Some bands belong live on stage, Thin Lizzy were one such band. This tour supported their “ Live and Dangerous “album. They were at their absolute peak, and this was one of their three prestige dates at London’s temple of rock, the Hammersmith odeon. Expectations were high.

Lynnot was a charismatic frontman, distinctive for not only being one of the few black men in contemporary rock bands, but also for being a compelling performer, bassist, and vocalist .

I have been coming to the Robin for thirty years now and over the past few months have seen an outstanding show (legend of Springsteen) and a good one (Sound and vision).

Last night the Doors Rising left me conflicted.

There was much that was good. Stuart Capstick is visually,  stylistically, and vocally a  convincing Morrison. Carl Rice was rock solid on drums, Martyn Gilbert’s lead guitar was fluid, keyboard duties were executed by  Colin Hill rather than the historically billed Andy Keegan. To these ears, the keyboard parts sounded learned rather than performed with the trademark organ flourishes fororm”“Light my Fire” largely inaudible. “Riders on the Storm” was stripped of intensity and context

I found the running order clunky with a half time break unnecessary, and a mood killer. Telsen had opened the evening, I was genuinely unsure as to whether or not it was an REM tribute playing lesser known songs.

The Doors last live show  was over fifty years ago now and was the apogee of 60’s psychedelia.

They only ever played one UK show, the Isle of Wight festival, so hardly anyone in the Uk has seen them live, and pretty much all of their songs were written in one summer. It is a fairly narrow window, and their contemporaries most notably Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead progressed musically, but Morrisons death has frozen them in time. This produces a fairly limited playing field for a tribute act, compounded by the fact that their acid rock material is so at odds with their best known song, “Light my Fire” which became a MOR standard courtesy of Jose Feliciano.

I have nothing against tribute acts, and am for them as a means to keeping music alive. “Rising” are a decent band with much going for them musically but they face an uphill struggle