On this day in 1986, Rory played the Out in the Green Festival in Germany. The festival was taking place over two days in the towns of Dinkelsbühl and St Goarshausen and featured such acts as Jethro Tull, Magnum, Nazareth and Status Quo. I recently discovered this excellent first-hand account of the festival by Swiss fan Marcus Gygex, which I share with you below.

Rory Live in Dinkelsbühl

Shortly after the festival in Bruchhausen, there were two open air festivals in Germany by Rory and co. The two festivals took place on June 5th/July in Dinkelsbühl and on the Loreley. The line-up was (almost) all old stars. Mama’s Boys, who opened the festivals, there were still the youngest ones. But everyone else like Graham Parker, Magnum, Nazareth, Status Quo, Jethro Tull and our Roy already had 1 or 2 rock decades under their belt. Personally, I didn’t necessarily believe there would be a big crowd, as (almost) all of these bands had already exceeded their popularity level several years ago.

By the way, Agi (my girlfriend) and I weren’t sure until the last moment whether we should even go to Dinkelsbühl. The train connection was so crappy that it would have taken half a day’s journey to get there. In the end, a work colleague and a fan from Basel turned out to be the lucky charm. Finally, we left by car.

Surprise then in Dinkelsbühl, the island meadow was completely overcrowded. There was a huge crowd on top of what was supposed to be a few thousand people. The organiser, Rory’s brother Dónal, reported 25,000 tickets sold shortly after his brother’s show. However, there must have been over 30,000, because these numbers were calculated based on the tickets sold by midday.

Since we didn’t arrive until 3 p.m., I can’t talk about any other appearances but Rory. I did see Nazareth, but found it very disappointing. I’ve never seen them before, but the LP Snaz sounded (much) better. Not even Tush from ZZ Top really got into it. The sound was also very bad.

Well, then Rory finally came. It had been exactly a year since I last saw him (in Montreux). And again, seeing the man was an experience and probably always will be. Heavier, but not a bit worse for it. His jumps are comparable to Pete Townsend’s, he can now do the duck walk better than Chuck Berry himself, his guitar machine gun volleys are at least more original than those of Rambo, and what everyone else (perhaps) can’t do – Rory played slide as a world first using a sneaker that an enthusiastic fan had thrown up at him. All things he’s been doing since the days of Taste. The only thing that’s different now is that he seems even more adept in this area. Not new as such, but for me personally it’s still more pleasant to see him doing that than watching fireworks.

But it gets even better when we talk about the music that Rory played with his band. And if you don’t let yourself be influenced unnecessarily by the fact that he didn’t play any new stuff, it was a great concert. The sound was crystal clear for a festival compared to the previous act Nazareth. The only glitch came in the first song when Gerry McAvoy’s bass stopped. Rory and Brendan (drums) covered the several-minute loss with a routine, although they surprisingly played ‘Moonchild’ as starters. Other highlights were certainly ‘I Wonder Who’, ‘Nadine’, ‘Walkin’ Blues’, ‘Messin’ with the Kid’ etc. But none of them probably came close to the class and spontaneity of ‘I’m Ready’ – an old Muddy Waters song. The way that Rory and his men including Mark Feltham (harmonica) conjured up and breathed new life into the song was a lesson in itself. To my surprise, Rory left the stage after exactly two hours of play, even though his performance had started 45 minutes late. And he only returned for one encore – a long-unheard “Oldie but Goodie” (according to Rory) ‘Bullfrog Blues’. After that, it was over. People wanted more, but a festival has time laws.

Later behind the stage, it was a relaxed picture. Brendan, Gerry and Mark were standing around contentedly. Gerry is totally pumped up, while the other two are quieter. But everyone is happy. Brendan actually agrees with me that ‘I’m Ready’ was the best number. Nothing from Rory yet. There was a press conference shortly after the concert. To my surprise, around 10-15 press representatives wanted to speak to Rory (“No consideration will be given for hard and unpleasant questions,” said the organiser at the beginning). After the press conference, however, Rory continued straight away; several people wanted even longer interviews. I’m now curious to see what’s in the newspapers. Above all, I think it’s a very good sign for new activities (i.e. records and tours) from Rory, as many press representatives wanted their interview with him and he granted it.

Of course, there was plenty to talk about with Gerry, Brendan and Mark, as the successful concert had everyone a bit excited. By the way, Mark is still not a permanent member of the band, although he has only missed one show in the last three years. He still prefers the session life, playing here and there, but prefers playing with Rory. By the way, he also recently took part in the new Talk Talk album, which recently came onto the market.

Then Dónal Gallagher arrived first, a sign that the interviews were almost over. We sat down in Rory’s trailer, which was right next to Jethro Tull’s, and talked to him. About the concert to the Self Aid Festival in Dublin to the last Deuce issue.

And then Rory arrived, exhausted from the concert and interviews, but satisfied. And apparently, he was happy to see us again, because he left the room, got us a few new cans of beer and mineral water and sat down with us for the first time. Conversations about books, horoscopes and Montreux alternated with news. The new LP should finally be ready and will definitely be released in August/September. It’s also 90% ready with the record company. In Europe, Rory will probably sign a contract with Phonogram, in America the company could be called Polygram. A good sign that such renowned companies want Rory in their ranks. By the way, one song is supposed to be a blues duet with Lou Martin! And one is supposed to be called ‘Continental Op’. He got the theme from a crime novel.

Before the release, he’s going to Spain in the week from July 6th to 13th. Barcelona, ​​Madrid and San Sebastian are visited, among others. Afterwards there will be another concert in the south of France where – listen and be amazed – Memphis Slim, an old black blues pianist who lives in Paris, will be accompanied.

With the release of the LP, however, a larger and better-announced tour was finally supposed to start, which would take him through all of Europe.

By the way, the entire concert was recorded and will soon be broadcast on SWF 3. I don’t have an exact date yet.

After Jethro Tull had started and Rory had moaned a little about the Rockpalast show where he was a talk guest in Cologne the previous evening, we said goodbye to the band because we wanted to go back to Basel that night.

Markus Gygax/Agi Gregori