“I want to be playing when I’m 50,” Irish son Rory Gallagher stated
rather matter-of-factly during a Beat Instrumental interview in June
1971. In all likelihood, the acclaimed blues guitarist would have easily reached
that milestone had he not succumb to an untimely demise due to complications
during a liver transplant surgery in 1995. Gallagher was 47. If Claude Nobs,
the beloved promoter behind the Montreux Jazz Festival, had his way, Gallagher
would always have a home on the stage along the Lake Geneva shoreline. In the
liner notes for Live At Montreux, a new 12-track CD featuring
performances from four separate appearances, Nobs writes, “The day he
died I knew that rock and blues in Montreux would never be the same.”
Gallagher played Montreux from the mid 70s right up to the year before he passed
away. He also sat in with distinguished artists like Albert King and Larry Coryell
at the festival. Alone with an acoustic or in full stride with his 1961 sunburst
Stratocaster and dedicated band behind him, Rory Gallagher consistently excelled
in a live setting and Montreux provided the ideal backdrop. The Live
At Montreux CD is but a brief glimpse of the relationship between the
guitarist and the festival. Gallagher put forth a 110 percent at every turn,
whether he was burning down the house on numbers like “Laudromat”
or “Bought And Sold” or winding down with the acoustic blues of
“Out On The Western Plain.” As Cameron Crowe once touted, “It
was all about him playing the guitar, it got into your soul.”
A double Live At Montreux DVD takes things a bit further,
with the addition of extra material from the four shows (1975, 1977, 1979 and
1985) that are sampled on the CD. The DVD also includes an entire concert from
Gallagher’s final appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1994. This
footage along with Tony Palmer’s film documenting the illustrious 1974
Irish Tour (also available on DVD) should keep you green in live cinematic Rory
Gallagher for the long run. Of course, to fully assess the talents of the man
who almost replaced Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones, you might want to check
out Irish Tour 1974, Calling Card, and his
last album Fresh Evidence. Thankfully, Rory Gallagher left
us a large portion of his rich, vibrant take on the blues before departing for
the great juke joint in the sky.
~ Shawn Perry
