Bullfrog Blues

This week and it has to be Rory Gallagher in homage to the Belfast Blues Festival — spearheaded by meastro Seamie O’Neill — which starts today and the glorious exhibition in honour of the Donegal rock legend on the Belfast Barge. I was old enough — just (well, I was 16 and one week) — to have seen Rory Gallagher at the very apex of his considerable powers when he played Grosvoner Hall in Belfast on 5 January 1976.

Admission was £2 and this week I donated my ticket stub, treasured all the years since, to the guys behind the exhibition. Courtesy of itunes and YouTube, new generations born since Rory was lost have been able to enjoy his music genius but to have seen him live was a treat indeed.

An explosive talent, he didn’t deal in half-measures, pouring himself into every live performance as if it was a matter of life or death. Which, of course, it was. Enjoy Bullfrog Blues, my memory is that it was the encore during that bright night in a dark time.