Wolfgang Gürster is a German photographer and self-confessed “rock and roll junkie.” Although not a professional photographer, he has been attending rock concerts for many decades and, to date, has captured at least 100,000 photographs of a range of musicians. For many years, I have marvelled at the wonderful photos of Rory by Wolfgang, many of which can be found on his Rock Shot website and date from 1982 to 1994. Wolfgang really excels in capturing the magic of what it is like to see an energised Rory on stage, but he is also able to perfectly capture Rory’s shy, humble presence in his offstage shots. I reached out to Wolfgang recently and was delighted when he agreed to be interviewed by me. I include the full transcript of the interview below, as well as a selection of Wolfgang’s photos. 

1. How did you begin your career in photography?

I started visiting rock concerts in 1978 when I was 20. It was the time I had my own car and was able to drive to the concerts in Munich or Stuttgart. I saw many bands and someday I recognized, that I don’t have any photos of the concerts. So I bought the photos from photographers… but after 10 or 20 concerts, it became very expensive to buy photos from each concert. But at that point I had no camera. But then one day I was met by fate. Together with my best friend, we drove to Munich to a concert. He had a camera and he made some photos of the show. In the middle of the concert, I asked him whether he would allow me to do some photos with his camera. He gave it to me and I shot a few photos. A few days later when we got the photos from the photoshop, we saw that my photos were very good and his not. Two days later, we drove to the next concert and we both took some photos with his old camera. Again, my photos were really good and his not.  So he asked me whether I want to buy his camera and I said YES and bought his old Practica with two Objectives. This was the start of my passion for rock photography. It was the beginning of 1980 when I photographed the first shows with the Practica.

2. How and when were you introduced to Rory’s music? What do you love most about it?

I think it was back in 1976 when I first heard Rory’s music and as far as I remember I loved his music from the first moment on. In 1970, when I was twelve years old I bought my first records… s ingles from T.Rex, Bowie, CCR, the Stones. It was the time of glam rock and I loved it. Marc Bolan and David Bowie are my favourite musicians til today. Then came many other musicians and bands like Willy DeVille, Rory Gallagher, Saxon, Led Zeppelin, CCR, John Fogerty, Queen etc…. Rory was totally different from the glam bands… for me, he was no rockstar. He was a worker on stage and I was caught by his immense charisma.

3. How many times have you seen Rory live? Can you share some of your memories of these shows?

I’ve seen Rory 14 times live on stage. Most of the concerts I was allowed to photograph.  But I have to tell you that I’m no professional photographer. I never learned how to photograph etc… everything I know about photography I learned by myself. From 1980 when I started to photograph rock concerts till 2007 when I stopped visiting concerts and when I stopped photographing, I saw about 1,500 concerts and photographed most of them. I have a huge photo archive because I photographed  so many bands from AC/DC til ZZ TOP.

The biggest pleasure for me always was when Donal allowed me to photograph ON STAGE. For me as Rory’s fan this was always HEAVEN. I can’t describe my feelings when Donal gave me a Photopass and wrote ONSTAGE on it.

The first time I photographed Rory onstage was the concert back in 1982 in the Circus Krone  Bau in Munich. I will never forget this very special moment… when I stood beside Tom and watched the show onstage. But I want to tell you about another Rory concert. It was on 5th October 1979 when I saw Rory the first time live in the Circus Krone Bau in Munich. The show was sold out and the fans went wild because of the fantastic show by Rory and his musicians. 

During the set, he played Philby. In Germany the fans shout ZUGABE! ZUGABE! when they want the encore. But this time, when Rory and the band left the stage, a few hundred fans started to sing “yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah” from Philby. More and more fans sang “yeah yeah” and when the band came on stage again, they played it again and the fans sang the lyrics. It was MAGIC and I get goose bumps when I remember it. When the concert was finished, the band was backstage and the fans had to leave to the Circus Krone Venue. But I think about 50 fans stood in the hall and began to sing yeah yeah yeah again…. I think it was about 15 minutes after the end of the show. We sang about 5 minutes and believe it or not, Rory came back on stage. We couldn’t believe it, but it was reality… he was there on stage, took an acoustic guitar and started to play Philby again. To sing with Rory Philby was an unforgettable moment. When the song was finished, the fans were so enthusiastic, they applauded him and Rory gave us a bow and left the stage and the magic concert was over….but never forgotten. And now I have goose bumps again… haha.

4. Do you have a favourite from all the photographs you took of Rory?

I think YES I have a favourite photo. I took it back in 1982 when Rory played in the Circus Krone Bau in Munich again. It was the first time I was allowed to photograph his show ON STAGE and this was the very first photo I’ve done ONSTAGE. Therefore, it’s a very special and important photo for me. Maybe you like some other photos more, but for me this will always be  a very special photo.

5. Do you have any particular memories of the Out in the Green (1986) concert where you photographed Rory?

What I  remember most about the Out in the Green Festival 1986….. I remember that it was a very hot summer’s day. I photographed nearly every band who played before Rory and also after Rory. At the end of the festival I was nearly KO, but I did many fantastic shots. For me, it was the first concert of Rory with Mark Feltham. He played a fantastic harp that day. And I recognize that the whole show was filmed by a TV company. 

6. And what about Langenau (1994)?

Langenau 1994…. it was called the Naurock Festival. I remember that it was a very small festival. There were two or three local bands before Rory and again it was a very hot day. But when Rory started the show, everything was alright. I remember that I spoke with Tom very long. He allowed me to take Rory’s guitar in my hands, but he didn’t like to make a photo of me with the guitar. Tom was always very friendly and helpful to me.

7. Did you ever get the chance to meet Rory?

Yes, I met Rory a few times… sometimes before the show, but most after show. The first time I met Rory was in Munich 1982. I was very lucky that I was there outside of the Circus Krone Bau when he arrived at the venue. I asked him whether he allows me to take some photos and he said YES. I send you one of those 1982 photos outside of the Circus Krone Bau (see photo below). After the show I was allowed to go backstage. Rory was in the catering room and I thanked him and the band for the fantastic concert. I told him that I saw his concert back in 1979, when he played Philby 3 times and he laughed and said that he can remember that concert. At this first meeting with Rory I couldn’t believe that this quiet and shy young man was the same guy, who was wild and loud and rocked the house a few minutes before.

I met Rory several times and it was always the same wonderful feeling with him….. In 1993 when I saw him at the Sternenzelt in Bad Reichenhall I took all of my Rory bootleg LPs with me and asked him to sign them. He was very interested in these illegal LPs. He asked me how much I paid for the LPs… where I ordered them etc…. He spoke totally quiet because he had caught a cold a few days before. Therefore,  he wore a scarf. Donal wanted to drive him to the hotel, but first, Rory wanted to sign all of my bootlegs and so he did and he allowed me to do some photos while he signed the LPs. For me, Rory was an Irish Gentleman. He had no rock star behavior.