Rory Gallagher Tribute Festival

Sat 30 May – Rory Gallagher Tribute. 7pm to 11pm. Tickets for $25 from www.humanitix.com

The Adelaide Irish Club presents the First Australian Rory Gallagher Tribute Festival – a celebration of his life and music with a blend of the Blues and Irish traditions.

The Tribute to Rory will feature The Gwyn Ashton Trio (Guitar, Harmonica, Bass & Drums). Gwynn supported Rory in Adelaide during his tour of Australia in 1991. After Rory Gallagher’s untimely passing in 1995, Gwyn was chosen as lead guitarist in ‘The Band of Friends’ by Gerry MacEvoy who had played bass with Rory over many years, mutliple tours and on his finest recordings.

In his last interview, Rory wanted to explore the links between the Blues and Irish traditional music. On this night, we will hounour his legacy by performing some of Rory’s songs with Uillean Pipes (Jack Brennan, Tom Stafford), fiddle (Dave Lambert) with John Murphy of Cork, Ireland (on guitar, mandolin and vocals). The night will also feature respected SA guitarist, Richie Robinson and special guests.

Rory was recently voted Ireland’s Greatest ever Music Artist, ahead of Thin Lizzy and U2. Brian May of Queen credited Rory as his inspiration, while Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton reportedly considered a young Rory the best guitarist in the world at the time.

This will be the first – we hope of many – Rory Gallagher Tribute Nights in Australia. It will co-incide with the annual International Rory Gallagher Tribute Festival in Ballyshannon, Ireland and celebrations in his ‘Hometown’ in Cork – almost 20,000 kilometers from Adelaide – ‘As the Crow Flies.’