Bluemoon Live.
Right, thanks to
@Coatigan for the Dynamic Duos, it’s now time for the Terrific Trios! No. Just kidding. Someone else can go with that at some stage.
Well here’s the proposal for the next fortnight.
I would like you to present a concert.
An opener a middle and a closer of your choice.
You can use any artists, it doesn’t have to be the same one for the whole concert. You can use any live performance, whether it be a television appearance like Jools Holland or a concert excerpt.
Live! So that rules out TOTP.
I would like the three songs presented together, so a little thought is required from yourselves. I’m thinking YouTube is the medium to use, so I can compile a playlist showing each show, one after the other.
There’s a bit of organisation involved and I’m aware this could go tits up, but on advice from Coats and Rob, it was decided, let’s give it a one off try just for something different.
Basically, a couple of the side conversations in here in a couple of the music threads, just got me thinking that this would be a good way for people to show exactly what they get from a live show.
Whether it be Coldplay, Oasis, Genesis, punk, rock, pop etc etc, here’s a way of showcasing your show stoppers.
Convince us, that these are the artists to go and see.
One thing I would like to advise on, is that live versions of things can tend to be longer than recorded versions. I won’t put a definitive time limit on the three song playlist, but…… know your audience.
So send a brief outline of your concert lineup and why you chose these tracks and what they mean to you etc., and I’ll do my best to put them in a YouTube playlist that is manageable.
With that in mind, I had one artist in mind all along. I think most in here would guess where I’m coming from. However I’m conflicted now having thrashed out the theme with Rob and Coats.
I actually have an alternative concert of 5 different artists with a definite start middle and concert end in mind. It really is an attractive proposition for me. But having given my own critiques of other’s opinions on live acts and guitarists over the last couple of weeks, I will stick with my own private obsession and offer it up to be picked apart.
We all have our personal favourite guitarist and with my concert I will try to demonstrate to you why I think so highly of this guy.
The amount of stuff I would love to present far out weighs the actual brief, but I will make this cathartic and try my best not to bother y’all again with my personal obsession.
I know the story but am still amazed and wonder how in the name of all that is sacred did Ireland produce such genius and talent at that time.
There is a story of how he was influenced the way he was but we’ll leave that until after you decide if you like it or not.
I’ll prepare myself for the worst, as with this guy, although I’ve always known him, I only saw him live once and my current obsession started relatively late, I suppose. But I’ve developed an emotional attachment to his live work. It grieves me sometimes the lack of appreciation or pure ignorance there is of his amazing performances.
I’ve always liked Rory.
I first remember my older brother having the Blueprint album and hearing it at home. Myself and my mate in the seventies however were Prog Rock nuts, into Yes in an obsessive way. His younger brother Alan and next door neighbour Dave were obsessed with Rory and Alan learned guitar and could copy much of Rory’s licks. He really was good.
Dave played bass and they had a band for a while.
Myself and my mate though idolised the likes of Steve Howe or even Hackett more when it came to guitar heroes.
To my regret, I never saw Rory during the seventies although Alan and Dave and their slightly younger crowd used to go every year.
It wasn’t until mid eighties that I saw Rory live. It was everything I expected it to be.
In the eighties I got into a much wider range of genres of music. I branched out so to speak. I was in my twenties and sampling life.
I have since returned to roots and myself and Dave in particular shoot the breeze over Rory’s own particular brand of genius, quite regularly.
My return to the basics of blues based rock n roll has been just a natural magnetic pull of what comforts me when I’m sitting down in the evening with shag all to watch on tv. The missus gone to bed, up early for work.
I’m semi-retired, have a lot of spare time, the best of both worlds really, work and leisure.
So when I’m on YouTube surfing sat there with my glass of Teelings, what am I drawn to for ‘ Me Time’.
I find I just never tire of this guy. He was a modest quiet spoken yet quite focussed and single minded man, who had no interest in commerciality. He just knew what he wanted to play and he would get it out there to a live audience of any size. When he took stage behind his little girl ( his battered 1961 Stratocaster) he became a different animal.
Nothing contrived. What you see and hear is sheer honesty. He couldn’t do anything else if he tried.
What you got on any given night from him was what he was feeling at that moment and quite often made up, on the spot, including narrative or lyrics.
It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. I get that, but this guy got me through a pretty bad period over the last year. He is my go to that never lets me down.
We talked last week about basic 4 bar rock n roll and three chords and the truth. Well for me, here’s the standard to strive to achieve.
The guy engages me on two bar blues/hard rock. If you think I’m exaggerating go fish out In Your Town on YouTube. It’s basically two chords jamming, but it holds your attention and mesmerises a captive crowd. He oozes enthusiasm and energy.
You can look at any number of versions of the same song too and you don’t get the same thing twice. It is LIVE and apart from the virtuosity It is exactly what he was feeling in the moment and he first takes the band and then the audience with him. And there are no whammy bars or foot pedals. This is as much as you can get from a guitar.
And a shout out to the whole band who are so tight.
Rory will introduce them, to take their own applause at the end of the show. So here we go;
Ladies and Gentlemen introducing Mr. Rory Gallagher and Band.
1. Cradle Rock - Bang. A slap in the face. Wake up, I’m here. I would go totally with the Irish Tour film for the definitive versions of most of Rory’s live stuff. It is the opener for the show and a powerful one at that. However, my only criticism of that film is that the editing from The ‘74 Irish tour pieces together more than one concert, so it looks disjointed at times. However, the soundtrack is consistent with the live album and is all one take. But I have chosen a different live piece which is a bit shorter and probably more suitable for our playlist.I love Duane Allman, but quite simply, nobody played slide like Rory.
2. Do You Read Me. - fabulous intro again. He just has a way of grabbing your attention. And he makes it all look so effortless.
3. A Million Miles Away - Lets slow things down. It’s long, but here I will take the ‘74 tour version. Gets me every time.
4. Walk On Hot Coals - I could write an essay on this song alone. The truth is the definitive version of this is, again, on the Irish Tour ‘74 album. It’s sublime, but I don’t like the editing of it in the film version which loses half the song and the album version would be too long for our purposes. The solo at the end is deceptive in its technical difficulty. He uses harmonics barely touching the fret board, to produce a choppy stop start rhythm that’s almost percussion which for me imitates the action of actually walking on hot coals. Genius.
5. Bullfrog Blues - An old blues song and a regular show ending for Rory. A real send them off with a buzz. Simple Rock n roll blues but, immaculate slide playing this time on his Telecaster just elevates this to an all around feel, good send off. Even if I had gone with my alternative 5 different artists playlist I was always going to end with this by Rory.
If anyone is still with me at this stage and you’ve gained anything out of this I would thoroughly recommend checking out the Irish Tour 74 album and also the Live in Europe album. Or even the Live in San Diego ‘74 album which was retrospectively released in 2022, I believe.
Right, go compile your own knockout concert.
I look forward to them.
Festival Playlist:
1-5. Eamo
6-8 Coats
9-12. ThreeSpires (cheeky encore)
13-15. Rob
16-18. BimboBob
19-21. B&W&BT
22-25. Sadds (cheeky encore)
26-28. Mancitydoogle
29-31. OB1
32-34. OoB6
