I’ve told this story in a live review I did of FM, so it seems time to recount it again as they release a live record.
Thin Lizzy were on the tour before they became Black Star Riders and FM got announced as one of the two supports. Staggeringly, given my musical tastes and the groups I grew up with (Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Cinderella and just about any of those 1980s bands) I wasn’t aware of FM’s stuff when me and my mate turned up at Rock City, Nottingham that Sunday night.
Halfway through the first song, I turned to him and did one of those “shit, how did I not know these?” mimes that happen sometimes. The best times.
The fact I’ve seen FM countless occasions since, probably proves this was no passing fancy either, and me and my boys in the best melodic rock band on the planet (face facts, everyone else!) were fully bonded.
This live album and DVD – their third – captures a performance at the Frontiers Rock Festival in Milan in April 2018 , and ok no live album is essential, but this one passes the test more than many of the others, perhaps, given that it is a record of what has been basically a series of flawless performances since the band reformed in 2010.
If you’ve seen them on the shows, then you know what to expect. A masterclass. Simple as that, And that’s what this is too.
The odd thing about them is that for all the bombast of the intro, “ladies and gentlemen, will you welcome the mighty FM”, the shows themselves are just about the humblest you can imagine. Entertainment, pure and simple, by musicians that are at the top of their game.
“Black Magic” might see it start with a new song, but for this festival gig, the five of them ramp up the classics. And, surely, classics of their type are exactly what “I Belong To The Night” and the epic sounding “Let Love Be The Leader” are. They know it too, but they don’t need to make a big deal about it, because more than any other band of their vintage, possibly, FM let the music so the talking.
Of course, each man gets his turn. Jem Davis, does “Metropolis”, Jim Kirkpatrick is one of the best and most varied guitarists there is, while and Merv Goldsworthy and Pete Jupp are right to the fore of “Over You” as a rhythm section of rare vintage. It is, though, with the greatest respect to everyone else, Steve Overland who propels this. Frankly, if there’s a better voice anywhere in rock than his, then I haven’t heard it: For proof, “Story Of My Life”.
FM though, probably don’t care about such things, they’d probably rather focus on their brilliant songs. And they’ve got them by the bucketful. “Bad Luck” always sounds like a Brit take on “You Give Love A Bad Name” to me, “Tough It Out”, is suitably stoic and just try not clapping along when they groove hits.
They even end with “That Girl” – an anthem to those who are hopeless at romance rather than being hopeless romantics – and the joyous rush of “Other Side Of Midnight” is impossible to resist.
Indeed, joyous isn’t a bad word for any of this in truth. Even after having seen FM so much over the last seven years or so, there’s never been a time where you think “nah, I’ll give this one a miss to be fair.” And that’s the reason.
So in that context, maybe “Live In Milan” is essential after all? Certainly it’s up their with “Live And Dangerous”. Apt that. Thank you, Thin Lizzy.
Rating 9/10
