released January 20th, 2023 on Earache Records .

Artwork for Black Star Riders 2023 Tour

Premiere: Radial Gaze Plant Their “Tetra Seeds” Music Video in Your Psyche

Faster Pussycat Release Double A-side Single “Like a Ghost” and “Pirate Love”

I have an unhealthy obsession with bad horror movies, the song Wanted Dead Or Alive and crap British game shows. I do this not because of the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle it affords me but more because it gives me an excuse to listen to bands that sound like hippos mating.

You may like

Bad Mary Releases “Better Days” off New EP ‘Better(er) Days’

Chaos & Carnage Tour 2024 Kicks Off April 30th!

Killing Bees Premiere Their Latest Single, “Won’t Be Long”

Limblifter Reveal Select May 2024 Canadian Tour Dates

Motionless in White Announce ‘Touring the End of The World’ European Dates for 2025

Skinny Lister Confirms 2024 UK Winter Headline Tour Dates

Take That (w/ Olly Murs) Kick Off Four-Night Leeds Stint with Hit-Laden Spectacular [Photos]

The V13 Fix #010 w/ High on Fire, NOFX, My Dying Bride and more

Hastings Beat Punks Kid Kapichi Vent Their Frustrations at Leeds Beckett University [Photos]

10 Musicians Who Are (or Were) Passionate About Gambling

Terry Jones Announces EP with Dashius Clay; Shares “Silent Like Chaplin” Video

Julia Gaeta Shares “Hangin On A Dream” Single off Forthcoming ‘Blur Divine’ EP

Cirque Du Soleil OVO Takes Leeds Fans on a Unique, Unforgettable Journey [Photos]

A Rejuvenated Dream State are ‘Still Dreaming’ as They Bounce Into Manchester YES [Photos]

Tour Diary: Gen & The Degenerates Party Their Way Across America

Dan Carter & George Miller Chat Foodinati Live, Heavy Metal Charities and Pre-Gig Meals

Reclusive Producer Stumbleine Premieres Beat-Driven New Single “Cinderhaze”

Black Star Riders: still channelling the warrior spirit of Thin Lizzy

Wrong side of paradise finds main black star rider ricky warwick capturing the romance and the strut of old.

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Riders come and go, but Ricky Warwick has been a constant with Black Star Riders for a decade now. Bass player Robbie Crane has been there since 2014, and drummer Zak St John is a recent addition. Collectively they play like rockers with a fresh mission. The band's connection to Thin Lizzy has never abated; classic-era Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham will guest on some of the 2023 tour dates, demonstrating the goodwill that persists. 

He and Warwick effectively led the Lizzy touring band into the Riders formation. The soul of the old band is a still a guiding principle. Album five does not stint with rousing choruses and motivational themes. Warwick gives his community a pep talk with Riding Out The Storm , steering away from negative thinking and revving out of the doldrums. 

That's preparation enough for Better Than Saturday Nigh t, a tremendous breakout anthem, with Joe Elliott on backing vocals. The Osmonds' 1972 hit Crazy Horses is an ever-relevant tune about car ecology. It has been hijacked by artists including Alex Harvey and Demented Are Go, often with poor consequences. Black Star Riders play it close to the original, and you wish they'd deviated a bit more. 

The album was partly recorded at Dave Grohl's Studio 606. The mood is mostly joyous, and the guitars chime on demand. Warwick remembers tough times in Glasgow and Belfast, even weaving the city vernacular into a low song, Catch Yourself On . His home base is Los Angeles, but the warrior sentiments are Celtic; the track Green And Troubled Land is a bristling rebuke to political doublespeak at home and the morbid hand of history.

Warwick sounds especially enthused by the mid-period Thin Lizzy era that began with 1975's F ighting and fragmented after 1978's Live And Dangerous , and channels the romance and the strut on songs like Don't Let The World (Get In The Way) . Fine, sustaining riffs and a story about street waifs, resisting the odds. 

On the title track, Warwick alludes to the walls and divisions of our own era. He summons up the mood of paranoia and dread. He writes well about the dispossessed, and the music has a keen sense of alarm. He returns to a similar idea on closing track This Life Will Be The Death Of Me . There's funk in the back beat, and it ends with an urgent, contemporary wail. There's a bad moon above, and Black Star Riders are calling it out for their second decade.

Stuart Bailie is a journalist and broadcaster based in Belfast. He is the editor of the quarterly Dig With It magazine, and his work has appeared in NME, Mojo, Uncut, Q, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Mirror, The Irish Times, Classic Rock and Hot Press. He was Assistant Editor of NME from 1992 to 1996 and is the author of Philip Lynott: The Ballad of the Thin Man, Trouble Songs: Music and Conflict In Northern Ireland, and 75 Van Songs: Into the Van Morrison Songbook. 

Swedish Metal Aid: The point where charity, hairspray and a singing horror show collide

Deep Purple are teasing something and it might involve algebra

Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh just played Desperado for a rain-soaked crowd of 300 at a historic Māori fort in New Zealand

Most Popular

   Album Review : Ian Hunter – “Defiance Pa...

   goresoerd releases the music video “maok...,    rotting christ release “the apostateR...,    modern power metal icons unleash the archers r...,    conquer divide join new years day on september...,    battle beast – release new live single &...,    saxon release new lyric video “witches of sale..., jquery(document).ready( function($) { var retina = window.devicepixelratio > 1 true : false; if ( retina ) { jquery( '.site--logo img' ).attr( 'src', 'https://metalplanetmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/metalplanetmusicbanner-2020.png' ); jquery( '.site--logo img' ).attr( 'width', '1000' ); } } );, scott gorham – legendary thin lizzy / black star riders guitarist launches his artwork.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Google+
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Linkedin
• Share on Tumblr

When Scott Gorham was around fourteen years old, at high school in Glendale, California, he took a semester in art.

It was his first and only art lesson, and a good way to escape the typing course. Scott sometimes drew pictures at home and was accepted after submitting a line portrait of his sister, Vicky. However, he was daunted by the competition.   “All the kids were sat around this big table, and whenever the teacher set us a project, I would look around and think, ‘God, these people are so much better than me,'” he says. “But then she would grab my drawing and go, ‘Look, class! Scott understands what I was talking about.” I could see the other kids all looking at me, growling.”   The end of the semester marked the end of Scott’s art education.  “I couldn’t remember a thing – maybe some perspective training, and some stuff about shading, but I’ve always said the most important instrument in drawing is the eraser.

By then, Scott was playing guitar.  “And the guitar always came first,”  he insists. In 1974 he moved to the UK and joined Irish rockers Thin Lizzy. Scott would perform on ten best-selling albums, including Jailbreak, Johnny The Fox, Bad Reputation and Live And Dangerous, and on the hit singles, The Boys Are Back In Town, Rosalie, Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight) and Waiting On An Alibi.   However, Scott secretly carried on drawing, with Thin Lizzy and, in more recent times, with the group Black Star Riders, and at home during downtime after a tour. He just didn’t tell his fellow musicians or even his wife, Christine. Then Christine discovered a folder containing numerous drawings, some of which dated back to the early 1980s. These images were inspired by Scott’s life on the road, getting sober, the state of the planet and even the time Phil Lynott took him to his first football match.   “But none of the band, even Phil, saw any of them,”  he says.  “I do wonder what Phil would have thought. But on tour, these drawings were me taking myself away from the music for a few hours.’   Then, three years ago, Scott posted a drawing called ‘The Fan’ on social media to commemorate what would have been Phil Lynott’s birthday.  ‘This very personal drawing drew thousands of positive responses with fans asking whether there were other drawings and where they could buy it,’ he explains. ‘It took a further three years to persuade me and agree to introduce some of my collection to the public…. I never expected to show them to anyone.”  Until now.

Scott Gorham on “Curiosity” –  “I started drawing this when I was on tour with Thin Lizzy in the early ’80s,maybe around the time of the Chinatown or Black Rose albums. Everybody sees eyes in this picture, so I called it ‘Curiosity’.

I started drawing it in a hotel room on the road, and, like most of these pictures I probably finished it back at home. No one ever saw these drawings. If Phil [Lynott] or one of the guys in the band came in, l’d have probably hidden it under the pillow. We were so focused on the music and the performance on tour, drawing became a way to pull myself out of it – even just for a couple of hours.

Longtime legendary Thin Lizzy artist Jim Fitzpatrick says,  “‘I was so impressed when Christine showed me Scott’s work for the first time. Secret work too, and very unexpected. 

Of course, Scott was and is a rock genius, we all knew that, but an artist too, and a damn good one also? That was a surprise – a wonderful revelation of real quality work from an unexpected source. Of course, I wish Scott well and hopefully he will have more art treats in store for us all.

I wish him every success.  I always loved hanging with Scott, Philip and the gang, and Scott was always such a lovely guy in a world of music and mayhem. Keep on rockin’ Scott, and good luck with this wonderful new work.’

Scott’s art was flagged in March 2024 when Scott provided a piece for use in UK’s Planet Rock radio campaign supporting their own Cash For Kids charity. Planet Rock offered their listeners the chance to buy three exclusive, limited edition, t-shirts designed by friends of the station. Led by Scott, his unique design is joined by artwork from Terrorvision’s Tony Wright and Lzzy Hale from Halestorm. The t-shirts are on sale now for £25 at  planetrock.com/cfkday Scott Gorham will initially launch six of his pieces. Prints will be available from 9am on Tuesday 23 rd   April 2024 at  www.scottgorhamworld.com

• Related Articles
• More By admin
• More In News

Album Review : Ian Hunter – “Defiance Part 2: Fiction

Goresoerd releases the music video “Maokaev” from their long awaited 6th album. 

ROTTING CHRIST Release “The Apostate”

Modern power metal icons Unleash The Archers release new single

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bringing effortless style, a star-studded lineup, and an album as refreshing as the sea br…

THIN LIZZY And BLACK STAR RIDERS Guitarist SCOTT GORHAM Launches His Artwork

When Scott Gorham was around fourteen years old, at high school in Glendale, California, he took a semester in art. It was his first and only art lesson, and a good way to escape the typing course. Scott sometimes drew pictures at home and was accepted after submitting a line portrait of his sister, Vicky . However, he was daunted by the competition.

"All the kids were sat around this big table, and whenever the teacher set us a project, I would look around and think, 'God, these people are so much better than me,'" he says. "But then she would grab my drawing and go, 'Look, class! Scott understands what I was talking about.' I could see the other kids all looking at me, growling."

The end of the semester marked the end of Scott 's art education. "I couldn't remember a thing — maybe some perspective training, and some stuff about shading, but I've always said the most important instrument in drawing is the eraser," he says.

By then, Scott was playing guitar. "And the guitar always came first," he insists. In 1974 he moved to the United Kingdom and joined Irish rockers THIN LIZZY . Scott would perform on ten best-selling albums, including "Jailbreak" , "Johnny The Fox" , "Bad Reputation" and "Live And Dangerous" , and on the hit singles "The Boys Are Back In Town" , "Rosalie" , "Dancing In The Moonlight (It's Caught Me In Its Spotlight)" and "Waiting On An Alibi" .

However, Scott secretly carried on drawing, with THIN LIZZY and, in more recent times, with the group BLACK STAR RIDERS , and at home during downtime after a tour. He just didn't tell his fellow musicians or even his wife, Christine . Then Christine discovered a folder containing numerous drawings, some of which dated back to the early 1980s. These images were inspired by Scott 's life on the road, getting sober, the state of the planet and even the time Phil Lynott took him to his first football match.

"But none of the band, even Phil , saw any of them," he says. "I do wonder what Phil would have thought. But on tour, these drawings were me taking myself away from the music for a few hours.'

Then, three years ago, Scott posted a drawing called "The Fan" on social media to commemorate what would have been Phil Lynott 's birthday. "This very personal drawing drew thousands of positive responses with fans asking whether there were other drawings and where they could buy it," he explains. "It took a further three years to persuade me and agree to introduce some of my collection to the public…. I never expected to show them to anyone." Until now.

Gorham on "Curiosity" : "I started drawing this when I was on tour with THIN LIZZY in the early '80s, maybe around the time of the 'Chinatown' or 'Black Rose' albums. Everybody sees eyes in this picture, so I called it 'Curiosity' . I started drawing it in a hotel room on the road, and, like most of these pictures I probably finished it back at home. No one ever saw these drawings. If Phil [ Lynott ] or one of the guys in the band came in, l'd have probably hidden it under the pillow. We were so focused on the music and the performance on tour, drawing became a way to pull myself out of it — even just for a couple of hours."

Longtime legendary THIN LIZZY artist Jim Fitzpatrick says, "'I was so impressed when Christine showed me Scott 's work for the first time. Secret work too, and very unexpected. Of course, Scott was and is a rock genius, we all knew that, but an artist too, and a damn good one also? That was a surprise — a wonderful revelation of real quality work from an unexpected source. Of course, I wish Scott well and hopefully he will have more art treats in store for us all. I wish him every success. I always loved hanging with Scott , Philip and the gang, and Scott was always such a lovely guy in a world of music and mayhem. Keep on rockin' Scott , and good luck with this wonderful new work.'

Scott 's art was flagged in March 2024 when Scott provided a piece for use in U.K.'s Planet Rock radio campaign supporting their own Cash For Kids charity. Planet Rock offered their listeners the chance to buy three exclusive limited-edition t-shirts designed by friends of the station. Led by Scott , his unique design is joined by artwork from TERRORVISION 's Tony Wright and Lzzy Hale from HALESTORM . The t-shirts are on sale now for £25 at planetrock.com/cfkday.

Gorham will initially launch six of his pieces. Prints will be available from 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 23 at www.scottgorhamworld.com .

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).

ALBUM REVIEW: Black Star Riders – Wrong Side Of Paradise

Out 20th january 2023 on earache records.

17 January 2023 Mark Diggins

Black Star Riders is responsible for  four pretty peerless Hard Rocking releases from 2013 to 2019. They’ve also dominated our end of year BEST OF charts more than any other band starting with the wonderful ‘All Hell Breaks Loose’ (number two) and following up with 2015’s ‘The Killer Instinct’ (number three) ‘Heavy Fire’ (number four) before finally cracking the top spot with ‘Another State of Grace’ which sailed into the Number One spot. This year’s early release of ‘Wrong Side of Paradise’ therefore has been eagerly anticipated since it was announced last year.

What makes this record even more interesting is the changes in the band as they reach their ten year milestone. The main change of course is Scott Gorham who has stepped down to concentrate on Thin Lizzy, though he will join the band live on the anniversary tour. That leaves Warwick the only remaining original member of the band. It also means that the band, with no replacement for Gorham, is now a four piece. So to join Warwick and bassist Robbie Crane in comes session man Zak St. John on drums and Sam Wood of Wayward Sons on rhythm guitar.

This record, the first of a multi-album deal with Earache was recorded in the Autumn of 2021 at Studio 606 in Northridge California and Toochtoon Sound in Redmond Oregon with producer by Jay Ruston who did such a wonderful job on ‘Another State of Grace’. 

So let’s dig straight in and not stand on ceremony. They say that first impressions last and that you never get another chance to make one so don’t blame me if you immediately fall for ‘Wrong Side Of Paradise’ – a riff rocker with a nod to Phil and a huge chunky riff and thrusting bassline that make you want to get up out of that seat and rock out. It’s a song that has one of those choruses that you immediately connect with.

Next up ‘Hustle’ is chunkier, thicker and has some wonderful harp, which after that opener is the perfect track to throw you off the scent if you were expecting a mere repeat of past glories. A dozen listens in it still intrigues me and is a firm favourite. You don’t have to wait long though: ‘Better Than Saturday Night’ is pure Thin Lizzy, and glorious it is to. A corker of a song and a real nod to the ten years of the band that of course coalesced into the BSR from the Thin Lizzy live band.

‘Riding Out The Storm’ is lighter and more mid-paced with elements of bands like Big Country  in the mix and lyrics that deal with depression. It’s a helluva song and seems closer to Warwick’s solo material than Thin Lizzy. And  ‘Pay Dirt’ (co-written with the late great Todd Youth) starts with a real rock and roll riff that could be anyone from The Cramps to the B-52’s but it stomps itself into a whirling hard rocker, driven by drums and adorned by Warwick’s vocal and self-referential lyric.

And the winners keep coming. ‘Catch Yourself On’ the latest single, is a wonderful piece of music, light and stuttering, it defies genres as it looks at the blight of social media.  Ricky Warwick comments: “ ‘ Catch Yourself On’ is a phrase often used in my home country of Northern Ireland, it’s used to tell someone to ‘stop being ridiculous’ or ‘to get real’. We’re sadly becoming slaves to technology and social media (guilty as charged). We don’t think twice about sharing our inner most feelings and thoughts with a world of strangers… We seem to be losing the ability to think for ourselves. Technology is controlling us, instead we should be controlling technology. It feels like it’s already surpassing human interaction.”

What you probably didn’t expect after that diverse and rich opening was a cover song, and not just any cover song but a rehash of the Osmond’s hard rocking ‘Crazy Horses.’ It’s a decent cover and has retained the vibe of the original whilst sounding distinctly at home here, it also neatly cuts the tracks in half.  

‘Burning Rome’ that follows, is the big one for me. A slower song it has everything you already love about this band and then some. It’s stunning.

After that most songs would be swamped but the thrust and groove of ‘Don’t Let The World (Get In The Way)’ adds a few shiny dance moves to the mix. It’s a great ‘blue sky’ song that just lets the music do the talking and melts away those troubles. Set against the politically charged ‘Green And Troubled Land’ which opens like a burst of Stiff Little Fingers ( who were always my favourite Punk band, and who Ricky played with ) – it rocks it’s heart out  – it’s a wonderful moment with some great lyrics and a sublime chorus. 

‘This Life Will Be The Death Of Me’ closes the standard version of the album and it’s another departure, funky and soulful, lit by a searing solo and bought home by a rock solid rhythm section. It’s a great way to close this new chapter for the band that again has that wonderful knack of delivering more than you hoped of them.  Without Scott this is of course a different band but over the last 30 years of creating great music I’d be prepared to say this is one of Ricky Warwick’s finest. 

Some editions of the album also include the bonus tracks ‘Cut ‘n’ Run’ a hard edged Lizzy flavoured Rocker and ‘Suspicious Times’ another fine rocker. They are both well worth checking out.

Wrong Side Of Paradise  is available for pre-order worldwide  here . Formats include: limited coloured vinyl (including green, blue, red and black/white split), black vinyl, signed CD, cassette and digital download. A special edition of the album containing two bonus tracks can be found on CD (which comes with a 24-page song booklet) and USB stick formats. Various collector bundles are also available, including one with an exclusive 12”.

Wrong Side Of Paradise  Track-list

• Wrong Side Of Paradise
• Better Than Saturday Night
• Riding Out The Storm
• Catch Yourself On
• Crazy Horses
• Burning Rome
• Don’t Let The World (Get In The Way)
• Green And Troubled Land
• This Life Will Be The Death Of Me
• Cut ‘n’ Run (Bonus Editions Only)
• Suspicious Times (Bonus Editions Only)

The band’s UK tour in February 2023, a special 10 th anniversary run of dates, as well as their headline sets at Planet Rockstock and Earache Records’ 35 Years Of Noise party, see the band welcome back guitarist Scott Gorham and original drummer Jimmy DeGrasso for the celebrations.

UK Tour Dates: Saturday 11 th February Belfast, Limelight Monday 13th February  Nottingham, Rock City Wednesday 15th February  Norwich, UEA Thursday 16th February  Ipswich, Corn Exchange Friday 17th February  Manchester, O2 Ritz Saturday 18th February  Wolverhampton, KK’s Steel Mill Sunday 19th February  Leeds, O2 Academy Tuesday 21st February  Cardiff, Tramshed Wednesday 22nd February  Bristol, O2 Academy Thursday 23rd February  Glasgow, SWG3 Friday 24th February  Newcastle, O2 City Hall Sunday 26th February  London, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

Tickets are on sale now from  https://myticket.co.uk Special Guests Michael Monroe and Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons on all shows except Belfast where Trucker Diablo open.

Ricky Warwick in-store dates: Friday 20th January – Assai Records Edinburgh 1pm  Friday 20th January – Glasgow LOVEMUSIC 7pm Saturday 21st January – HMV Sunderland 2pm Saturday 21st January – Reflex Records Newcastle 6pm Sunday 22nd January – Crash Records Leeds 2pm Sunday 22nd January The Parish Huddersfield 7pm Monday 23rd January – HMV Manchester 6pm Tuesday 24th January – Liverpool Phase One 7pm Wednesday 25th January – HMV Birmingham The Vault 6pm Thursday 26th January – Banquet Records 7pm Friday 27th January – Norwich, Soundclash – 6pm Saturday 28th January – HMV Crawley – 1pm Saturday 28th January – Brighton, Resident – 6.30pm Sunday 29th January – HMV Reading -1pm Sunday 29th January – Oxford, Truck – 6pm Monday 30th January – Southsea, Pie & Vinyl – 1pm Monday 30th January – HMV Southampton – 5pm Tuesday 31st January – Rough Trade East – 7pm Wednesday 1st February – Cambridge Relevant Record Cafe – 5pm Thursday 2nd February – HMV Leicester 5pm

Black Star Riders announce Ricky Warwick in-store UK tour and share new song

Ricky Warwick performs acoustically in 20 record shops

Black Star Riders have premiered their new song ‘Catch Yourself On’ and they’ve detailed a lengthy in-store acoustic UK tour for frontman Ricky Warwick .

Following previous singles ‘Better Than Saturday Night’, ‘Riding Out The Storm’ and the barnstorming cover of The Osmonds’ ‘Crazy Horses’ , ‘Catch Yourself On’ is lifted from Black Star Riders’ upcoming new studio album ‘Wrong Side of Paradise’, which lands on Friday 20th January 2023 via Earache Records.

Musically, ‘Catch Yourself On’ is a trademark Black Star Riders rock stomper, while, lyrically, it sees the band tackle the demons of technology and social media.

Listen to Black Star Riders’ ‘Catch Yourself On’:

“‘Catch Yourself On’ is a phrase often used in my home country of Northern Ireland, it’s used to tell someone to ‘stop being ridiculous’ or ‘to get real’,” explains Ricky Warwick.

“We’re sadly becoming slaves to technology and social media (guilty as charged). We don’t think twice about sharing our inner most feelings and thoughts with a world of strangers…

“We seem to be losing the ability to think for ourselves. Technology is controlling us, instead we should be controlling technology. It feels like it’s already surpassing human interaction."

Following the release of ‘Wrong Side of Paradise’ and preceding Black Star Riders’ 10th anniversary headline UK tour, frontman Ricky Warwick has announced a lengthy in-store acoustic tour.

Taking in 20 pitstops later this month and in early February, Warwick will be performing a selection of tracks from the new record in an intimate setting.

Ricky Warwick’s in-store tour dates:

JANUARY 2023

Edinburgh Assai Records – Fri 20th @ 1pm

Glasgow Love Music – Fri 20th @ 7pm

Sunderland HMV – Sat 21st @ 2pm

Newcastle Reflex Records – Sat 21st @ 6pm

Leeds Crash Records – Sun 22nd @ 2pm

Huddersfield The Parish – Sun 22nd @ 7pm

Manchester HMV – Mon 23rd @ 6pm

Liverpool Phase One – Tue 24th @ 7pm

Birmingham HMV The Vault – Wed 25th @ 6pm

London Banquet Records – Thu 26th @ 7pm

Norwich Soundclash - Fri 27th @ 6pm

Crawley HMV – Sat 28th @ 1pm

Brighton Resident – Sat 28th @ 6.30pm

Reading HMV – Sun 29th @ 1pm

Oxford Truck – Sun 29th @ 6pm

Southsea Pie & Vinyl – Mon 30th @ 1pm

Southampton HMV – Mon 30th @ 5pm

London Rough Trade East – Tue 31st @ 7pm

FEBRUARY 2023

Cambridge Relevant Record Cafe – Wed 1st @ 5pm

Leicester HMV – Thu 2nd @ 5pm

Black Star Riders UK tour:

Select tickets for Black Star Riders’ February 2023 UK tour are on sale from Planet Rock Tickets now.

Special guests on all dates are Michael Monroe and Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons , and former guitarist Scott Gorham will perform part of the BSR set each night.

New guitarist Sam Wood of Wayward Sons fame will also perform on the trek alongside Warwick, Gorham, original drummer Jimmy DeGrasso and bassist Robert Crane.

Black Star Riders’ UK tour dates:

Nottingham Rock City – Mon 13th

Norwich UEA – Wed 15th

Ipswich Corn Exchange – Thu 16th

Manchester O2 Ritz – Fri 17th

Wolverhampton KK's Steel Mill – Sat 18th

Leeds O2 Academy – Sun 19th

Cardiff Tramshed – Tue 21st

Bristol O2 Academy – Wed 22nd

Glasgow SWG3 – Thu 23rd

Newcastle O2 City Hall – Fri 24th

London O2 Shepherds Bush Empire – Sun 26th

Buy Black Star Riders tickets

The greatest rock songs of all time, including thin lizzy:, 70) thin lizzy – ‘emerald’ (1976).

The 70 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time

69) Rush - ‘2112’ (1976)

68) pink floyd - ‘wish you were here’ (1975), 67) pink floyd – ‘time’ (1973), 66) led zeppelin – ‘when the levee breaks’ (1971), 65) led zeppelin – ‘since i’ve been loving you’ (1970), 64) journey – ‘don’t stop believin’ (1981), 63) def leppard – ‘pour some sugar on me’ (1987), 62) van halen – ‘jump’ (1983), 61) ufo – ‘rock bottom’ (1974), 60) the cult – ‘she sells sanctuary’ (1985), 59) rush – ‘xanadu’ (1977), 58) jimi hendrix – ‘voodoo chile (slight return)’ (1968), 57) aerosmith – ‘dream on’ (1973), 56) ufo – ‘love to love’ (1977), 55) black sabbath – ‘black sabbath’ (1970), 54) ac/dc – ‘for those about to rock (we salute you)’ (1981), 53) thin lizzy – ‘the boys are back in town’ (1976), 52) ufo – ‘doctor doctor’ (1974), 51) iron maiden – ‘fear of the dark’ (1992), 50) boston – ‘more than a feeling’ (1976), 49) blue öyster cult – ‘(don’t fear) the reaper’ (1976), 48) ac/dc – ‘you shook me all night long’ (1980), 47) iron maiden – ‘run to the hills’ (1982), 46) gun n’ roses – ‘november rain’ (1991), 45) pink floyd – ‘shine on you crazy diamond’ (1975), 44) gun n’ roses – ‘welcome to the jungle’ (1987), 43) rush – ‘tom sawyer’ (1981), 42) metallica – ‘one’ (1988), 41) metallica – ‘master of puppets’ (1986), 40) jimi hendrix – ‘all along the watchtower’ (1968), 39) gun n’ roses – ‘paradise city’ (1987), 38) the rolling stones – ‘gimme shelter’ (1969), 37) deep purple – ‘burn’ (1974), 36) bruce springsteen – ‘born to run’ (1975), 35) foo fighters – ‘everlong’ (1997), 34) metallica – ‘nothing else matters’ (1991), 33) eagles – ‘hotel california’ (1976), 32) deep purple – ‘highway star’ (1972), 31) black sabbath – ‘heaven and hell’ (1980), 30) iron maiden – ‘the number of the beast’ (1982), 29) tenacious d – ‘tribute’ (2002), 28) rush – ‘the spirit of radio’ (1980), 27) bon jovi – ‘livin’ on a prayer’ (1986), 26) ac/dc – ‘let there be rock’ (1977), 25) free – ‘all right now’ (1970), 24) black sabbath – ‘war pigs’ (1970), 23) led zeppelin – ‘rock and roll’ (1971), 22) iron maiden – ‘the trooper’ (1983), 21) black sabbath – ‘paranoid’ (1970), 20) the who – ‘won’t get fooled again’ (1971).

A Top 10 hit upon its release in 1971 as a trimmed down three-minute single, to truly understand the brilliance of 'Won't Get Fooled Again' you have to listen to the sprawling eight-and-a-half-minute album version. Pete Townshend wrote 'Won't Get Fooled Again' as a critique about power and revolution, and the song is loosely broken down into three thematic parts – the uprising in the first verse, the overthrow of power in the middle, and the new regime being a replica of the old regime later in the song, hence lines like "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

19) Deep Purple – ‘Child in Time’ (1970)

Loosely inspired by the Cold War and themes of inhumanity, Deep Purple's progressive rock opus is a musical odyssey of the highest calibre. Embracing the quiet/loud dynamic, throughout the all-too-short 10 minutes each band member is at the top of the game - from Ritchie Blackmore's searing riffs to Ian Gillan's emotionally wrought (and oft screeching) vocals to Jon Lord's ominous organs to the pulsing rhythms of Roger Glover and Ian Paice. A monumental and magnificent rock epic.

18) Metallica – ‘Enter Sandman’ (1991)

The opening track and lead single from Metallica's 1991 self-titled album (aka 'The Black Album'), 'Enter Sandman' opens with Kirk Hammett's plaintive guitar playing before crushing guitars and sonic fury are unleashed on the listener. True it's not as raw as some of Metallica's earlier songs, but 'Enter Sandman' is a heavy metal masterclass that fuses nightmarish lyrics with thunderous music and searing riffs.

17) Led Zeppelin – ‘Whole Lotta Love’ (1969)

Colossal sounding, dirty-as-hell, gloriously lewd and sonically experimental, 'Whole Lotta Love' needs very little introduction. Jimmy Page's iconic riff is one of the purest and most timeless riffs he ever created with Led Zeppelin, while John Paul Jones and John Bonham give the track poise, rhythm and muscle. However, it's Robert Plant who manages to grab the headlines with his sexually charged and highly lascivious lines like "Way down inside", "I'm gonna give you every inch of my love" and, of course, "I wanna be your backdoor man!"

16) Motörhead – ‘Ace of Spades’ (1980)

Motörhead purists might argue that there are better songs in the band's formidable musical arsenal, but 'Ace of Spades' is easily Lemmy, Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor and "Fast" Eddie Clarke's most popular and enduring tracks. Pure musical alchemy, 'Ace of Spades' opens with Lemmy's pummelling bass intro before crashing drums and whirring guitars enter the fray and Mr Kilmeister spouts gambling themed lyrics in his idiosyncratic guttural growl. Exhilarating and electric.

15) AC/DC – ‘Highway to Hell’ (1979)

The second highest placing Bon Scott-era AC/DC song on our countdown, 'Highway to Hell' is three-and-a-half minutes of primal, powerful and perfect guitar-drive rock. Like so many riffs in AC/DC's legendary repertoire, Angus Young's riff is truly timeless, while Bon Scott is at his commanding best. With 'Highway to Hell', AC/DC once again proved that simplicity is often the key to rock n' roll brilliance.

14) AC/DC – ‘Thunderstruck’ (1990)

Powered by scintillating riffs from Angus and Malcolm Young, rabble-rousing chants, screeching vocals from Brian Johnson and muscular rhythms from Chris Slade and Cliff Williams, 'Thunderstruck' is the sound of AC/DC at their most electrifying and one of the standout moments of the post-Bon Scott era. Such is its popularity, 'Thunderstruck' was the first AC/DC track to surpass one billion views on YouTube.

13) Gun N’ Roses – ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ (1987)

Of course, it wouldn't be a Greatest Rock Song poll without Gun N' Roses' signature song 'Sweet Child O' Mine' rearing its head. The 'Appetite for Destruction' anthem is so all-pervading and ubiquitous that even Slash says he "cringes" when he hears his iconic riff in public, however, ignoring the over-exposure, there's no doubt that 'Sweet Child O' Mine' is a rock classic.

12) Iron Maiden – ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ (1982)

Iron Maiden's fifth song to appear on our countdown is 'The Number of the Beast' classic 'Hallowed Be Thy Name'. Performed on every Iron Maiden tour – except the Maiden England World Tour and The Book of Souls World Tour – for the past four decades, the Steve Harris penned seven-minute epic details the macabre story of a prisoner about the be hanged. Not only is it one of Iron Maiden's greatest songs from their legendary back catalogue, it's also one of the greatest rock songs of all time.

11) Deep Purple – ‘Smoke on the Water’ (1972)

Ritchie Blackmore's instantly recognisable guitar riff on 'Smoke on the Water' was voted the Greatest Rock Riff of All Time by Planet Rock listeners five years ago, and the seminal song has duly been voted into the Top 20 on our new poll. Blackmore noted years later that he took inspiration from Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven, and he owes the deceased composer a lot of money. Thematically, 'Smoke on the Water' was inspired by the devastating fire at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland in December 1971 where the band had decamped to record what would become their sixth album, 'Machine Head.'

10) Meat Loaf – ‘Bat Out of Hell’ (1977)

The opening track on Meat Loaf's debut album of the same name, as statements of intent go, they don't get much better than 'Bat Out of Hell.' The brilliantly bombastic track's lyrics were described as "a rock 'n roll sci-fi version of Peter Pan" by songwriter Jim Steinman, while musically it's gloriously overblown and the perfect vehicle for the late-great Meat Loaf's theatrical and impossibly powerful voice. An irrefutable rock magnum opus.

9) AC/DC – ‘Back in Black’ (1980)

Opening with one of the greatest riffs in rock history, AC/DC's title track from their blockbuster 'Back in Black' album was written in response to the death of Bon Scott. New frontman Brian Johnson was asking not to be morbid when penning the lyrics, and, duly, the track is a celebration of the rock legend. Johnson noted years later: "I just wrote what came into my head, which at the time seemed like mumbo, jumbo. 'Nine lives. Cats eyes. Abusing every one of them and running wild.' The boys got it though. They saw Bon's life in that lyric."

8) AC/DC – ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ (1977)

The seventh AC/DC song to feature in our Top 70 is the band's riff-heavy hard rock anthem 'Whole Lotta Rosie.' Written by Angus Young, Bon Scott, Malcolm Young, 'Whole Lotta Rosie' details a mind-blowing one-night stand Scott had with a Tasmanian woman called Rosie. A mainstay of AC/DC's live shows since it was released (only 'The Jack' has been performed live more), more recent performances of 'Whole Lotta Rosie' have featured a giant inflatable Rosie on the stage's backdrop.

7) Alter Bridge - ‘Blackbird’ (2007)

The only song from the 21st Century to feature in our Top 20, 'Blackbird' is the crowning glory of Alter Bridge's second studio album and arguably the highpoint of their illustrious career so far. Lyrically poignant, Myles Kennedy wrote the lyrics for 'Blackbird' about the death of his close friend Mark Morse. Kennedy said: "It's really about seeing the suffering he was going through and hoping he would find his solace soon and be free from all of that." The eight-minute track also features a colossal guitar solo from both Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti that was voted the third greatest guitar solo ever by Planet Rock listeners in 2019.

6) Led Zeppelin – ‘Kashmir’ (1975)

The towering musical behemoth that is 'Kashmir' is Led Zeppelin's second-highest polling song from their fabled back catalogue. A track so good that it has you thumbing at the thesaurus looking for suitable superlatives, it's no surprise that the surviving members of Led Zeppelin regard 'Kashmir' as one of their career zeniths. Jimmy Page said of the track: "The intensity of 'Kashmir' was such that when we had it completed, we knew there was something really hypnotic to it, we couldn't even describe such a quality…. It sounded so frightening at first."

5) Pink Floyd - ‘Comfortably Numb’ (1979)

David Gilmour's transcendental playing on Pink Floyd's 'Comfortably Numb' was voted the Greatest Guitar Solo of All Time by Planet Rock listeners in 2019, and the song itself is rightfully in the upper echelons of our Greatest Rock Songs poll at Number 5. Penned by Roger Waters and David Gilmour, 'Comfortably Numb' is one of the defining moments of their songwriting partnership, yet such was the friction between the two during the recording process that Gilmour later noted it represents "the last embers of mine and Roger's ability to work collaboratively together." Poignantly, 'Comfortably Numb' was the last song Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and the late-great Richard Wright performed together at Live Aid in 2005.

4) Lynyrd Skynyrd – ‘Free Bird’ (1973)

The only Lynyrd Skynyrd to make our Top 70, the Ronnie Van Zant and Allen Collins penned 'Free Bird' is the band's signature song and truly one of the finest tracks in rock history. Delivered in Van Zant's trademark southern rock drawl, the track opens with him singing "If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?", hinting at a man unable to settle down. Just past the midway point, 'Free Bird' morphs into a crescendo of glorious guitar solos and frenetic instrumentation – an life-affirming aural onslaught that still sounds as fresh now as it did almost half a century ago.

3) Rainbow – ‘Stargazer’ (1976)

The standout song from Rainbow's seminal 'Rising' album, 'Stargazer' sees the inimitable, late-great Ronnie James Dio narrate the ominous story of a wizard whose attempt to fly by constructing a tower to the stars leads to the enslavement of countless people. A musically complex, powerful and majestic heavy metal tour-de-force, 'Stargazer' flaunts the imperious talents of the respective Rainbow band members, from Dio's astonishing pipes to Cozy Powell's titanic drums to Ritchie Blackmore's mercurial guitar playing. Nothing short of a masterpiece.

2) Led Zeppelin – ‘Stairway To Heaven’ (1971)

Number 2 on our Greatest Led Zeppelin Songs poll in September 2018 to mark the band's 50th anniversary, 'Stairway To Heaven' is also at No.2 in our Greatest Rock Song poll. Clocking in at just over eight minutes, every second of 'Stairway To Heaven' is iconic; from the opening, Renaissance-tinged finger-picked guitars and recorders to Jimmy Page's legendary solo and right through to Robert Plant's ultimate, plaintive "and she's buying the stairway to heaven" refrain. A true timeless classic that will be listened to in centuries to come.

1) Queen – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (1975)

Having previously finished at No.2 in our previous Greatest Rock Song poll a decade ago , Queen's timeless and ubiquitous rock epic 'Bohemian Rhapsody' has climbed to Number 1 in 2022. Multi-layered and ambitious in musical scope, the Freddie Mercury penned 'Bohemian Rhapsody' has topped the charts twice in the UK and has been introduced to new generations of fans via 1992's Wayne's World and the 2018 Queen biopic of the same name, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Listen to Planet Rock on DAB nationwide, on our free app, online, via your smart speaker (“Play Planet Rock”) and on Freesat.

• black star riders

Tour de Romandie 2024: live stream cycling online

The 77th Tour de Romandie packs in 11,000m of climbing across six stages in Switzerland

• FREE live streams
• Watch from anywhere
• Route & stages

Last year's winner Adam Yates and third-placed Damiano Caruso both return to this six day-stage race in Romandie, the French speaking area of west Switzerland to battle again in the region's beautiful mountain scenery.

Read on and we'll show you how to watch the Tour de Romandie 2024 live streams from anywhere with a VPN , and potentially for FREE .

Tour de Romandie 2024 live streams take place between Tuesday, April 23 and Sunday, April 28. Start times vary. • FREE STREAMS —   Watch on SRF (Switzerland) •   U.S. — Watch on FloBikes •   U.K. — Watch on Discovery+ • Watch anywhere — Try NordVPN

Starting with a minuscule 2.3km prologue in the town of Payerne, the 77th Tour de Romandie will cover a total of 657km and pack in over 11,000m of climbing with a time trial on stage three and summit finishes on both stages two and four at Les Marécottes and Leysin.

Favourite to repeat his victory of last year will be Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) who will be backed up by a strong team including Pavel Sivakov, Felix Großschartner and Juan Ayuso. Leading the challenge will be the ever improving Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) winner of the recent Giro d’Abruzzo Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan Team) and young French star Lenny Martinez (Groupama - FDJ).

The course isn’t just for the climbers though as with a prologue and a mid-race time trial many TT specialists are on the start sheet too including Josh Tarling and Ethan Hayter from (INEOS Grenadiers) and Rémi Cavagna (Movistar Team).

An incredibly technical 2.2km prologue started the race with just hundredths of seconds separating the riders at the end. On the twisting course with multiple tight corners it was as much skill as raw power that would decide the winner. 

Coming out on top was Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor Pro Cycling) who took the win ahead of Cameron Scott (Bahrain Victorious) with Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep) completing podium.

Read on for where to watch the Tour de Romandie 2024 cycling action live, wherever you are in the world.

FREE Tour de Romandie 2024 live streams

If you live in Switzerland then you can look forward to a FREE Tour de Romandie live stream in 2024. 

Switzerland's SRF is set to serve up a free stream of this six-stage stage race.

But what if you're based in Switzerland but aren't at home to catch that free Tour de Romandie coverage? Maybe you're on holiday and don't want to spend money on pay TV in another country, when you'd usually be able to watch for free at home?

Don't worry — you can watch via a VPN instead. We'll show you how to do that below.

Tour de Romandie 2024 live streams around the world

Away from home at the moment and blocked from watching the cycling on your usual subscription?

You can still watch the Tour de Romandie 2024 live thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software allows your devices to appear to be back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are. So ideal for viewers away on vacation or on business. Our favorite is NordVPN . It's the best on the market:

There's a good reason you've heard of NordVPN. We specialize in testing and reviewing VPN services and NordVPN is the one we rate best. It's outstanding at unblocking streaming services, it's fast and it has top-level security features too. With over 5,000 servers, across 60 countries, and at a great price too, it's easy to recommend.

Get 60% off NordVPN with this deal

Using a VPN is incredibly simple.

1. Install the VPN of your choice . As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance if you're in the U.S. and want to view a Swiss service, you'd select Switzerland from the list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to SRF or another streaming service and watch the action.

How to watch 2024 Tour de Romandie live streams in the U.S.

Cycling fans in the U.S. can watch the 2024 Tour de Romandie on  FloBikes . A subscription will set you back US$149.99 for the year or US$29.99 on a monthly basis.

And if you're currently out of the U.S. but still want to watch the race, then don't forget to explore  NordVPN  set out above.

How to watch Tour de Romandie 2024 live streams in the U.K.

Live coverage of the 2024 Tour de Romandie will be broadcast on Eurosport and Discovery+.

A 'standard' subscription to Discovery+ which includes Eurosport's cycling coverage will set you back £6.99 per month or £59.99 per year. The package includes year-round cycling streams as well as other live sports including snooker, tennis, motorsports, the Paris Olympic Games, and more.

A premium subscription, which includes all that plus TNT Sports ( Premier League , Champions League and Europa League football plus rugby, wrestling, UFC, and MotoGP) costs an additional £29.99 per month.

If you're currently traveling overseas, don't worry, as you can use NordVPN to watch from abroad.

How to watch Tour de Romandie live streams in Canada

Cycling fans in the Canada can watch the 2024 Tour de Romandie on  FloBikes . A subscription will set you back CAN$150 for the year or CAN$29.99 on a monthly basis.

Not at home right now? Use NordVPN or another VPN service to trick your device into thinking you're still in Canada.

Tour de Romandie 2024 stages

The race starts with a very short 2.3km prologue which will be contested by the overall favorites, keen to install a pecking order early on, and the short TT specialists looking for a chance to gain a leaders jersey in a big stage race. 

Stage one follows the next day and it’s a lumpy 165.7km from Château d’Oex to Fribourg which will likely end in a sprint finish, although there are very view big name sprinters on the start sheet.

Stage two is where the GC action will really kick off with two huge mountains and a summit finish at Salvan/Les Marécottes. This 10km final ascent, averaging 7.3%, has slopes maxing out at 14% so will be a proper test for the climbers.

Those same climbers will the next day have to take on the 15.5km continuously undulating time trial around Oron and utilise another skill needed to win a stage race.

Stage four from Saillon to Leysin is 151.7km and takes the riders into higher territory with five classified climbs including the 10km summit finish at the end.

After this the GC battle should be stitched up with just the laps around Vernier to contend with on the final stage which will likely end in a sprint.

Prologue | Tuesday April 23, | Payerne - Payerne. 2.3km

Stage 1 | Wednesday April 24, Château d’Oex - Fribourg. 165.7km

Stage 2 | Thursday April 25, Fribourg - Salvan/Les Marécottes. 171km

Stage 3 | Friday April 26, Oron - Oron. 15.5km

Stage 4 | Saturday April 27, Sailion - Leysin. 151.7km

Stage 5 | Sunday April 28, Vernier - Vernier. 150.8km

• How to watch F1 live streams online
• How to watch Premier League live streams
• YouTube TV's multiview channels revealed — here's what you can watch

Simon Warren has been obsessed with cycling since the summer of 1989 after watching Greg Lemond battle Laurent Fignon in the Tour de France. Although not having what it took to beat the best, he found his forte was racing up hills and so began his fascination with steep roads. This resulted in his 2010’s best-selling  100 Greatest Cycling Climbs , followed to date by 14 more guides to vertical pain. Covering the British Isles, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain he has been riding and racing up hills and mountains for over 30 years now. He hosts talks, guides rides, has written columns for magazines and in 2020 released his first book of cycling routes,  RIDE BRITAIN . Simon splits his time between working as a graphic designer and running  his 100 Climbs brand  and lives in Sheffield on the edge of the Peak District with his wife and two children.

Everton vs Liverpool live stream: How to watch Premier League game online

Atalanta vs Fiorentina live stream: How to watch Coppa Italia semi-final second leg online

5 Hulu shows to watch now with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes April 2024

Most Popular

• 2 Apple reportedly slicing Vision Pro shipments in half due to weakening demand
• 3 Razer's new Viper V3 Pro gaming mouse boasts an obscene 8000Hz polling rate
• 4 Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses just got a ton of upgrades, including new AI features and video calling
• 5 New 4K Chromecast with Google TV reportedly on the way — what we know

PGA TOUR to return to Utah after 60 years, coming to Black Desert Resort

S T. GEORGE, Utah ( ABC4 ) — The Black Desert Championship 2024 Professional Golf Association TOUR FedEx Fall Cup in October will mark the historic return of the PGA TOUR to Utah after more than six decades.

The event — which is set to take place on the Black Desert Resort ‘s 19-hole championship golf course designed by Tom Weiskopf — will run from Oct. 9 through Oct. 13. This is the inaugural tournament in the four-year agreement between Black Desert and the PGA TOUR.

VIP weekly hospitality tickets for the championship are now available online . Public general admission passes and daily hospitality tickets are scheduled to be available in June. Manning told ABC4.com that the only place ticket sales will be guaranteed will be from blackdesertevents.com .

“We are delighted to bring top-tier professional golf back to this region and look forward to making history with an unforgettable tournament experience,” Patrick Manning, managing partner of Black Desert said.

Manning said volunteer spots for the event filled up within two hours.

“The tournament is an opportunity for our team and community to come together and represent our hometown,” Manning said.

The event schedule

• Official Pro-Am, open to the public
• Opening day, full field competition
• Second round of competition, full field competition
• Third round of competition, player field after the cut
• Final championship round
• Trophy presentation

“The Black Desert Championship is a landmark event for both the PGA TOUR and the state of Utah,” Manning said.

VIP tickets and exclusive hospitality opportunities are available online and include packages with varying levels of benefits and experiences.

VIP experience breakdown

• Multi-level club overlooking 16th green and par-3 17th hole
• Starts at $1,750
• Club on the 18th green over two levels, including covered open-air spaces and rooftop deck
• Starts at $2,250
• Grants VIP access throughout the day — both at the resort and on-course — across all five tournament days
• Starts at $7,500
• Access to walk inside the ropes for an entire round of competition with PGA TOUR players
• Starts at $10,000
• Join a PGA TOUR professional for 18 holes at the Black Desert Resort, including post-round reception
• Starts at $20,000 per team
• Play alongside two PGA TOUR professionals at Black Desert
• Starts at $30,000 per team

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.