On this day in 1985, Rory played the Montreux Jazz Festival for a record fifth time. To mark the occasion, I’ve compiled a range of newspaper reviews and fan testimonials of his concert. All of them were originally published in the Rory fanzine Deuce. As was typical of this period in Rory’s career, some of the press reports are rather uncomplimentary, failing to notice the constant progression in Rory’s music throughout the 1980s. To appreciate the magic of Rory’s Montreux performance for yourself and make your own mind up, click here.

Rock Messages from the Deepest Souls

The rock nights at the Montreux Jazz Festival were characterised by strong contrasts: Rory Gallagher, a rock legend, was celebrated – but he came back to life and Nina Hagen gave evidence of the latest work in the punk rock scene.

His Stratocaster has become worn and nameless. The music of Rory Gallagher, the guitarist, composer and singer from Ballyshannon, Ireland, has lost none of its shine and freshness over the course of its 14-year existence. In any case, at the Casino Montreux, the tumultuously welcomed musician played rock that couldn’t have been more authentic, more honest and more vital. Accompanied by his long-standing, excellent bassist Gerry McAvoy, Gallagher revived the white electric blues of England in the 1960s. Most of his pieces, influenced by the three Kings Albert, Freddy and BB, were written between 1971 and 1974 and are characterised by idiosyncratic Celtic-coloured harmonies

A particularly impressive example of Rory Gallagher’s work was the legendary Milwaukee Blues. It, as well as many other compositions from Gallagher’s deepest soul that filled the casino, transported the enthusiastic listeners, most of them over 20 years old, to their youth in a matter of minutes. Nostalgia was king.

Rocker with Heart and Soul

Rory Gallagher clearly enjoyed the subtle language between musician and audience: standing on the stage in jeans and with long, curly hair, the rocker, who has devoted himself body and soul to music, savoured every note of his guitar as if it were a drop of heart and soul. Once again, it became clear: Rory Gallagher plays straightforward and sometimes very hard rock, but deep down he is a sensitive, warm-hearted romantic.

Whether the powerful Irishman plays virtuoso bottleneck, makes his acoustic guitar cry while he interprets old ballads, or, together with blues harmonica player Mark Feltham, drummer Brendan O’Neill and bassist Gerry McAvoy, Rory Gallagher plays a rock that is as credible as it was at the beginning of his solo career.

It’s possible that his success here in Montreux is a sign that the era of technicalisation of rock music is over and that good old rock ‘n’ roll is coming back into fashion instead. True to the motto sung by Gallagher – “you can take everything: my shirt, my money and my wife. But you can’t take my guitar.”

Good Old Blues – Contrasting Program at the 19th Montreux Jazz Festival

As has often been the case at the Montreux Festival, last-minute program changes were made this year. So, for the Rock from England evening, Rory Gallagher and the reunited Blues Band resorted to safe values ​​at short notice.

Anyone who was already in the casino in the afternoon unexpectedly came to a small blues concert – Rory Gallagher took over an hour for the sound check and played a whole series of blues songs from the forties and fifties.

Rory Gallagher, who had just returned from a long US tour, presented himself in the best playing mood and pulled out all the stops of his abilities. Accompanied by his long-time friend Gerry McAvoy, drummer Brendan O’Neill and harmonica player Mark Feltham, he offered extended versions of mostly old pieces, improvised extensively and often resorted to the slide. It became clear that although his music has hardly changed in the last fifteen years, the Irish blues rocker is still full of ideas. What was most astonishing, however, was his unbridled energy on stage: full steam ahead for two and a half hours without the slightest sign of tiredness, and that after twenty years, during which he has performed almost every evening!

François Cuvit 

Rory at Montreux

As is well known, Rory Gallagher was in Montreux last Friday. I travelled to Montreux with a colleague on Friday to see Rory live again. It was his first concert in 6 years at Montreux. I was surprised that Rory still had the power he had ten years ago. He also still acted as naturally as before and he hasn’t lost his trademarks yet.

The harmonica player who had recently joined the band brought a welcome change to Rory’s set. If it hadn’t been for him, I would have to say it was a disappointing concert, as Rory hardly brought any new songs, only well-known stuff. But he still played this well-known stuff as well as he did years ago. It’s also pleasing to see that Rory himself always enjoys music, which is by no means a given when it’s mostly just about money these days.

Beat Odermatt

A Monument

Some advertising on the screen, then the time had come: Montreux organiser Claude Nobs elegantly hopped onto the stage, shouted, “The one and only Rory Gallagher” into the microphone and made room for a monument from rock history. Rory doesn’t give a damn about all the technical and ideological changes in the rock industry. He plugged his old, worn-out Fender Stratocaster into the amplifier and got started, rocking and bluesing without frills and probably taking more than half of the audience back 15 years. Then there was the Blues Band, but unfortunately there weren’t that many listeners left for them (see Rory and die?).

The Eternal Returns

For all sorts of good reasons, the young guard of the musicians marched out. So Rory Gallagher returned to Montreux once again, on time, in good shape and well prepared. It is true that fired from all the record companies, the guitar hero was undoubtedly very happy to earn a few Swiss francs.

“Let’s hire him,” said Claude Nobs, “We won’t be disappointed.”

Festival Louder Than Loud Rock

With Rory Gallagher, we find ourselves on familiar ground, something like Fogherty or Lee Lewis, the original rocker, without the guitar in his hands. We expect to see him arrive in a jean jacket, vaguely dirty, blasting his blues like a well-oiled old Harley and we’re right. Gallagher is the sustainability of a music that has nothing to do with fashion. He’s been wearing the same jeans for ten years and doesn’t care whether he looks up to date or not. His music proves those who collect his records right – his work is one that lasts. The Montreux public was not mistaken. The BSA barely managed to heat up a room still sleepy from the excesses of this evening (which left more than one on the knees). Before Rory Gallagher left the stage, he made the difference: a good part of the room stood up and shouted his name. The crazy Irishman, the irreducible long-haired man, hit hard last night. His rhythm and blues must still make the walls vibrate now

Robert Magnenat

Le Matin, 8 July 1985

Friday evening, Rory Gallagher had a blast on the Casino stage. So much so that one of the technicians of the Blues Band, the group who was to follow the guitarist, finding the latter’s performance too long, threatened to blow the lead. Fortunately, Claude Nobs avoided disaster at the last moment by announcing a break, thus stopping Gallagher in his tracks. The latter, annoyed, locked himself in his dressing room only to come out at the end of the Blues Band concert, and sneak away surreptitiously when he was called to come and jam with them.

LM

Baseler Zeitung, 8 July 1985

Another unforgettable act for my ears from the first days of the Montreux Festival was the apparently indestructible Irish rock guitarist roaring Rory Gallagher. Already at the beginning of the seventies, he was considered a feedback artist on the guitar. Raw, straightforward, and not stingy with the watts, he whipped his bluesy rock melodies of somehow moving banality through the speakers.

Montreux: Only Rory…

In the (announced) absence of the rockers, it was the bluesmen who occupied the Casino stage on Friday. On the program for this evening: an authentic hero, a group dismantled and reformed for the occasion and the so-called discovery of the festival.

On Big Sound Authority, we will say nothing, out of charity, except that the sound of the video clip can generate very small-scale revelations. There are hardly any more comments regarding Blues Band, not out of leniency, but because its square music does not arouse any comment as it is so conventional.

Rory Gallagher, as we expected, saved the evening with his generosity and his legendary punch. No need for fireworks or sophisticated orchestration for the hero of an almost forgotten era. A very solid drummer, a headstrong bassist, a surprising harmonica player, and here is the machine set off for two long hours of blues and rock at its best. Unsurprisingly, but with a naturalness and an energy that hits the mark every time

Roland Tillmanns, Le Matin

24 Heures, 8 May 1985

What remains are shapeless jeans that float like a banner on the blues received by the Irish rocker, a cardigan of the same nostalgic fabric, and an unforgettable guitar, a little more threadbare than the last time, a little less than the next.

What remains is a sound, raspy, dense, a virtuoso playing which makes fun of flourishes, and the stubborn feeling of a musician who would prefer to put down the guitar rather than chase fashion.

Over time, the Irishman has lost none of his legendary energy – disconcerted sounds, sticky chords and bold rhythmic tempos. Not enough to flatter modern young people, but a good taste of electric memories for old people of old music. The latter had fun (it’s so obvious!), the others preferred to leave the room. Sad?

Prehistoric Blues Rock with Rory Gallagher,

Only die-hard RG fans made the trip. Indeed, instead of being connected to the rock of the 80s we found ourselves propelled into the full prehistory of bluesy rock. The dirty jeans look, long hair, Rory arrived on stage, guitar on his shoulder, turned on the ignition and the party could begin.

For two hours, we found ourselves sitting in an old wagon, crisscrossing the deserts, alone with the dust. Even larger than life, all that was missing was the smells! Muscle rock, urban blues, heartbreaking harmonica, all the ingredients were there to have a pleasant time.

Unfortunately, this was not entirely the case. These wagons definitely always have the same drawbacks – the one on Friday was unpleasantly noisy. The Montreusian sounblues d system (once is not suitable) was experiencing problems, saturating more than necessary. And above all the comfort leaves something to be desired, the journey is long, we don’t see the end. By adding more, Rory gets tired. But it’s take it or leave it, isn’t it going to change now? So much the better.

JAL, Vevey Riviera

Gallagher and Montreux Again and Again

The Montreux Jazz Festival, as usual, offered us a rock evening whose poster had a few surprises in store.

Indeed, after the defections of Kim Wilde and Talk Talk, it was Rory Gallagher who found himself headlining in the company of the legendary Blues Band reformed for the occasion thanks to the good care of Claude Nobs.

Off to a flying start for Rory. The sound is harsh and extremely violent. Playing songs like ‘Big Guns’, ‘Shinkicker’, ‘Moonchild’, ‘The Last of the Independents’ almost without downtime, without forgetting slower songs like ‘Tattoo’d Lady’ and heartbreaking blues like ‘I Wonder Who’ by Muddy Waters.

Always surprises that evening with the remarkable appearance of the harmonicist Mark Feltham (member of the group Nine Below Zero) who had great difficulty slipping a few notes between those of Rory as the latter’s guitar was in verve.

Very electric atmosphere at the Casino despite the acoustic set in which he only played three songs – ‘Out on the Western Plain’, ‘Walkin’ Blues’ and ‘Banker’s Blues’.

We can regret that Rory did not present to us some songs from the album to be released soon

The Blues Band members did not want to play too late. The show was shortened and lasted 2h15 which deprived us of the long-awaited jam… maybe another time…