Photographers #11 – Luca Guiotto

Since setting up Rewriting Rory in November 2021, so many of our encounters with other people have been wonderfully serendipitous. Last autumn, for example, I (Lauren) was having a lazy Sunday afternoon watching Rory’s performance at the Pistoia Blues Festival in 1994 when I stumbled across a random comment on the Rory Gallagher Official Facebook Page from a man called Luca Guiotto. On a recently posted photo of Rory at the Geelhouse Rock Festival in 1994, Luca had written that he had also seen Rory the same month at Pistoia and included the spectacular photo above, which he took on the occasion. I immediately reached out to Luca and was overwhelmed by his kindness and generosity (as is so often the case in the Rory fan community). He showed me a number of other photos of Rory that he took that day and gave me permission to post them on our website. When I cheekily asked if I could interview him to find out more, he also very graciously agreed. Our interview took place in Italian on 22 August 2023. I include the translation below, along with a selection of Luca’s photos.

Can you give us an overview of your career as a photographer? Do you take photos for a living or as a hobby? Have you worked for any music magazines?

To describe myself as a professional photographer is too big a word for me. “Artistically” – and those quotation marks are mandatory – I was born in 1986 as a presenter of a heavy metal programme on a local radio station and I still do this today as a “professional” hobby. I’ve always loved the blues, ever since I was 11 years old and my brother took me with him to see the first ever Pistoia Blues Festival, the historic one in 1980. Thanks to this opportunity to enter as a correspondent “journalist” – and even here those quotation marks are mandatory – I began to attend the festival in my city assiduously since 1993. I grabbed the reflex to photograph the main acts that year, after more than two hours of manual labour photographing everything and spurred on by the photos I saw in national magazines; photos that gave me the feeling of being there, under the stage. For some years now, I have had a Facebook page where I often post my shots (I’m still trying to scan the prints relating to the 1995-2008 period) and just this year I was invited to contribute to the Suoni Distorti webzine where I published a complete report on the 2023 festival.

Was Pistoia 1994 the first time that you saw Rory live/photographed Rory? If you’ve seen him live/photographed him before, can you share your memories?

Yes, it was the first time. Rory’s appearances in our country were very few. Apart from the early 70s, when I was still a child, the ‘Irish leprechaun’ came to Pistoia in 1984 when I was not yet 16 and didn’t have the possibility of being accompanied by anyone. On that occasion, Rory played with Mark Feltham who went on to become his harmonica player from there until 1995. In 1994, Rory returned to what Muddy Waters once described as “one of the most beautiful squares in the world” accompanied by his band of the time. I must say that I had very little knowledge of his repertoire, but, as a heavy metal lover, I appreciated the energy and power that the group unleashed on the public. Leather jacket, blue shirt, jeans and ankle boots… I still remember his look.

What memories do you have of the Pistoia 1994 concert? Any standout moments?

Almost 30 years have passed, but some things still come to mind… As I said, I didn’t know Rory’s music too well. In fact, I was satisfied just to have enjoyed the live performance of Paul Rodgers, historic voice of Free and Bad Company, but electricity was in the air. The audience wanted, craved Rory’s primordial energy, the energy that I would later discover in vintage footage from Rockpalast. And he certainly didn’t spare himself, starting the set with the classic blues spin of Continental Op to the hard rock of Moonchild. Then, the slow I Wonder Who, my favorite blues, the hoarse, suffering type, and here, Rory succeeded very well, performing it perfectly, eleven minutes, lengthening it as he pleased, leaving room for the musicians and then playing a part of harmonica himself. I liked this Irishman, awkward in his movements (I didn’t yet know about his health problems), but still always energetic within his possibilities. Two key moments for me: Out On The Western Plain, alone on stage, with the acoustic. A surprise for me. I was enchanted to see the fluidity of the movements on the fretboard, the western climate… I was beginning to fall seriously in love. Then the encore, the classic Messin’ With The Kid and the surprise: La Bamba by Richie Valens, totally spontaneous, also improvised in the lyrics which he still pulled off nonetheless, making the square jump and dance, once again at the feet of a genuine person. Genuine with his music and with the public. Ciao ciao bambino. So he takes his leave, unfortunately for the last time.

How did you get permission to photograph Rory? He didn’t allow cameras at many of his concerts in his later years.

As I said before, working in a radio station, I conducted an introductory special to the festival every year, outlining what the evenings would be like and then giving a report at the end of the festival. At the time, despite having been around for over 10 years, there were no problems with press passes and I was able to obtain the precious Photopass for me and my passion.

Did you get to meet Rory? If so, what were your impressions of him? I know from other fans in Pistoia that Rory was unwell and quite upset by his performance that night (although I think the concert was fantastic).

No, I didn’t get a chance, although I probably should have tried. In those years. the pass was practically an Access All Areas and apart from the dressing rooms, you could go practically everywhere. Just think that the following year, I managed to meet Slash from Guns n’ Roses (at the time with his Snakepit) and get an autograph. As mentioned above, he was overweight and certainly had some other health problems, given the amount of sweat that led him to change his shirt (and the jacket he was wearing on the first songs certainly didn’t help), but this didn’t stop him from being present anyway and engaging on stage. I repeat, he was not the Gallagher of the golden years, but people realised this and perhaps for this reason welcomed him with a renewed warmth.

And finally, what are your lasting impressions of Rory? And also of his legacy in Italy?

Rory was a purist. He was a man of the people. He never made use of stage clothes, smoke, lights and so on. He would go on stage in the same clothes he had arrived in and play. For the people yes, but also for himself. I read a book about him, Il bluesman bianco con la camicia a quadri, and the impression he made on me was confirmed by reading. He didn’t sell himself to the public. He sometimes made questionable choices, but he was always honest. First with himself and then with the people who loved him. And considering this, you couldn’t not keep loving him. Unfortunately, his legacy in Italy, like that of many other musicians, I think is only for a few. The blues is increasingly becoming a niche genre, and this can also be seen from the change of artists right on the stage of the Pistoia Blues Festival. Rory, and the many others who passed away too soon, such as Steve Ray Vaughan and Jeff Healey, for example, those of us who are 50 years old and more like yours truly still have our memories. There are few young people who face the ‘music of the devil’. It takes time to understand that it’s not just the usual four notes, to understand that behind those twelve bars there is a universe of sensations just waiting to be discovered. Now young people want music that’s just in the background while having a drink or trying to hook up. Junk music for junk people and that’s sad.