Today marks 38 years since Rory played at the Irish Centre in Leeds. To mark the occasion, I share some fan testimonies of the concert, which were first published in the Swiss fanzine Deuce.

John Christie

A crowd of about 600 souls waited impatiently at what was a new stomping ground for Rory. Obviously, the faithful were out in force, despite the fact it’s been over four years since we had an album from the Irish musician.

As usual, Rory and his band ran on stage. they opened the set with ‘Moonchild’. The voice was strong and the playing powerful on what is one of the most melodic of the Calling Card songs. Examining Rory closely, it was good to see that Mr Gallagher had lost much of the excess weight which was evident during the Self Aid bash in Ireland. Next came ‘Double Vision’ which soon had people clapping in time to the heavy blues. Great slide was displayed on this number.

‘When My Baby She Left Me’, a Sonny Boy Williamson song, followed. Sideman Mark Feltham was introduced on harmonica. His playing reminds me of both Little Walter and Paul Butterfield. Rory’s playing was fast and clever on this number a la Freddie King and he and Mark swapped licks to the delight of the audience. Then there was a 10-minute version of ‘I Wonder Who’ – the Muddy Waters number. This featured extended solos from both players. Both had that intangible blues feel.

‘Brute Force and Ignorance’ was greeted like an old friend by the audience. Once again, Gallagher showed what an innovative slide player he is. A maroon-coloured guitar was produced for ‘Philby’, which finished with a Russian folk inspired solo which would have the cossacks dancing in the street. ‘Shadow Play’ had that indefinable touch which marks it out as one of the best melodic rockers the Donegal man has done. Another song from Photo Finish ‘Shinkicker’ had the audience popping and Gerry produced some sterling work on bass guitar on this tune.

Then, Rory donned an acoustic guitar starting off on Leadbelly’s ‘Out on the Western Plain’, Robert Johnson’s ‘Walkin’ Blues’, which had slide guitar and a compliment by Mark Feltham, and the Blind Boy Fuller number ‘Pistol Slapper Blues’. My only criticism is I wish that he would feature Calling Card’s ‘Barley and Grape Rag’, which is one of his own numbers. His playing was much appreciated by those who’ve made attempts to play acoustic.

‘I Ain’t No Saint’, which unfortunately was the only new number he played this night, had a good tune and plenty of guts and that’s a quality that very few musicians can match the Irishman for. It had a Latin American beat ably supplied by Brendan and Gerry reminiscent of ‘Jinxed’ and the Howlin’ Wolf number ‘Who’s Been Talking’. A bit of funk was featured as in ‘Loose Talk’ on Jinx.

In ‘Bad Penny’, Rory built up a wall of sound which was similar to the heart stopping moments of ‘I Fall Apart’. It also had a fine bass solo from ever ready Gerry. Chuck Berry’s ‘Nadine’ had Rory strongest singing yet, but it was a little long for my liking. ‘A Million Miles Away’, the Tattoo and Irish Tour number was the highlight of the evening as far as I was concerned. Gallagher really oozed the feeling on this number on what is one of his most emotional songs. It had an extra fine solo more than matching the one on the 1974 live album.

Rory introduced ‘Tattoo’d Lady’ with some flamenco guitar. Both his sidemen produced frantically good solos on this number, belying the fact they’d been hard at it for two hours. After this number, Rory went off, but the delighted crowd were not to be denied for long. He returned and launched into ‘Messin’ with the Kid’. Of all the bands I’ve seen, only the Groundhogs could come close to this band’s attack. He followed up with speeded up versions of Howlin Wolf’s ‘I’m Leaving You’ and Bo Carter’s ‘All Around Man’, the latter number opened with a body twitching riff much like that of ZZ Top’s ‘La Grange’. It also featured the most aggressive slide guitar of the night. All he needed was somebody like Johnny Winter to swap licks with. I’ve never seen R&B played with such intensity and at the age of 31 years, I’ve seen a few bands in my time.

The most outstanding feature for me at this concert was Rory’s voice. He’s singing better than ever. During the less active part of his career, he’s added a few more guitar tricks to please the audience. Out of the 15 times I’ve seen the band, this was the finest performance. They’re like fine wine. The older it is, the better it matures. The support band were called The Wild Dogs and they spoilt what would have been a good performance by referring to illegal drugs. thanks must go to the record man who played the Groundhogs numbers, putting the audience and myself in the right mood

John Davis

I arrived outside the Irish centre at 7:00 PM and already there were approximately 50 other fans queuing alongside the main entrance waiting for the doors to open at the scheduled time of 7:30 PM. The queue got longer and the time 7:30 PM soon passed by; the doors did not open. We could faintly hear Rory practicing a few numbers, which we would soon see performed live on stage. The queue grew longer and the end of it was soon out of my sight.

At 8:00 PM the doors at last were opened and the hall gradually filled with his faithful fans. The three refreshment bars were doing brisk business and we were entertained by The Wild Dogs who played a short set including a cover version of Rolling Stones ‘Jumping Jack Flash’. I’ve seen and heard better support acts and certainly witnessed worse, but we’d only come to see Rory anyway.

At 9:30 PM Rory and his band ran onto the stage. That in itself was a joyful experience. It had been a very long time for most of us since we’d last seen Rory play a live gig. They went straight into ‘Moonchild’ – my own personal favourite. What a start and what innovation Rory received at the end of that first song. Next came ‘Double Vision’ followed ‘I Wonder Who’. Everybody present was having a great time. ‘When My Baby’ was the next number and then ‘Shadow Play’, another favourite which saw Rory allow us to lead the chorus line. The tempo remained hot and fast through more of his best-known songs ‘Brute Force and Ignorance’ and ‘Off the Handle’. We were then introduced to a new song ‘I Ain’t No Saint’. This was warmly received.

The time was now 10:35 PM. Gerry and Brendan left the stage so that Rory could perform his acoustic set, which on this occasion featured ‘Western Plain’, ‘Walkin’ Blues’ and ‘Pistol Slapper Blues’. Rory is a genius and the crowd were ready and eager to hear anything he was prepared to play for us. The band returned after this and we were treated to another selection of his best and our favourite songs – ‘Philby’ followed by ‘Bad Penny’ and then ‘A Million Miles Away’. All incredibly powerful and exceptionally performed as usual.

Rory then played his excellent version of Chuck Berry’s ‘Nadine’ and finished with ‘Tattoo’d Lady’, which featured solos from all band members. 11:30 PM Rory and his band left the stage. Nobody was going home and after 5 minutes of chanting and shouting, they returned to play three more songs – ‘Messin’ with the Kid’, a blues standard which I’m afraid I was not familiar with, ‘Sweet Lovin’ perhaps and ‘All Around Man’.

What a show and what memories we’ll all have for a long time to come. It was surprising how many of us had carefully preserved our University Challenge tour 1981 t-shirts for this very special occasion. Unfortunately, there were no souvenirs on sale so it looks like we’ll have to keep our 1981 shirts for a while longer. Even one of Rory’s roadies was wearing one! I hope we do not have to wait such a long time to see Rory again. Surely a tour is well overdue. For some personally, the total cost to see Rory this time was approximately 5 pounds, but it was worth every bad penny. Cheers Rory and we hope to see you again very soon.

Mark Ratcliffe

“It had been a long time since I last saw Rory and his band (Marquee ’83) so I was very surprised and delighted to hear he was playing at the Irish Centre as it’s only two miles from my house. The Irish Centre is similar to that of the Marquee, but holds quite a few more people. Rory was playing the first concert there to highlight it as a live venue in Leeds. Having seen Rory many times over the last seven years, I still got that excited feeling at the thought of Rory’s playing again and I was not disappointed neither.

We managed to get right to the front, right in front of Rory. You could sense the atmosphere straight away, and it wasn’t long before the ‘Rory’ chants were echoing around the hall. Rory and his band hit the stage at 9.15pm and launched into a blistering version of ‘Moonchild’, his first words were ‘It’s nice to be back in Leeds after many years’ and 1,000 people certainly agreed, the master had returned! It was straight into ‘Double Vision’ and then Mark Feltham joined the band on harmonica for ‘I Wonder Who’ and ‘My Baby Left Me’. Certainly the blues songs stand out a lot better with a harmonica. We then got ‘Brute Force and Ignorance’ and surprisingly early ‘Shadow Play’ which sent the crowd wild. It was then a new song called ‘I Ain’t No Saint’ from the new album, which sounded excellent. After hearing that, it makes waiting for the new album almost unbearable! It was then onto the popular acoustic set which comprised of ‘Western Plain’, ‘Pistol Slapper Blues’ and ‘Walkin’ Blues’. It was great to hear ‘Pistol Slapper Blues’ again after all these years.

Gerry and Brendan returned and the band went into an amazing version of ‘Philby’ with the crowd all singing along to the ‘yeah yeah yeah’ part. ‘Philby’ sounds better every time I see Rory play it, magic. We were then treated to two blues standard classics: Chuck Berry’s ‘Nadine’ and Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘I’m Leaving’. Rory then launched into the classic ‘Bad Penny’ quickly followed by ‘Shinkicker’ and ‘Off the Handle’ and then after all these years of hoping he might play it live, he played ‘A Million Miles Away’. I’ve been wanting to see him play that at every Rory concert I’ve ever been to. It was like a dream come true. It was absolutely incredible. It was worth going just to hear it. Rory and the band launched into Tattoo’d Lady (another favourite) and near the end Rory announced ‘I hope it’s not too long before we’re back in Leeds again’. I’m sure everyone in the Irish Centre totally agreed with him.

 After five minutes and more Rory chants, he came back and tore into ‘Messin’ with the Kid’ quickly followed by an excellent version of ‘All Around Man’.

It was all over. 2 and a half hours of pure magic. A lot of happy people left the Irish Centre, and even if I was deaf for 3 days after, I would gladly go through it all again, and to think people were saying Rory Gallagher was past it, I think if they had witnessed that concert they would now be eating humble pie!!! I only hope he doesn’t leave it another three years.