It was an emotional week for Rory Gallagher fans. Just as the sale of iconic instruments and equipment from Bonhams Auction House in London was catching the music press headlines, here at Bonn Harmonie we were privileged to not just hear the music that those instruments so famously played, but also to hear it from the most accurate source possible today – Rory’s former band members Gerry MacAvoy and Brendan O’Neill. Add the considerable skills of Isle of Man guitarist Davey Knowles and, despite the many, many groups playing these songs today, Band of Friends really are the best celebration of Rory’s music.
A caveat: no, you won’t get near the sense of seeing Rory Gallagher live by attending a Band of Friends concert. You can replay the Man’s music and sing his lyrics as loud as you want, but you won’t get within, well, a million miles of his passionate stage presence and intense guitar virtuosity. What you do get is a sense of love for the Man from the musicians and audience alike. I’ve spoken to several members of this band past and present and all have been very clear – they are celebrating Rory’s music, not trying to copy.
It’s my first time seeing this latest incarnation of Band of Friends with Davey Knowles wearing Rory’s checked shirt, and it’s always fascinating to see what the changing guitarists bring to the table. Marcel Scherpenzeel had a harsh, passionate rock sound and sweated the shows out in true Rory style. Having twin guitarists last year in the form of Paul Rose and Jim Kirkpatrick was an unusual choice but gave the songs a new live sound, or a sound closer to the studio versions where extra guitar parts were sometimes added as Gerry MacAvoy suggested of the two guitar band. This year it’s the turn of Davey Knowles to take his 1966 Strat from the Harmonie dressing room and down the stairs, like a gladiator with his sword to emerge in the ‘arena’ of cheering fans waiting in front of the stage. Probably a little over-stated, but I do always feel these guys are carrying a weight as they head to stages surrounded by Rory fans.
I wasn’t familiar with Knowles before the show but got a very positive feeling about him as a person during a pre-show interview. Like Rory, a very likeable, quietly spoken man offstage for sure, but could he be anything like the onstage Rory duckwalking like Chuck Berry and charging through heated solos that had fans rocking their air guitars to the max in the 1970’s/’80’s? Knowles is a Man who wisely lets his guitar do the talking, and it quickly convinces us that musically he has a right to be sharing a stage next to veterans Gerry MacAvoy and Brendan O’Neill. He’s not a duckwalker, not likely to go completely off the rehearsed musical pathway for sure, but right from opening salvos like ‘Messing with the Kid’ and ‘Double Vision’ he finds his own tone and the sound sits perfectly with the band and the songs.
O’Neill and MacAvoy of course have nothing to prove to anyone. I am constantly amazed when I see these two (and the same with the late Ted McKenna) not just because of their power after all these years, but because they are still clearly getting such pure and genuine joy out of playing these songs after over forty years. Gerry MacAvoy of course is the band’s driving force rhythmically, as indeed he was on bass in the Rory days. I notice that his playing style is much more restrained than the constantly head-down, constant frantic bass-runs up and down the neck alongside Rory. Now it’s a much more relaxed approach because instead of playing ‘keep up’ he gets to call the pace. Having said that, he never lets it slack.
If you watch those old band videos there are not many occasions when Rory and Gerry stand together centrestage. They very much had their own space. Nowadays though Gerry is the centrepiece of the band and clearly he enjoys trading licks with Davey Knowles and enjoys a regular chit-chat with the audience. I wonder if he ever felt annoyed at not getting a word in for so many years? He certainly mixes with the audience showing both an ease and a charm that makes everyone feel like a friend. In effect, ‘Band of Friends’ it might be said also includes every one of us who saw those shows and those who didn’t but wish they had (including Davey Knowles). Kudos to Gerry MacAvoy for keeping alive that down-to-earth contact with the fans that Rory had.
I think it’s even time to give MacAvoy a bit of credit for his voice. He took on the lead vocals a couple of times and it even seemed on ‘Lonely Mile’ with that Irish accent shining through as if Rory had borrowed his former bassman for four minutes to sing his own heart out to the song again.
The band can only reinterpret original Gallagher classics to a certain degree of course. The fans naturally want to hear them like they would have sounded in Rory’s time. But this isn’t, I know I’m saying it again… a cover band. The solution here is to use that interpretation level to create new songs. The result is by no means a shabby one. ‘Stand Your Ground’ and ‘Under The Gun’ both have a seventies rock feel about them that fit well into the set and particularly moving was ‘When You Lose a Friend’ written by MacAvoy as I understood from his introduction.
We all lost a friend when Rory died. I’m sure he would have shed a tear of emotion seeing the emotion behind an entire audience singing along to the refrain of ‘Shadow Play’, as I’m sure they have done all over the World – and almost thirty years after the great man’s passing.
When I asked Brendan O’Neill, now in his seventies, why they still do these tours around Europe after so many years his answer was a thoughtful smile and the words “It’s in our DNA I suppose”. Rory though is also firmly in the DNA of many younger musicians. Davey Knowles was a fan since he bought a copy of ‘Irish Tour ’74’, Vanja Sky was two years old when Rory died and a big enough fan to put a version of ‘Bad Penny’ on her first RUF Records release. Laurence Jones got to play Rory’s #2 Stratocaster before the recent auction. A huge Rory fan, Laurence would only have been three in 1995. Thirty years after his passing, the music of Rory Gallagher is more alive than ever – guitars being bought for museums, tattered foot-pedals selling for thousands of pounds. possessions made to be played doomed to sit behind glass. Rory would have wanted them to be used to create music. That’s where the heart of the Man truly lies – and if those instruments represent his physical presence then Band of Friends represent his spirit. Straight forward and from the heart – no messin’ with the kid!
