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Rory Gallagher Newcastle City Hall 1982 and 1987
I saw Rory twice more at Newcastle City Hall, once in 1982 and once in 1987. I remember the 1987 gig, I particularly recall thinking that it had been some time since I had seen the great man, and looking forward to the gig. I also remember that he played a long set, with a lot of new songs which weren’t familiar to me, and quite a few of the old classics. I found a setlist for the London show of the tour, which shows him playing 25 songs, including old favourites: Out On The Western Plain; Pistol Slapper Blues; Tattoo’d Lady; Bullfrog Blues. This was to be the last time I would see Rory Gallagher live in concert. Setlist (from London gig on 1987 tour): Continental Op; Moonchild; I Wonder Who; Don’t Start Me Talkin’; I Ain’t No Saint; Shin Kicker; Kickback City; Loanshark Blues; Off the Handle; Failsafe Day; Out On The Western Plain; Walkin’ Blues; Pistol Slapper Blues; Keep Your Hands Off Her; Bad Penny; Follow Me; The Loop; Seems to Me; Tattoo’d Lady; Double Vision; When My Baby She Left Me; Shadow Play; Lonely Mile; Bullfrog Blues; I’m Leavin’. In later years Rory suffered health problems, caused by combinations of prescription medication and alcohol use, which resulted in liver damage. He had a liver transplant, but sadly died from an MRSA infection in London on 14 June 1995. A very sad loss. I’ve enjoyed blogging on Rory over the past few days; it has reminded me just how great he was, in many different ways, and how much I looked forward to, and enjoyed, Rory gigs. A great man, who has left a great musical legacy.

By 1980, Rory had moved to a harder rock sound, dropping many of the classic bluesy tracks which had been staples of his set throughout the 70s. So he was no longer playing Bullfrog Blues, Going to my Hometown, Messin with the Kid, as part of the main set, although he would sometimes play one or two of them during the encore, as I recall. Instead his set was focussing on tracks from his most recent albums; Top Priority (1980), Calling Card (1976) and Photo-Finish (1978). His stage show is documented on the live album Stage Stuck which was released in 1980, around the time of this gig at Newcastle City Hall. Although I still enjoyed seeing Rory, and he played with the same energy and passion as before, I missed the old familiar songs. The tracks on Stage Stuck give an indication of Rory’s setlist at this time: Shin Kicker; Wayward Child; Brute Force and Ignorance; Moonchild; Bad Penny; Key Chain; Follow Me; Bought and Sold; The Last of the Independents; Shadow Play. I saw Rory again at the Rock on the Tyne festival which was held at Gateshead Stadium in 1981. He headlined the second night, and came on after Dr Feelgood. The festival was held on the same weekend as the Reading Festival, and my mates and I decided to go to this local event and miss Reading that year. In fact, as things turned out, I never did return to the Reading festival. By this time Rory had put on a little weight, and wasn’t the same slim young guy that I had first seen 10 years or so earlier, but he had lost none of this power as a guitarist.

Rory Gallagher Newcastle City Hall Dec 1978
Rory Gallagher tour relentlessly throughout the 70s. He would often return to Newcastle twice within the same year. In 1978 he played the City Hall in April, and he was back again in December. I never tired of seeing him, which was not the case with many other bands. During the late 1978 tour, which ran into 1979, Rory clocked up 100 concerts in 65 cities in 12 countries in 16 weeks. He was very much the working, gigging bluesman; out on the road playing his guitar to anyone who wanted to see him. Support for this gig came from Bram Tchaikovsky, who had recently left The Motors. Bram was, at the time, fronting his own post-punk powerpop band. This gig was at the height of punk, when many bands were re-examining themselves and their musical approach. Rory seemed untouched by all of that change around him, and did what he did best, turning up at a hall with his old trusty strat, a Vox AC30 or two, and belting out the blues for a couple of hours. This gig was to promote his latest album, which was Photo-Finish. Looking at my ticket I was pretty close to the front for this gig, with a direct view of the great man. These gigs were really something; I just wish Rory was still with us. Setlist (from a date in the USA on the same tour): Bought & Sold; Garbage Man; Secret Agent; A Million Miles Away; Shadow Play; Country Mile; Tattoo’d Lady; Sea Cruise; Bullfrog Blues.

Rory Gallagher Newcastle City Hall April 1978
Support Joe O’Donnells Vision Band I was back at Newcastle City Hall to see Rory Gallagher again in April 1978. When I think of Rory, I think of his battered strat; a tartan shirt; total commitment to his music and to the audience in the hall; his hair flying about and by the end of the night sticking to his face with sweat. He would arrive quietly on stage, often without introduction and the place would just go crazy for him. This is the first time I got a programme at a Rory gig; I’m not sure if there were any for previous tours. From this programme: “When the gods were making guitar heroes they didn’t bother giving Rory Gallagher any greasepaint or give choreography with which to woo his fans. They knew to leave well alone: that being a guitarist who transcends mere technical pizzaz with a blazing, emotional style that not only brings the electric blues style into the Seventies, but leaves it reeling, would be more than enough. And there couldn’t be an unlikelier axe hero than the shiy Irish guitarist, who plays with a fire most musicians are able to muster only on “good nights”. You get the feeling that they’re all good nights for Rory, that the thrill of playing his battered Strat is renewed every time he straps it on.” Support came from Joe O’Donnell, the programme tells me “is one of the finest electric violin players performing in the Celtic tradition. He’s also widely acclaimed as a first-class mandolin-player, singer and composer.” Joe hails from Limerick, Ireland, won two scholarships for the Royal Irish Academy of Music, had played with East of Eden stepping into the shoes of their celebrated fiddle-player Dave Arbus. He was featured on their hit album Another Eden and was touring to support his album Gaodhal’s Vision, a concept album of his own compositions, “heralded as a fusion of Celtic music with jazz and rock.” Rory set List (from Glasgow gig of the tour): Secret Agent; Body and Soul; Moonchild; Bullfrog Blues; Going To My Hometown; Down on 31st Street; Souped Up Ford; Tattooed Lady; Brute Force and Ignorance; Cruise On Out. Encores: Let Me In; Messing With The Kid

Rory Gallagher Newcastle City Hall February 1977
By 1977 Rory Gallagher was at the top of his game. His band consisted of long-standing sidekick Gerry McAvoy on bass guitar, with the drum stool filled by Wilgar Campbell (1970-72), Rod de’Ath (1972-76) or ex-SAHB Ted McKenna (1976-1981). Keyboard player Lou Martin also featured for some of that time. Rory’s latest album was 1976’s Calling Card. His stage set would be drawn from the following classic Rory tracks: Messin’ With the Kid; Laundromat; Could’ve Had Religion; Pistol Slapper Blues; Going to My Hometown; In Your Town; Bullfrog Blues; Tattoo’d Lady; A Million Miles Away; Out on the Western Plain and Walk on Hot Coals. All of the great Rory gigs I saw at Newcastle City Hall during the 70s have merged together in my mind. I recall them as joyous, crazy gigs, with Rory and band lifting the roof off the City Hall, and the audience all singing along to Messin’ with the Kid, and Going to my Hometown, which featured Rory on mandolin. The pace was relentless and completly full-on for the entire set, with Rory dripping with sweat and his battered old strat ending the show even more battered than when he arrived on stage. There has never been anyone like Rory, before or since. He was simply 100% class, a great guy, and a superb guitarist. My ticket stubs give me a conundrum in terms of this 1977 gig. I have two tickets; they are both clearly printed with the date Wednesday 9th February 1977. However, one of them has been over-written by hand Friday 18th February 1977. They are for different seats a couple or rows apart. I can’t figure out what happened here. I found a Rory gig list which suggest that both gigs were played, but that wouldn’t explain the hand written ticket. My guess is that the first gig was cancelled or abandoned and I bought a second ticket for the rescheduled gig so that Marie could come along with me. Wish I’d kept a diary.

Rory Gallagher early 70s gigs
There are many advantages to blogging on the gigs I have attended, one of which is it forces me to reflect on artists who I haven’t seen in concert for many years. I was a big fan of the late great Rory Gallagher, and knew that I had seen him quite a few times in concert. However, looking through my tickets and the few Rory programmes I have (Rory wasn’t big on programmes), I now realise that I must have seen him around 20 times in concert. This includes many gigs at Newcastle City Hall, which he visited many times during the 1970s in particular, and at some festivals (Lincoln, Reading and Newcastle Rock on the Tyne) and gigs at Newcastle Mayfair and Sunderland Empire. I’m going to spend this week reflecting on Rory and the many memories I have on him in concert. I first saw Rory in concert with Taste, a gig which I blogged on yesterday. I missed him the first couple of times that he played the North East as a solo act, the first time I remember being at the Mayfair with Joe Walsh and the James Gang in support. Some mates went and told me how great that gig was. I had a ticket to see him play Newcastle City Hall in late 1971 or early 1972, but passed and went to see The Groundhogs at Sunderland Bay Hotel instead that night, as most of my mates were going to the Groundhogs gig. The first time I caught Rory Gallagher solo in concert was in 1972 when he played Newcastle City Hall. By this time he had released a couple of albums and the set already featured classics such as Sinner Boy, Laundromat, and In Your Town. Rory was THE MAN for many of us. He seemed like us, a young guy with long hair, wearing jeans, and seemed so down to earth. His guitar playing was just incredible, and he played with such passion and energy. I’ll spend the next few days writing more on Rory.