>> STREET LEGAL <<

Smuget, Oslo - Monday October 25, 2004

For the first time in 2 years, I happened to see Street Legal live again. The band have kept a low profile the last few years. Alot of things have changed since last time, nothing musicall though. The band's founder, singer and bass-player Bjorn Boge (ex-Da Vinci) is the only remaining of the original members. On the drums is Bjorn's brother, Oystein. And on the guitars is two clever guys, Tommy Kristiansen and Rolf Bjorseth. The band gave us a great mix of old songs, covers and tastes from the new upcoming album.

They started out with a tribute to their heroes and main influence, Thin Lizzy's "Black Rose", then we got a brushing-up from the 'Thunderdome' album in "Chasing The Rainbow". The band already sounded great at this point, like they've been played around together for years. Next up was the nighs first new song "Trapped", with an opening that was almost ripped out of Thin Lizzy's "Are You Ready?". A great up-tempo rocker, and with a guitar-solo in the best John Sykes-style. "Trapped" hasn't a catchy chorus, but it dosen't need it either. Great tune. "Red Light District" followed. A slow ballady song from the debut, great song.
Another new song was next, "Somebody Up There Likes Me". Well, to my knowledge this isn't really a new song, it's a song co-written by Tommy La Verdi (ex-21 Guns) some years agao that was meant to end up on Ozzy Osbourne's desk (something that never happened). A straight ahead rocker with a touch of funkiness. Cool tune which is a little different from the other regular Thin Lizzy-flavoured songs. Speaking of Lizzy, another tribute to their heroes came in "Massacre" which went into "Powertool".
"Calling For You" was next, a great ballad from the first album which got a raw and heavy ending with Bjorn slammed and pulled his bass-strings. The last of new songs tonight was "Unconditional Love", a mid-tempo rocker that was good, but not the best of the new songs. After a few thundering minutes of "Thunderdome" we got a heavy and guitar-filled version of "Manic" from the Flashdance musical. Street Legal's version of "Maniac" is not far from the way Sargant Fury did it. A cool song anyway. The final song was yet another Thin Lizzy classic, "The Boys Are Back In Town". These guys knows how to do Lizzy-songs, with respect!

A great night had come to an end, and I'm sure there is more great nights to come with these guys around. Hopefully they'll play my favorite from the debut, "Wrong Side Of Town" next time. All I know by now is that I'm really looking foreward to Street Legal's next album.


Set list:

Black Rose [Thin Lizzy]
Chasing The Rainbow
Trapped [new]
Red Light District
Somebody Up There Likes Me [new]
Massacre [Thin Lizzy]
Powertool
Calling For You
Unconditional Love [new]
Thunderdome
Maniac [Flashdance]
The Boys Are Back In Town [Thin Lizzy]

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Reviews & photos by Per Erik Jansen