If you’ve been following Rewriting Rory for some time now, you’ll know that the Temple Bar Blues Festival – both Rory’s masterclass and his concert on the steps of the Bank of Ireland – are up there with some of my very favourite things he ever did. I’ve written about both extensively before on this blog and they both have dedicated chapters in Rory Gallagher: The Later Years.

Every year when I post on their anniversary, I get asked whether both events were recorded and I always give the same response: yes, they were and were once available online, yet have since been removed. In a bid to make these wonderful events more widely known and appreciated, I’ve just uploaded them to the Rewriting Rory YouTube channel. I’m not sure how long they’ll stay there, but I thought it was worth a try! I hope you enjoy them!

And here’s a little teaser extract from the book:

“It’s been three years now since he played in Ireland, played in Dublin,
so when he comes out, I want you to give him a real welcome home,
Ireland’s own blues legend, Rory Gallagher…”

With these introductory words by Ronnie Drew of The Dubliners, Rory Gallagher hit the stage at the inaugural Temple Bar Blues Festival in Dublin on 15 August 1992, giving a free concert before 20,000 spectators on the steps of the Bank of Ireland on College Green. Three days prior, he had kicked off the festival with an intimate masterclass with five budding young guitarists at the Guinness Hopstore in the city’s St James’s Gate district.

Leading up to Gallagher’s appearance at the Festival, there was much expectation. He had not performed on the island of Ireland since 1989 and now he was back without long-term band members Gerry McAvoy and Brendan O’Neill. Would he still be liked? Would his new band make a good impression? Was he still capable of headlining a major festival? He was also back with a heavier build as a result of his worsening health problems. What would people say about the way he looked? Would they comment on his weight gain? Would they still want to see him? Gallagher was never a confident man, but he was increasingly riddled with insecurity at this time and whether he would be able to live up to the high standards that people had of him (let alone his own, given that he always demanded so much from himself). “They just expect too much of me,” he would tell new drummer Richard Newman.

Gallagher’s nerves were not eased by pre-festival press articles, which were keen to write him off before he had even set foot in Dublin. While the guitarist was likely hurt by such remarks, to some extent, they appear to have spurred him on, knowing that he had something to prove. Just as he had come back from the devastating break-up of Taste with an impressive solo debut in 1971, which stopped critics in their tracks, a similar situation occurred here. From the opening bars of ‘Continental Op’, it was immediately apparent that this was going to be a night like no other. Gallagher came with the strength of a hurricane, leaving no doubt that he was back and stronger than ever before. Like a true phoenix, he had risen from the ashes, proving the age-old proverb that you should never judge a book by its cover.