Rory's
Antics
This
is a compilation of fan stories posted to The Loop in late January and
early February 2004.
*********************************************************************************************
The thread started on 1/29/04
when Northern Ireland's Dino McGartland made this post:
Hi everyone, Just thought i'd put this
one to you all. What was the craziest thing you ever saw Rory do live
on stage. We all know that he went "apeshit" when he got on stage, but
what was the craziest thing YOU ever saw him do live?? We've all read
about it, saw it on video, but what are YOU'RE experiences?
Dino.
First
up, we have Phil Hoolahan posting is his classic Glaswegian 
Change
his G string during Tattoo lady live Apollo Glasgow .I often wonder was
this some kind of dress rehearsal because never once did Rory stop
playing or loose any groove in the song ,in fact it was one of the best
solos I ever seen but nah that wasnt rehearsed that was beyond amazing
and crazy but see when you tell someone that happened ,they thinks your
crazy especially when you say Aye Eric Clapton showed him how to do it
:-))))))) I never saw Rory outside of Scotland but What about Shadow
play Montreux pulling the Strat across the stage by the lead and it
changing octaves ; I used to think it was all being held on a Loop but
Rory picking the strat up you hear the strat is live.
Roryon
Phil
Next
to contribute was Canada's Greg Pincott
Besides the
evil eye of death I saw Rory give the guy who stole his beer off the
stage, one thing that's always stayed in my mind (from the same
show--Vancouver's PNE Gardens, Nov. 1975) was when one of the loops of
his guitar strap snapped mid-solo. RG never missed a note, holding the
bottom end of the Strat against his hip with his elbow while a bearded
chap (Tom O'Driscoll?) tried to get the defective strap off and a new
one on. Just before the operation was completed, and even as notes
continued to cascade from the Fender, there was a priceless second when
you could almost see Rory saying with his eyes, "Hurry it up, I can't
hold this thing together much longer."
cheers greg
Nottingham's
Pete Wood passed this one along
It was 79 or
8o, he was playing @ Malvern Winter Gardens. At the sound check he
arrived through the french windows with sunglasses with revolving
lights in them. At the evening concert they appeared again, as he
cruised on out through the encores.
This
story came from New York's Vince Rampino
The wildest thing I saw was at My
Fathers Place (79) Rory hopped off stage and on to a table where he did
the Chuck Berry "duckwalk" As he comes to the end of the table he falls
off to the floor! Rory is flat on his back and still playing (never
missing a note!) The nearby fans help him up (including myself!) He
then jumps back onstage & the place goes crazy! Vince
Roger
Wrobel from Arizona wrote:
When I saw Rory
in Arizona in '85 he came onstage and was handed his guitar by his
roadie. He turned up his amps and it began to howl and roar as if it
was all wired up wrong. He made this kind of "not bad" expression and
turned to the crowd riffing out the into to Follow Me. Whatever he did,
things sounded right from that point on.
Roger
New
York's own Charlie Gili was next with this story
Nice stories
fellas...
I've told this
one before, but guess this is a good time to mention it again....
Lone
Star Cafe, June 1985, New York City Me and girlfriend...she'd never
seen Rory before...we pick a spot at the bottom of the stairs. The
stairs are adjacent to the small stage...about an arm's length away
from Rory's amps...Shinkicker cranks...Rory leaps from the stage onto
the stairs, up the stairs he goes, right past us (very narrow
stairway)...down the stairs he comes and stops right in front of
us...he leans back and pins us against the wall...plays a bit (i
couldn't see anything, cause his hairs in my face) ...turns to us and
nods a thank you and leaps back onto the stage!
By the end of the
night...second or third encore...3 hours +++...Rory jumps into the
crowd and to the floor...out the exit door and onto the Manhattan
sidewalk...playing outside to a crowd that had gathered and back in
again and onto the stage....The crowd could hardly contain itself...my
girlfriend was out of her mind insane over the whole thing.. then she
really went nuts and became my wife....thanks Rory..I guess!!! Charlie
California's
Doug Pugh checked in with this story:
I must admit
that Montreux thing was wild, but I only saw that on video. If we're
talking about things we actually saw Rory do live, well I have one to
tell. I too saw him break strings on stage and seamlessly and
flawlessly change them without missing a beat, but the greatest thing I
saw him do was February 17, 1974 in Long Beach, California. That was
during the year he was so extraordinarily hot (1974) so I guess I
shouldn't have been surprised.
Rory had been
on fire the entire show, bringing the house completely down. He comes
out on stage for his 2nd encore and launches into "In Your Town" with
guitar blazing. About 1 minute into the song his stage microphone goes
totally dead and nobody can seem to fix it. Rory just throws his arms
out to the side as if to say, "what can I do?" and then launches into
this incredible 15 minute instrumental of In Your Town that was one of
the most awesome things I ever experienced. And it was all ad-lib. With
that the show was over, the audience spent, and Rory once again had
shown why he is the greatest.
Doug
Barry
Barnes from the UK chipped in with this post:
What about the
guitar tricks then.
Rory always
amazed me that he came up with at least one new 'trick' every time I
saw him, like bending behind the nut, or fretboard tapping (While Eddie
Van Halen was in his mum's pram)
And I remember
a similar 'string changing' incident at The Free Trade Hall in
Manchester and unlike Phil's Glasgow memory a roadie didn't bring the
string on, it just emerged from his arse pocket! On that occasion (He'd
just tried to bend the b string up to the lighting rig during Calling
Card!) he set up a feedback loop on the g string (He'd octaved it at
the twelfth) and changed the b string (For non guitar players it's the
one next to the g string!!) without disturbing the feedback loop -
unbelievable!
On a Manchester
radio talk show he was asked about his amazing string changing tricks
and, being Rory he just brushed them aside as "nothing clever, just
experience" Our hero!
Barry
From California's Dante Ramirez:
Rory took a stroll out the back
door and played on while standing outside looking at the highrise
buildings of San Francisco. funny thing was, the club was on a 2nd
level, and i cant imagine there was anyone outside there to watch him.
a moment of fresh air i suppose.
and as always, the crowd went
wild..
New York's Neil
Christman submitted this post:
Yeah Charlie , I was there also. He
certainly let it all hang out in NY a few times. Like Vince I also seen
Rory decide the stage was not big enough.......and decide to make the
tables in front part of the stage...... Today I found another lost
photo from the Bottom Line 79 late show, not too clear , but it looks
like he's heading for the tables again
Ron
Skelton from the UK had this to share
Hi Dino and all, remembering RORY'S
stage antics has got to bring a smile to your face. I believe that RORY
knew that to some extent there was a Shadow Play element to the
"Theatre of Music", even including the serious bluesy side of the
business. However, I would like to take you back to the days of Taste,
when I saw RORY for the 2nd or 3rd time (give me a chance, it was
1969). The Marquee Club, Wardour Street, London.
To the point:- Sugar Mama, about
half way through the number; the improvising, RORY asking the questions
on THE STRAT, Richard McCracken answering on bass-guitar, RORY asking
far more complicated note constructions from THE STRAT, McCracken
actually being able to reply, MR. GALLAGHER loving every single note of
the musical extravaganza conversation excitedly turns to John Wilson
and asks the first 10 notes from THE STRAT, Wilson repeats, RORY steps
closer and asks 20 notes, Wilson beats the same number in drum
language, RORY is now in his total element, his reason for being on
this planet, stands leaning over the front of the drum kit and
effortlessly blasts out double the number of notes while defiantly
staring into the eyes of his drummer, Wilson's arms nearly come out of
their shoulder sockets but he manages to reply to RORYS phrase, RORY,
now possessing amounts of adrenaline not normally stocked by your
county hospital, runs round to the high-hat, lifts THE STRAT over the
cymbals and starts to play the guitar lick of guitar licks and in the
process smashes Mr.Wilson straight in the kisser with the head of THE
STRAT. Did RORY stop? Did he hell. Wilson didn't manage to reply
accurately in musical terms on that occasion. God works in mysterious
ways, sometimes in advance??? Nevertheless, I really enjoyed
remembering that moment, and RORY did apologise to John Wilson at the
conclusion of Sugar Mama.
Well, thanks Dino for prompting me
to write to the Loop with that memory. I should also mention when RORY
got "possessed" in any song, he lowered the volume to natural acoustic
level, even on his STRAT, and would then hammer the stage with the heal
of His baseball boots so f******g hard, the vibration would chill your
spine to the extent that you thought the world was coming to an end,
but then he turned the volume up full and you would know that HE'D only
just started. Anyway, that's my favourite memories of RORY'S antics.
All the best, Ron S.
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