The summer of 1987 was a busy one for Rory, with numerous festival dates all over Europe. Below, I’ve compiled fan testimonies from some of these festivals, which do a great job of capturing the excitement and energy of just having seen Rory live. All were originally published in Deuce.

Blue Danube Blues Festival, 11-12 July 1987

(Spider Murphy Gang, Die Toten Hosen, Chuck Berry, BB King, Wolfgang Niedecken, Kevin Coyne, Robert Cray, Roger Chapman, Rory Gallagher)

For blues and rock lovers, Deggendort was an attractive little village. In addition to Rory, big names like the aforementioned bands also played over the two days, especially BB King and Chuck Berry. The music and the weather were great, but the infrastructure showed that beginners were at work. Above all, the attendees noticed once again: programmes usually promise too much…

Rory’s set was outstanding. It started with ‘Moonchild’, moved on to songs from the new LP like ‘Continental Op’ and ended with ‘They Call It Rock n Roll’. After ‘Moonchild’, Rory and his band showed with the following song ‘My Baby She Left Me’ where true love lay that day: the blues and rock n roll. The band sounded traditional but with a modern power. You could really feel Rory’s inspired and good mood, for example in one (of many) Mark Feltham performances: “The second best harp player in the world.” Wolfgang Niedecken also made sure to watch the entire performance from the audience!

Set list: Moonchild, My Baby She Left me, I Wonder Who, Nadine, Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Continental Op, A Million Miles Away, Big Guns, Out on the Western Plain, Walkin’ Blues, Want’ad Blues, Tattoo’d Lady, I Ain’t No Saint, Shadow Play, Bullfrog Blues, Little Queenie, Johnny B Goode, They Call It Rock n Roll.

Markus Gygax, Chur, Switzerland

Arbon, Seepark Open Air Festival, 8 August 1987

(Wild Hearts, Bo Katzman Gang, Paul Brady, Company of Wolves, Jocco Abendroth, Rory Gallagher)

Arbon was, of course, a very special event for me. Rory’s last concert in Switzerland was more than two years ago. And Arbon or Switzerland really did not disappoint the visitors. It was one of the most beautiful areas I’ve ever seen for a festival; it was right next to Lake Constance.

When it came to spectators, however, there was a nasty surprise. Although advance sales were great in the first two weeks (twice as many tickets were sold as the previous year at Status Quo), in the end only around 6,000-10,000 fans showed up. Weeks of rain beforehand were the most likely reason. On the very day that Rory played, there was warm sunshine and the day after that the whole area was completely rained on again.

After some lesser-known Swiss bands and especially Krokus had warmed up the crowd, Dónal Gallagher came on and asked: “Are you ready for some rock n roll? Are you ready for some blues?” A thousand “Yeahs” sounded out, immediately followed by the opening of Moonchild. There were storms of enthusiasm for Continental Op, even though the LP Defender had only been released a few days earlier. The flamenco intro to Tattoo’d Lady is also worth mentioning. Double Vision had an incredibly lively, driving beginning. As usual, Mark Feltham was there for the bluesy songs. The only disappointing thing was that Rory said goodbye with only one encore – Messin’ with the Kid.

Set list: Moonchild, Continental Op, I Wonder Who, I Ain’t No Saint, Tattoo’d Lady, Bad Penny, My Baby She Left Me, Double Vision, Out on the Western Pain, Walkin’ Blues, Want’ad Blues, Banker’s Blues, Bourbon, Don’t Start me Talkin’, Nadine, Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Shadow Play, Messin’ with the Kid

Markus Gygax, Chur, Switzerland

Trochtelfingen Open Air Festival, 21 August 1987

(Else Boggelmann, Tony McPhee’s Groundhogs, Rory Gallagher)

Surely, I will always regard the 8^th open air festival in Trochtelfingen as a special event. The weather had been fantastic all day, just as the atmosphere in the tent was bound to be in the evening. Three groups were announced. Else Boggelmann was the first to perform. I was not able to watch her show, though, and I had not known her before either, so that I cannot make any comment on her performance. Anyway, the tent was crammed with people by the time the Groundhogs hit the stage. The singer and guitarist Tony McPhee seemed to be brimming over with joy and energy. As clear as crystal, this performance was sort of an additional spur for Rory and his band.

Sure enough, they put their back into it from the very start shortly after eleven and showed what they were able to. Of course, they also played some of the songs from the new album Defender. I bet nobody was surprised when Rory came back on stage with McPhee for the encore. This session was predictable anyway and accordingly turned out to be a real titbit. After that, the fans still were not satisfied and therefore kept shouting for more. It worked – Rory and his band came back again. They launched right into a surprising but very pleasing, extraordinary tune, the Spanish song La Bamba, also sung in Spanish by Rory. It must have been about half past two, I think, when the band as well as the audience were totally knackered – but just as satisfied.

Edith Viertelhausen, Hamburg, Germany

Hamburg, 23 August 1987

Defender Rory Gallagher. That’s how the poster announced the band’s performance starting at 3:00 in the afternoon – a somewhat unusual time and taking place on the open air stage in Hamburg’s beautiful Stadtpark. Anyway, Rory did not have to defend himself against anyone since he and the band plus Mark Feltham were the only people who attacked the stage. The fans were gradually filling the rather small place, many of them even sat down on the provided benches. Everybody was waiting calmly and patiently for the show to start, which happened at about 3:15. Then, all of the sudden, the fans ‘thawed out’ and began to move and shout. Not even a short but rather heavy downpour which soaked them to the skin could lessen their enthusiasm. There were a few technical problems though because the electric current for the harp dried up sometimes, but then Mark got the opportunity to prove his remarkable skill and great talent. Apart from the new songs which Rory had presented at Trochtelfingen, that is ‘Kickback City’, ‘Continental Op’ (really catchy tunes), ‘I Ain’t No Saint’ and ‘Don’t Start Me Talking’, the band also played ‘Loanshark Blues’. As far as the old songs are concerned, it was a pleasure to be carried ‘A Million Miles Away’ again after a fairly long time anyway. By the time Rory gave the first encore, ‘Bullfrog Blues’. He took you back again, thus giving you the opportunity to collect all your energy to shout for another encore. The fans held out just as patiently as they had been waiting a couple of hours ago got their reward at last. The band came back once more finishing the successful matinee at about 6:00 PM with a number of racy rock’n’roll songs.

Edith Viertelhausen, Hamburg, Germany