Taste Sunderland Empire 10 May 1970
Today I am moving in my blogging from gigs I have attended by acts beginning with the letter “F” to gigs by acts with the letter “G”. This one is a bit of a cheat, as the band begins with “T”, but I couldn’t begin to cover the late great Rory Gallagher without reference to the time I saw Taste in concert. This was one of the first gigs I attended, and being over 40 years ago my memories are few, but very strong, because of the power of the event. If I had to use a couple of words to sum up Rory Gallager I would choose “passion” and “authenticity”. Rory was 100% passionate in his performance and in the way he delivered his own brand of the blues. There was also an honesty and authenticity about Rory; no frills, no big act or stage show; with Rory what you saw was what you got. I was 13 years old when I saw Rory and Taste at the Empire theatre in Sunderland. I had a ticket in the front row, right in front of the great man. I’d read about Taste, but didn’t have any of them albums at the time, so I didn’t know their material. I was so impressed that after the gig I went out and bought the first Taste lp, and I later also bought On the Boards. I don’t recall their being any support act that night. The set was drawn from those two lps. I definitely remember them playing Catfish, Sugar Mama, Whats Going on, and Blister on the Moon (that track still amazes me). I can picture Rory singing “I wish I was a Catfish” like it was yesterday. He was wearing a trademark checked shirt and playing his battered old Fender. The other members of the band were, of course, Richard McCracken on bass guitar and John Wilson on drums. I remember McCracken had a habit of biting and holding his hair at both sides of his mouth while playing. Rory’s playing was a revelation to me. I had a guitar at the time, and was glued to his ever move, as his fingers flew across the frets; trying to learn some of the riffs. I seem to recall that they also played a couple of slower tracks from the On the Boards lp; possibly the title track and If the Day Was Any Longer. That night, that 13 year old schoolboy that was me, became a life long Rory fan. I was totally blown away by Taste, and went home and bored my parents about them. Next day at school I told everyone just how great they were (most people hadn’t heard of them and ignored me!). Great memories. I’ll blog on some of the many Rory gigs I attended over the next few days. They were all great, but this performance by Taste holds a special place in my memory. I always felt that Rory solo never quite matched up to the raw power of Taste, and that he lost a little edge somewhere along the way, but maybe that was because this early gig was so great, because I was so close to the man, and because it was one of my first gigs.
Archive for the ‘Taste’ Category
14 Dec
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