If the late and great Phil Lynott had been looking down on a sold out Palladium Club on Friday night, he could have been forgiven for thinking that his old band were up on stage. Limehouse Lizzy were that good.

Limehouse Lizzy perfectly capture everything that was so special, so distinctive, so fondly remembered about Thin Lizzy, especially that legendary and unmistakeable twin lead guitar sound – founder member Greg Alcock (on the right if you were there) was actually Brian Robertson’s guitar tech so it’s no surprise that they had the sound absolutely nailed. Fellow guitarist Tim Read played the part too with plenty of long hair being liberally tossed around while he looked like he was having a ball.

Commanding centre stage, Wayne Ellis has the voice, the charisma, the gritty bass sound, the style and most importantly, the passion to reignite all those fond memories although its debateable whether Phil Lynott spent as much time in the gym as Wayne obviously does!

And it was greatest hits all the way too – Don’t believe a Word, Jailbreak, The Boys Are Back In Town, Rosalie, Waiting For An Alibi, Dancing In The Moonlight – they just kept coming.

The only disappointment was that it was over so soon after a delayed start. Lizzy encored with Whisky In The Jar, naturally. It seemed to be played with almost undue haste but not surprisingly, the crowd loved it, bellowing out the first verse before reluctantly leaving, still wanting more.

The Limehouse Lizzy tour stops off at The Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London, which shows that these guys can command a big crowd, so it was fantastic to have them playing at The Palladium Club in Bideford.

Short it may have been, but it was very, very sweet.