George Lynch Live Concert Review
Artist: George Lynch And Terry Ilous’ XYZ
Venue: Big Top Live
975 Cattleman Rd, Sarasota, FL
Date: March 18th, 2025
Review by: Bobby Caughron
Big Top Live has quickly become one of my favorite venues in Southwest Florida to catch concerts. They have consistently brought in great bands for shows in recent months, and the recent “Rise Of The Decades” concert featuring George Lynch, XYZ’s Terry Ilous, and Great White singer Brett Carlisle was a masterful display of guitar wizardry and musicianship that’s rarely seen these days.
Terry Ilous performed a greatest hits set of XYZ’s material from their first two albums. Because of a last-minute issue for the lead guitarist, Ilous utilized local area guitarist Sam Brown from the band Sunset Strip, who did a phenomenal job hitting all of the notes with zero rehearsal time with the singer prior to the show. Keep your eye on him in the future, as his guitar skills were amazing.
Terry Ilous’ banter with the audience kept the show entertaining between songs, and his voice sounds as good as it did on the original albums.
The audience erupted in a roar when guitar hero George Lynch took to the stage, and he showed why he’s considered one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time in an incredible show that featured songs from Dokken and Lynch Mob that kept the audience on their feet the entire time. With a setlist heavy on Dokken material, Lynch delivered the goods with classic songs like Tooth and Nail, Alone Again, Kiss Of Death, It’s Not Love, Breaking The Chains, and more. Vocals were handled by Terry Ilous and current Great White vocalist Bret Carlisle, who did an admirable job hitting the right notes from these Dokken classics.
If you’re in the Sarasota Florida area, be sure and check out Big Top Live for some great live bands and some great beer!
