rory gallagher irish tour dvd

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Initial Release: July 21st, 1974 / Remastered Release 2018

Record Label: UMC

Location: Cork City Hall / Belfast Ulster Hall / Dublin Carlton Cinema

Producer: Rory Gallagher

Rory Gallagher (Vocals/Guitars/Mandolin/Harmonica)

Gerry McAvoy (Bass Guitar)

Rod De’Ath (Drums)

Lou Martin (Keyboards)

MUSIC FOR BELFAST by Roy Hollingworth from Melody Maker

MM MAN REPORTS FROM ROCK-STARVED BELFAST

Belfast got a rock-‘n’-roll concert on New Year’s Day in the City’s notorious Ulster Hall.

Heading the bill was Rory Gallagher. It was the first public rock concert there since early last summer. The show was sold out weeks before. Sources close to the underground promised the IRA would “leave it alone.”

Two thousand people were overjoyed as Gallagher – a native of Cork, Southern Ireland – took the stage, just 24 hours after the city had witnessed its biggest bomb blast during a night of at least 10 explosions.

“I see no reason for not playing Belfast. Kids still live here,” said Gallagher.

It was an emotional affair, considering the total neglect Belfast has suffered as far as live music is concerned. The authorities were pleased to let the concert go on – but more concerts depend on the willingness of the big British groups to travel there.

Belfast, NEW YEARS DAY. You don’t see many people on the streets this Saturday afternoon. This very grey, very cold afternoon. The street we walk down is well shattered as though some lumbering, blind giant had pressed buildings flat with his boots and then wiped the rubble from his heels off on the roof tops. He frequents the city often.

The dank, almost mildewed atmosphere is so unreal that the first emotion is one of fear, or maybe suspicion. For God’s sake, where are the people? There are none to be seen. There is little to come into town for these days. And yet today is a very special day. There’s a rock ‘n ‘ roll concert at the Ulster Hall.

You can hear every step you take, for there’s little other noise to cut the air. Just one car flits quickly out of a street and makes off at high speed. Belfast is like some car, one that is burnt out, but re-ignited each night. The shell is very thin, and the engine don’t work anymore.

“You’re a martyr, Gallagher, you know that” says big Jim Aikin, Belfast’s biggest promoter (with little, if anything to promote these days). “Oh no, for God’s sake, don’t say martyr” retorts Rory Gallagher. ” I don’t see any reason for not playing Belfast. Kids still live here. They can get tired of records.” Gallagher is the anti-star of all time.

We are sitting in this lounge. We managed to find it because Aikin knew it. The doors were locked, they search you on entry. “You can’t be too careful” says the “sentry”. Inside the bar is totally empty. It’s about 3 PM, but it’s like drinking after hours. It’s cold.

Yesterday was amazing. “They” blew 100 lbs. of gelignite outside a kid’s cinema and then blew the old year

out with nigh on a dozen other bombs. We spent New Year’s Eve in the comparative safety of a guest house in Cromwell Road, and then at a wild, zany ball in the Queen’s University.

Gallagher gigged there, at this “penguins” ball, where about 4000 people got so drunk they lay around getting sick. But it was a great night, like some Roman orgy. Gallagher went on at around 12:30. As he was tuning up, with ten minutes of the old year to run, there were some glorious explosions about a half-mile away. Gallagher grinned, everyone grinned. Some of us felt scared, but you tend to admit it in a joking fashion. Bombs bang very loudly, you know. And they rattle things.

The kids in the University had a load of jokes about the bombs.

There was one girl who giggled, and told us that she had two brothers, one in the I.R.A., the other a doctor. ” One blows them up, the other patches them up” she said. It was funny at the time.

I was asked if I was going to write about the riot-torn Belfast, with citizens cowering in corners or just rock music. Do they go together? ” Why don’t you write something political?” asks one guy. “I mean do you agree with the internment? Do you like the bombs? Bombs are a gas actually, especially when you see one go off. Music? Well, it’s bloody great Gallagher coming. We haven’t had a big name for ages. We heard he wanted to play Belfast, and we heard that his band were a little scared about it. I suppose it’s only right to be scared.” This student was well drunk. The town was on the gig list. They could have pulled out, and nobody would have asked them why.

As the university rocks and rolls, and blesses the New Year, people start to talk of the Ulster Hall gig. It’s planned for the afternoon. The buses stop running at 8 p.m. All the tickets have been sold.

Somebody very close to the I.R.A. has said that the concert will be left alone. The Queen’s dies at around 5 a.m. and as we travel back to Cromwell Road there’s just one ferret car ferreting around the streets. The soldiers look gaunt as they peer through the post-box slits.

An extract from Take One, a local underground newsheet, printed by The Tribe.

” Rory Gallagher has once again returned to Belfast, at least he came, and for that we must thank him”.

Belfast has now become a graveyard for music. Concerts and big groups are a thing of the past.

Why should we take it? Why must we take it? We have taken enough apathetic shit for too long, the time has come to launch the Music To Belfast Campaign. We must create enough noise in order that the hypocrites in England ( the capitalist agents groups who think nothing other than pulling in a lot of bread) become aware that they are most needed in this torn city.

We want action now, for too long the groups in England haven’t given music where it can give the most help. Lennon tells us to give peace a chance, but has he visited us? All we want John ,baby, is the truth. Perhaps he is furthering the peace movements somewhere in Hyde Park.

Perhaps the groups don’t want to make any sacrifices, maybe they are afraid, maybe they cannot stir themselves to help the people who need it most, who have no power to speak of. Well, we want to try and make groups aware that Belfast needs them here.

Make Noise: Make Music Music For Belfast.

You know they are so absolutely right. When you see the kids there, and they are such great kids, you know it’s right.

Imagine no concerts. Imagine no transport at night. Imagine reading about brilliant performances by bands just over the water and those bands never coming to Ulster. What do you do? Do you sit at home?

No. Just off Cromwell Road they sit in a lounge. And one guy with a beaten up guitar sings a bit, and the kids are so together. It’s great being together. There is no sign outside this pub and the windows are either blacked out or there’s wire mesh about. It’s real, it’s very real. So you don’t care. And that’s what they feel, believe me, they know you don’t care. They know that you care about Banglia Desh, and they know that you must care about that. But is there not time to care about Belfast?

Now we are right back on New Year’s Day, right back in this empty bar. Gallagher is itching to play. You can

tell when he is. But today he itches more than usual. The only things Rory talks about is music. He keeps his mouth shut on issues. He just goes out and plays music.

“I had no trouble putting the concert on” says Aikin, with his orange juice. An Irishman who doesn’t drink. “You see, they were only too pleased to let me put a concert on. They like you to try and make things look as though they were normal.”

When was the last concert, Jim?

“Oh God, it was ages ago. Nobody will come now, it’s impossible. There’s only Gallagher here who’ll do it. Some strange things have happened when people gather you know. We have a wee dance occasionally, and people come out to it. It took a long while to get them dancing when there was no trouble. Now they are on the floor as soon as the music starts. It’s very emotional when you see them all together. Maybe it’s like England during the War. People make the most of the few occasions. It’s like a country at war”.

There are a lot of kids in Belfast. There are as many kids in Belfast as, say, Birmingham. Can you understand that? There’s nothing different about them. They have long hair and they’re hip.

We finish the beer. The “sentry” closes and locks the bar door after us. Still no people on the streets. We walk towards the Ulster Hall. That’s where Paisley used to do his thing, you know.

The back doors are reached . They face a building that’s been blown into some awful shape. It’s been torn inside out. I meet a lad who used to work there. He hasn’t got a job now.

As soon as we are in the Ulster Hall, there’s the sound of live music, and an immediate change of atmosphere. Even in the basement, there’s warmth in the air. We walk upstairs, and it gets even warmer. We peep through a window and there are people. People, 2000 or so of them. Young and bopping in their seats.

The band playing is Fruup. They are a Belfast band, who’ve recently returned to their hometown after several months in London. They are playing their hearts out, and the audience is giving them such good things.

Gallagher walks into the dressing room, and there are

so many people who want to shake his hand. You hear a dozen or more ” thanks for coming.” Gallagher is very modest, he’s almost embarrassed.

I take a walk around the hall. It’s well full, with beautiful vibes about. There seem to be more girls than fellas. They don’t look any different from any rock audience anywhere, they just seem more eager to make the afternoon last. They’re getting every ounce of pleasure they can from it. It’s very hard to explain just how emotional, how delightful this whole thing is. You’ve got to be in Belfast, and then see the youth, all together there, all happy.

Fruup finish playing to loud cheers and applause.

Back in Gallagher’s dressing room there’s a fresh batch of people coming in to shake his hand. I bump into one whose just come out. He’s all sweaty, and shouts at me “Isn’t he the bloody best! Isn’t it bloody great that he’s here! Isn’t it?” Why yes , I suppose there is a need to get emotional about it.

I’ve never seen anything quite so wonderful, so stirring, so uplifting, so joyous as when Gallagher and the band walked on stage. The whole place erupted, they all stood and they cheered and they yelled, and screamed, and they put their arms up, and they embraced. Then as one unit they put their arms into the air and gave peace signs. Without being silly, or overemotional, it was one of the most memorable moments of my life. It all meant something, it meant more than just rock n’ roll, it was something bigger, something more valid than just that.

You just wanted to take the lid off the walls from around this hall and put it on a huge platform, raise it above the city and let just everyone see it, and hear it. Two thousand people together as one, with no minority, no troublemakers, no inhibitions. Believe me, this isn’t over dramatic.

And Gallagher stood there for a while, and feigned not to look, and then he plugged in, swiveled round, said a quick hello, burned his bumpers into the stage, got down low and played his guitar loud and tight.

“Gigs are A, B, and C on a sheet, Belfast may be a B, I saw no reason to think it any different than from A or C”- Gallagher

It went on for a long time. the best audience anybody

could ever wish to see. Towards the end everyone got up, rushed to the front, and grabbed up to touch him and the band. And he came back, and played more boogie.

Nobody wanted it to end. There are tears in the eyes of some kids, not just girls flipped on Rory, but guys as well. There’s the best audience in the World in Belfast. The whole point of entertaining PEOPLE reaches a very valid level.

So you can understand bands who won’t play Belfast. Yes, you can understand that. But can you really neglect it? You’ve got to start pricking your conscience a little if you’re supposedly playing music for people. Or is it money first, people next. Nobody wants unnecessary trouble, so cancel the Belfast date. Nobody’s going to come back on you if that’s your action.

But let me tell you they feel very neglected in Belfast. Most of the shine, most of the honesty that was apparently connected with rock can be seen in it’s true light in Belfast. And that shine, that honesty just doesn’t exist. Heroes of the people? Well, Gallagher is, although all he did was honour his date sheet.

This girl in the dressing room must be about 18/19. She’s very pretty. It’s the first time she’s been out anywhere for three weeks. And maybe it’s going to be a long, long time before there’s another concert for her to go to.

“Nobody wants to come. It’s an impossible situation” Jim Aikin. Was it worth it Rory? He peels off a sweaty checked shirt. ” Yes, oh, yes, I think it was.”

Are we attaching too much importance to rock? “No, it does do something which nothing else can do. If we can still hold a concert, then it can only be doing good” – Aikin

“Once it got over the feeling that they were thanking me for coming. Once they’d got over that, they were into just the music. Then it was darned marvelous. They’re wonderful kids you know.” – Gallagher

If the gig was on his datesheet, then Gallagher would play this town again.

“The outcome of what is being experienced by EVERYONE in this city is leading to the fragmentation of the people into vastly differing states and levels of

mind, depending on how much of the truth they can grasp … To restore equilibrium each one of us must persevere at helping others, and ourselves to be more harmonious. We need each other to save ourselves” – Jim Andrews, writing in the Belfast underground paper, Ego.

” I wish Marc Bolan would come” – girl, about 15.

Concerts are possible. It is possible to travel to Belfast, and to stay the night. Don’t just wipe it away. If money’s the point, well you’ll pack a hall.

So, we come out of the Ulster hall now, and it’s dark. There is nobody left on the streets. Those 2000 have all vanished, managed to get a bus home. It’s all over. A fire engine, or maybe it’s an ambulance questions the silence. It’s like 4 a.m. in the morning. But it’s 7 p.m. and it’s Saturday night.

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Irish Tour '74 (DVD)

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Product description

No description available. Genre: Popular Music Rating: NR Release Date: 0000-00-00 Media Type: DVD

Product details

• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 1.78 x 19.05 x 13.72 cm; 77.11 g
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ DVDEA30294
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC
• Release date ‏ : ‎ April 12 2011
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Rory Gallagher
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Eagle Rock
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004NDJXO4
• Country of origin ‏ : ‎ Canada
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #67,615 in DVD

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Rory Gallagher / Irish Tour '74 anniversary deluxe box

By Paul Sinclair

Sony always seem to hit the spot when it comes to quality packaging for a reasonable price and this Rory Gallagher Irish Tour ’74 40th anniversary deluxe box appears to be no exception.

The expansive 7CD+DVD set is available for between £30-35 and comes packaged in a eight-panel ten-inch wallet and includes a booklet with extensive liner notes. Everything slots in to an outer slipcase There is an enormous amount of previously unreleased material in this set and for the first time all three shows are issued on CD. The bonus DVD (NTSC, region free) features the Tony Palmer directed documentary Irish Tour ’74.

This set is released on 20 October 2014 and comes packaged in a ten-inch box and is now widely available from your online shop of choice as well as the Rory Gallagher official store  (where it was previously exclusive).

• •  Pre-order “Irish Tour ’74” deluxe box from official store
• •  JPC.de Pre-order: Irish Tour ’74  *great price

Track listing

Disc 1 & 2 Cork (5th of January 1974) 1. Messin’ With The Kid* 2. Cradle Rock 3. I Wonder Who 4. Tattoo’d Lady 5. Walk On Hot Coals 6. Laundromat* 7. A Million Miles Away 8. Hands Off* 9. Too Much Alcohol 10. As The Crow Flies 11. Pistol Slapper Blues* 12. Unmilitary Two-Step* 13. Bankers Blues* 14. Going To My Hometown* 15. Who’s That Coming 16. In Your Town*

Disc 3 & 4 Dublin (2nd of January 1974) 1. Cradle Rock* 2. Tattoo’d Lady* 3. Hands Off* 4. Walk On Hot Coals* 5. Laundromat* 6. Too Much Alcohol* 7. A Million Miles Away* 8. As The Crow Flies* 9. Pistol Slapper Blues* 10. Bankers Blues* 11. Unmilitary Two-Step* 12. Going To My Hometown* 13. In Your Town* 14. Bullfrog Blues*

Disc 5 & 6 Belfast (29th of December 1973) 1. Messin’ With The Kid* 2. Cradle Rock* 3. I Wonder Who* 4. Tattoo’d Lady* 5. Walk On Hot Coals* 6. Hands Off* 7. A Million Miles Away* 8. Laundromat* 9. As The Crow Flies* 10. Pistol Slapper Blues* 11. Unmilitary Two-Step* 12. Bankers Blues* 13. Going To My Hometown* 14. Who’s That Coming* 15. In Your Town* 16. Bullfrog Blues*

Disc 7 City Hall in Session (3rd of January 1974) 1. Maritime (The Edgar Lustgarden Cut) 2. I Want You / Raunchy Medley* 3. Treat Her Right 4. I Wonder Who* 5. Too Much Alcohol* 6. Just A Little Bit 7. I Can’t Be Satisfied* 8. Acoustic Medley* 9. Back On My Stompin’ Ground (After Hours) 10. Stompin’ Ground (Alt version)

Disc 8 (DVD) The Tony Palmer directed documentary Irish Tour ’74 (courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment)

* Previously unreleased

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Rory Gallagher: Irish Tour ‘74 (Deluxe Edition)

40th anniversary edition of rory gallagher’s most celebrated recordings..

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

To mark the 40th anniversary of its original release, Rory Gallagher’s greatest album, the Irish Tour ’74 “live double”, gets an Expanded Deluxe Edition released by Legacy/Sony Music. It’s a seven-CD/single DVD box set par excellence that trumps even the original...

Sometimes even the best things in life can be improved.

The original Irish Tour ’74 album, a two-million selling vinyl double, has long been thought of as Rory Gallagher’s best. The guitarist, who died aged 47 in 1995, first came to public attention beyond his native Ireland fronting the three-piece Taste, who toured the UK extensively in the late 1960s and famously supported Cream at their Royal Albert Hall farewell shows. In 1971 he began a solo career, going on to make 11 studio albums. The seven released from 1973 to 1982 are the best but – as good as he was in the studio – the quietly spoken man of Ballyshannon was transformed whenever he wore his sweat-distressed Stratocaster in front of an audience.

Fittingly then, Rory Gallagher’s catalogue is these days packed with live recordings – but Irish Tour ’74 has long topped them all. In effect it was three-sides a soundtrack to a Tony Palmer film of a tour that took him to the three biggest cities of the Emerald Isle, plus a fourth of “After Hours” jamming recorded on the Ronnie Lane Mobile Unit. Now, three sides become three 2-CD whole concerts (Cork from January 5, Dublin three days earlier, the third taped in Belfast on December 29)… and the fourth expanded to become CD seven, comprising 10 songs recorded informally on the mobile parked outside Cork City Hall a couple of days ahead of it being used to record the show. To those, this 10-inch box adds a DVD of the Palmer documentary that set this train in motion. For Rory fans this is beyond fabulous.

Although perhaps less celebrated, this is easily among the best 10 live albums in the history of rock.

What’s it up against? Well, depending on your taste: Deep Purple’s Made In Japan , Humble Pie’s Performance , The Allman Brothers’ Live At The Fillmore , Lynyrd Skynyrd’s One More From The Road , The Who’s Live At Leeds and (a belated contender) Led Zeppelin’s How The West Was Won . Plus, naturally, the live doubles from Thin Lizzy, UFO and Status Quo. Expanded versions of the first five listed have, broadly speaking, revealed that back in the day the bands got it right. The albums as originally released were as good as they could be and the best takes of the songs were used. In particular, The Who’s complete Live At Leeds (and its Live At Hull sibling) have distorted the original beyond recognition – but Rory’s Irish Tour is different. As revered as the original was, it has now become significantly better.

The original Irish Tour ’74 wasn’t, though, as “cosmopolitan” as we always thought…

The inside of the original double-vinyl gatefold sleeve carried only perfunctory notes. Other than the 10-song tracklist, the most significant read: “This album was compiled from ‘live recordings’ made at concerts on an Irish tour early ’74 at: Belfast Ulster Hall, Dublin Carlton Cinema, Cork City Hall.” The message, repeated on the 1998 CD re-master, is now revealed as something of a myth. The annotation on the box set’s lavish booklet reveals that, including the jams on side four, all songs were recorded in Rory’s home town on January 5. Nothing from the Dublin or Belfast gigs was included on the original album.

In the ’70s, length was everything.

The only real criticism that could be made of the original was that, although it was as much as three sides of vinyl could accommodate, eight numbers/66 minutes scarcely did Rory Gallagher justice: a typical show was regularly twice that long. Likewise, rather than duplicate anything fans had bought on his two-sided Live In Europe album (released two years earlier), it seemed Rory ensured Irish Tour omitted favourites Messin’ With The Kid , Laundromat and his house-downing encore Bullfrog Blues ; and included only one number from his famous mid-gig acoustic set… Now, they’re all restored in setlists stretching to 14 or 16 songs (each including five acoustic numbers, among them Rory’s stellar versions of Blind Boy Fuller’s Pistol Slapper Blues and Going To My Home Town on mandolin).

The Belfast gig now included is very special indeed.

Playing Northern Ireland’s capital at the height of the “Troubles” was a brave and almost unprecedented move. Few bands from south of the border, let alone mainland UK or international acts dared go there. But Rory insisted, arguing (in Palmer’s film): “I lived there for a while and I learned a lot playing in the clubs there so I’ve a sort of home feeling for the place”. Additionally, although his drummer Rod De’ath was Welsh, the other two guys in the line-up of the time – bassist Gerry McAvoy and keyboard player Lou Martin – were both from Belfast. As it turned out, the Belfast show was recorded the night after a city-wide wave or bombings and many of the audience turned up only in grim hope, expecting the gig to be cancelled. Rory never considered that option and consequently CDs five and six crackle with the appreciation of an ecstatically grateful crowd inspiring Rory to play even harder. Sonically, all three gigs retain the original album’s mid-’70s atmosphere – the temptation to clean them up to modern standards was rightfully resisted – and while many titles are duplicated, no performance is. Each city inspires a unique take. Moreover, this shows some of Gallagher’s finest performances of the era have remained unheard for 40 years. All this for only £35? Sell your children, buy a copy.

Freelance contributor to Classic Rock and several of its offshoots since 2006. In the 1980s he began a 15-year spell working for Kerrang! intially as a cub reviewer and later as Geoff Barton’s deputy and then pouring precious metal into test tubes as editor of its Special Projects division. Has spent quality time with Robert Plant, Keith Richards, Ritchie Blackmore, Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore – and also spent time in a maximum security prison alongside Love/Hate. Loves Rush, Aerosmith and beer. Will work for food.

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Rory Gallagher Irish Tour ’74 – CD / DVD Box Set Review

Box Sets we would like to see reissued! 

Rory GALLAGHER Irish Tour ’74 (40th Anniversary Edition) (7CD + DVD box) Sony

The Ballyshannon born guitarist and vocalist Gallagher is one of THE names in blues/rock guitar and had already made his name in several bands, developing his love of the blues, before forming Taste in Cork, Ireland, in 1966. Originally called The Taste, blues rock power trios were the de rigueur at the time and Taste stood shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Cream, with whom they toured. The band broke up shortly after their performance at the Isle Of Wight festival In 1970.

Going solo, Gallagher soon found acclaim (certainly with his peers if not with the record buying public) and kept a touring and recording schedule that would put many to shame. His touring across the UK and Europe was matched by playing both sides of the border in Ireland, his music going beyond politics in uniting a country entering the peak of its political divide (a point reiterated by the Irish Ambassador Daniel Mulhall at the recent celebration of this release at the Irish Embassy in London – witnessed by Metal Talk).

By the end of 1973, Gallagher had released 4 studio albums, and the Live In Europe set, before embarking on some dates that would become the Irish Tour ’74 album. The original album was taken from two shows, at Cork and Dublin, in January 1974 and shows just how powerful and happy Rory was on stage, his spiritual home. That original live album, mindblowing in its rock and blues power, was genuinely live, no overdubs, and as good as any double live album of the day.

Here, though, we get the complete works, the dog’s bollocks, and the kitchen sink. From the December 1973 show in Belfast (the crowd’s and Rory’s love and respect for each other can be heard, at a political time and place that scared off many from playing) to the Cork and Dublin shows, that’s the best six discs of live blues rock in anyone’s book. Then there’s a 10 track City Hall session, and the final disc is a DVD film of the tour that was considered so good at the time it became a full theatrical release. To sum up, this set features the 3 shows in full that the original 2LP sampled from, a bonus live disc and the DVD.

I first met Donal Gallagher, Rory’s brother and manager, at the original launch of that aforementioned DVD some 12 years prior, and it was good to catch up at the Irish Embassy on the 13th October 2014. I was amongst a select few invited to the launch of this 40th anniversary reissue where both Donal and Ambassador Daniel Mulhall both gave apt and moving talks, and we were able to mix with those from the label Sony, the box set designer, and guitar legend Bernie Marsden too.

Onto the box set, and from the outset the fourpiece (they became a 3 piece not long after) are on blistering form. Here, Rory is backed (and supported) by bassist Gerry McAvoy, drummer Rod De’Ath and pianist Lou Martin. The Cork show opens with the Blues standard Messin’ With The Kid (a track you’ll know when you hear it), Rory riffing well. Cradle Rock is a hard rocking number with an uptempo Groundhogs groove, and keyboard / bass harmonies driving Rory’s riffs and solos alike with aplomb. The slide moments are gripping, and from Rory’s vocals he is engrossed in the moment. I Wonder Who starts off slowly and moves up a gear to what’s quite a gentle number (by Gallagher’s standards) – the guitar work excellent yet not overbearing, the bursts of notes moving forward and back alternating with the rhythm section. It’s the kind of number you could imagine Gary Moore covering,

Tatoo’d Lady and the longer Walk On Hot Coals are Gallagher standards, and when the band do extend things in a jam fashion it’s entrancing throughout. Laundromat moves between chunky blues rock and almost boogie, you can hear the guitar matching Rory’s grimace here. A Million Miles Away has that drifting story telling feel, and Hands Off, running at over 11 minutes, is just a fest of classic Rory. Too Much Alcohol rounds off disc one and has the crowd clapping along, there’s some decent fretboard work, and nice guitar / piano interplay too.

Disc 2 opens with As The Crow Flies, featuring some solid acoustic slide (Rory sounding masterful here). Whether soloing or power strumming Rory masters the acoustic well. Pistol Slapper Blues, Unmilitary Two Step and Bankers are shorter acoustic tracks that still encapsulate. Going To My Hometown gets a few knowing cheers. Who’s That Coming is back to the electric and some slide and boogie from the outset, 9 minutes of pleasure, and the 15+ minute In Your Town closes the show.

The following shows, Dublin and Belfast, feature variations on a similar setlist that only those with the set in hand will need details of. That said, the Dublin set finishes with a near 20 minute of In Your Town before closing with Rory’s highlight, signature and (if slightly ropey recorded, hence not included on the original album) essential track Bullfrog Blues. Here at 10 minutes, it’s a track that’s worth getting into Rory Gallagher for alone. Don’t believe me? Go check it out. Don’t argue, just do it. Melody, power, passion, slide, boogie, a very well kicked arse, the kitchen sink, all in this track.

What’s notable about the Belfast show, bar the similar setlist and performance to the above disc, is as previously mentioned, just how much Rory loved them and the crowd responded just as enthusiastically. If you want proof that music transcends all politics, violence and bullshit, this is it.

Disc 7 is a 10 track City Hall session (I guess akin to some Radio shows in the UK of the era), recorded 3rd January 1974. The music is fantastic and well recorded and is classic Rory, but it does lack that extra passion and feel, without the crowd. Well, in its own right, it does, but when compared to the live stage work, Rory’s true home, it’s hard to judge.

The DVD is a full Tony Palmer recorded documentary of Rory on the road over these shows, which made for a theatrical release, and music from the album being the soundtrack. Seeing Rory in his element, Donal at work with him, the crowd loving every chord, every riff, it’s a wonderful documentary and well produced too. Not something you’d want to watch often but an enjoyable eye opener and perfect accompaniment to such a box.

Now for the package – well, bar a less than really stiff spine (my only gripe), there’s nothing this 8” 8 disc box doesn’t have. The extensive booklet rounds things off nicely and is an essential, a must have, and it should be repressed.

Joe Geesin | Now Spinning Magazine

• Rory Gallagher

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Irish Tour [Expanded Deluxe Edition]

Rory gallagher, (cd & dvd - sony music #88875004882), main album:.

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Recording location, release info, allmusic review, track listing.

• CDs & Vinyl
• Electric Blues

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• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.62 x 4.92 x 0.33 inches; 3.84 ounces
• Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Legacy
• Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 1999
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 11 minutes
• Date First Available ‏ : ‎ December 7, 2006
• Label ‏ : ‎ Legacy
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00001OH7G
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #1,183 in British Invasion Rock
• #1,223 in Guitar Rock
• #1,747 in Modern Blues (CDs & Vinyl)

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