DARREN WHARTON’S RENEGADE – 30.11.2024 – Troon

Darren Wharton’s Renegade was the last band on the main stage on the Saturday at the annual WinterStorm festival, and not only were they a musical treat in every conceivable way but also something of a dream come true to this scribe. You see, I absolutely love and cherish Wharton’s sterling work with the legendary Thin Lizzy, but I have never yet had the chance to see one of the latter-day constellations of the group on stage, which means that Darren Wharton’s Renegade represented the closest thing to Lizzy that I will probably ever experience along with Brian Downey’s Alive and Dangerous. At 10.15 PM they went on stage and immediately tore the roof off the place by means of the brooding and absolutely riveting “Angel of Death” from Thin Lizzy’s underrated Renegade LP. Although the sound was quite rough around the edges and heavy on the bass where we were sitting that by no means detracted from the fact that they were firing on all cylinders and having a blast on stage, and knowing every inch of the song material simply compelled one to sing along for fifty minutes. Darren is the consummate pro on stage and perfectly engaging, and he handled the vocals with aplomb while the rest of the well-played ensemble (which includes members of the band Dare) delivered each magnificent riff with enthusiasm.

With a fantastic and rapturous audience and a setlist that contained such gems as “Jailbreak,” “Chinatown,” “Emerald,” “Cold Sweat,” “Suicide,” “Cowboy Song,” “The Boys Are Back in Town,” and the epic “Black Rose” title track, yours truly was in hard rock heaven and as happy as could be. Like I said, it was a dream come true, and the renditions of “Suicide” and “Massacre” alone made the trip to Scotland worth it. Fingers crossed that this inspiring outfit will do a proper tour of Europe next year. Absolutely brilliant!