Well Did You Ever.. Meet / See Rory Gallagher?

While I had previously seen Rory on TV concert shows, I only saw him live once, at My Father's Place in Roslyn, New York. It was November 14th, 1978 - my 20th birthday. My Father's Place was a perfect venue to see him and it was transformative. Rhythm section was Gerry and Ted. Rory's energy and music engulfed the room and touched my soul. I was never the same.

I was fortunate to see him play several times in Los Angeles in the 70s.  I never realized how approachable he was, and I was pretty young then, not one to push the rules. 

The closest I ever came to having the nerve to try to meet Rory was once, we went to see him at the Whiskey, my then boyfriend and another couple.  Rory played several nights there that week. It was a blistering hot summer week in So Cal.

We were at the Whiskey, and we had a table that was off to the left of the stage, up by the back wall.  There was a door behind our table marked "no exit" and at the beginning of the show, that door was shut, and I barely noticed it.  But toward the end of the show, I noticed a stream of people going through that door, and every time it opened, it was readily apparent that there was food and festivities going on behind it.  I mentioned it to the others, "I bet there is a backstage party going on, wanna try to go through that door?"  And I was out voted.  We were afraid of getting caught and getting thrown out.  So, we enjoyed Rory's performance immensely, but to this day, I wonder, if we had tried to get back there, could we have met him?  And, I have been kicking myself ever since.

Sometime that same week, Don Kirschner recorded that show.  I don't recall seeing that kind of video gear the night we were there, but then again, I wasn't paying much attention to anything other than Rory and his guitar.

From that week at the Whiskey-

I was lucky enough to see Rory on stage on six occasions between 1975 and 1991, at various venues in Ireland, Germany and Australia. Each of the concerts was wonderful.
He gave so much and we all loved it (and him).
I used to travel between London and Cork quite often in the 1980s and I sometimes thought that I just might be lucky enough to bump into Rory sometime. Alas that never happened. Like many others, I'd have liked to say hi and tell him how much his music meant to me. (But I hope he knew that about his fans anyway.)
I particularly recall that Rory was the main (closing) act at the Loreley in 1982 and when we (the audience) called and called for an encore, it came in the form of a jam session
in which Rory generously let other musicians who'd appeared earlier in the programme (including Eric Burdon) take centre stage.
I was in the front row at his concert at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney in 1991 and at one stage he looked straight into my face and smiled, or so it seemed to me at the time! That was the last time I saw him live, and not having seen much of him in the previious few years I felt somewhat disturbed by his appearance. The concert was great and he gave it his all, but he looked unwell to me. And sadly, so it proved.
I stood at his grave in 1996, after it was moved from its original site to one on higher ground (near to where his uncle Jim Roche is buried), but before the headstone replica of his 1972 Guitarist award was put in place. At that stage his grave was marked by a basic wooden cross that simply said 'Rory'. It was a grim sight and a bleak day, so I went off and bought some lovely flowers and returned with them to put in place. A sign at the entrance of St. Oliver's discourages leaving flowers on graves in the lawn cemetery, but I left them anyway.