Last night I watched Rory Gallagher in “Irish Tour 1974” , a film by Tony Palmer which Sky had broadcast a few days ago. This is a fairly poor quality film, at least in the audio department anyway. However, as I watched the film and the usual wave of nostalgia washed over me, I got to thinking about when I had seen Rory live. He had performed at a weekend festival which took place on Southsea Castle Field.
And what really occupied my mind was the date. I can’t for the life of me think when it was. I have trawled the web and failed to find any reference to the festival.
I do know that it must have been about 20 years ago. This I know because Hayley, my eldest granddaughter, had been born. What I’m not sure about is if her sister Claire, the next, had been born too.
I also know that this was the first concert that their dad had been to. He being an ELO fan and there I was introducing him to the blues.
The festival that weekend was spread over three nights. We were attending on the Friday and Rory Gallagher was top of the bill. I know that there were two other acts on that night. Opening the show was The Hamsters, doing their Hendrix show. I cannot remember the name of the second act of the evening other than the fact that they came from New York and the singer played a pretty mean harmonica. I believe they were a trio but am not sure.
Other things I know about that weekend are that the main tent blew down on the Saturday night putting the Sunday night finale in jeopardy. The final acts were moved into the Pyramids Centre at the other side of the field. Not that I was bothered since I had travelled up to Merseyside early on the Saturday morning.
So if there is anyone out there who can put these clues together and come up with a year I would be most grateful.
WrAnTz 