I’ve been away (at the Rory Gallagher Festival in Ballyshannon, Ireland)... I’m back. I enjoyed three full days and nights of inspiring music, played in tribute to this great musician who died tragically 22 years ago.
The greatest highlight, among many others, was watching again the great drummer John Wilson. I saw him many times in the 1960s playing with Gallagher’s power trio, Taste.
Wilson combined technique with passion in equal measures in a way that few drummers do. And 50 years on, performing with his own power trio, A Taste Of Rory, he is an even stronger player.
I should also mention the phenomenal Pat McManus (now arguably Ireland’s finest guitarist, since the loss of Gallagher and Gary Moore) who played an epic outdoor set to an audience soaked by, but oblivious to, a hard rainstorm.
And the pleasantest surprise was to take refuge in a tiny bar and find a band called Catfish playing Gallagher’s back catalogue with a fire and spirit all the more remarkable since none of these young players looked as if they could have even been born before Gallagher died.
If you love blues/rock (and Guinness) and have never been to the Rory Gallagher Festival... go!
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