Rather than live versions of his most popular songs, there are only two songs on the album that were previously recorded by Gallagher in the studio, "Laundromat" from his first album and "In Your Town" from his Deuce album. All the other songs are Gallagher's versions of classic blues songs. The album starts with what was to become a signature song for Gallagher, Junior Wells' "Messin' With the Kid". The song "I Could've Had Religion" was Gallagher's salute to what he called the "redemption style blues" of the Robert Wilkins and Gary Davis. After hearing the song on this album Bob Dylan expressed interest in recording it and assumed it was a traditional blues number rather than an original song by Gallagher. [2] The film presents a balanced view of the political climate in Ireland at the time, along with the fans’ total devotion to a man who had become a cultural hero as much as a musician. Always concerned with remaining “a musician, not a politician”, Gallagher went out of his way to appear neutral on all matters political. Live! in Europe is the third album by Irish blues guitarist Rory Gallagher, released in 1972. It is a series of live recordings made during his European tour that year. Unusual for a live album, it contains only two songs previously recorded and released by Gallagher ("Laundromat" and "In Your Town"). The other songs are either new Gallagher songs or Gallagher's interpretation of traditional blues songs. I was from Belfast, Gerry was from Belfast and there was co-operation from ‘The Organisation’ to make sure the concerts went OK,” says Lou Martin.

Taste played their final show at Belfast’s Queens University on October 24, 1970. It was a hard decision for the guitarist –“I don’t like to think about it too much, because it upsets me,” Gallagher later said of Taste’s split – though, typically, that didn’t stop him making it. It was in Belfast that Gallagher began searching for a new band. He soon found two players he could work with: drummer Wilgar Campbell and 17-yearold bassist Gerry McAvoy, whose own band, Deep Joy, had supported Taste. Ironically, Deep Joy had split up on exactly the same night as Gallagher’s former group, just down the road in Ulster Hall. By the time Rory Gallagher was released in May 1971, the trio had played their first live shows, a series of dates in Europe. The first gig, at Paris’s Olympia Theatre, was sold out and filmed for French TV. Other shows in were less successful. I first met Rory when he came to live in Belfast,” says McAvoy. “He was known as a bit of a character because of his long hair. He was a bit outlandish but at the same time he was very polite and pleasant. I didn’t realise he was headhunting me and Wilgar. There was no beating about the bush. He asked if I would be available to come to London that weekend for a bit of a blow.”Onstage, it was another matter entirely, and Gallagher understandably jumped at the chance to record another live album. But this one would be different: it would be recorded in Ireland. At the time, in late 1973, Northern Ireland was in the iron grip of sectarian violence. The previous year, the Provisional IRA had killed more than 100 British soldiers and carried out roughly 1300 bombings; Loyalist paramilitaries had responded by carrying out their own campaign of violence. Amazingly we were cleared,” recalls McAvoy, who remains convinced that the drugs had been planted. “But Rory didn’t know about it.” To the immense relief of the rhythm section, they made it to America unmolested by the law. As well as introducing Gallagher to a new market, their US dates – where they played with Little Feat and Frank Zappa– opened the band’s eyes to the pulchritude that was on offer. But while the band were delighted to find that their crowds were almost 50 per cent female, Gallagher refused to take advantage of the situation. He said, ‘It was probably the worst gig I’ve ever seen and the best gig I’ve ever seen’,” recalls Donal.

I didn’t and went out on my own.” It was probably the best move he ever made. There were in fact two Tastes. Rory was the one common factor in both. But although Taste had always played Rory’s songs, they never somehow quite played his music. Like every young Irish musician who came of age in the early 60s, Gallagher served his apprenticeship on the showband circuit, playing covers of popular hits. He even witnessed the Sex Pistols’ infamous final show at San Francisco’s Winterland in January 1978. Live In Europe has served as a massive influence on budding musicians: Adam Clayton and The Edge of U2 both cite this album as the recording that made them want to learn guitar and play in a band – they were still schoolboys at the time! But the punishing schedules took their toll. Gallagher’s drinking escalated, eventually reaching full-blown alcoholism. He also began to experience stage fright, a fear of flying and bouts of physical exhaustion. He dealt with his problems by turning to prescription pills, soon developing an addiction to them as well. As he rarely socialised with anyone offstage, no one had any idea how many pills he was taking.Unwilling to kill the momentum, Gallagher and his band began work on their second album, Deuce, as soon as they returned from America. Sessions took place at Tangerine Studios in Dalston, a run-down part of East London. Thanks to its cavernous echo, the studio was usually favoured by reggae artists, though there was one unexpected sonic downside: it stood next to a bingo hall, which meant the band had to work out-of-hours to avoid the cries of “Two fat ladies!” seeping through the walls. Live In Europe would be Gallagher’s most successful record yet on both sides of the Atlantic, but the band’s ferocious work rate was taking its toll on Wilgar Campbell. The only member of the band with a family, he found the strain of touring too much and began missing shows. The final straw came when he bailed out on the day the band were to due to fly to Ireland to play a gig that was being recorded for a TV broadcast. He would never talk about things like that,” says McAvoy. “You had to read between the lines with Rory. He obviously knew that he was taking a risk because Taste was on the verge of becoming a major band. I honestly think that he just wanted to be his own man, and it worked.”

Rory Gallagher was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, in 1948, and raised in Cork. His father sang and played accordion in local bands, while his mother had been a member of a theatre company. The young Rory got his first guitar at the age of nine, and his listening tastes gravitated from Lonnie Donegan to Leadbelly and Big Bill Broonzy. After sharing a festival bill in Berlin with Rory, Stuart Copeland (then with Curved Air) was so overwhelmed with the live impact of Rory’s trio, that he left that band and formed a trio which he called The Police. For some time Rory had wanted to capture the adrenaline and excitement of his live performances. Whilst touring extensively in Europe he decided to record his shows. The results were little short of phenomenal and Live! in Europe earned Rory his first gold disc. In fact if the subject didn’t involve music, books or film, Gallagher rarely connected with his band on any deep level. “I remember once we were having a chat in my room and he asked me about spiritual matters,” says Rod. “He asked me what the Godhead means and the whole thing about reincarnation, Buddhism etc, because he knew that I’m really into that stuff. We were both drunk and I remember him getting quite agitated and storming out shouting, ‘That’s blasphemy!’” KEYCHAIN a tough modern blues, features the Man in fine vocal scatting mood over his slide guitar. On this particular performance, I recall Rory stretching and bending his guitar strings to the limit of their tolerance, causing the tuning of the instrument to alter dramatically. We were one of the only bands to play Belfast,” says Lou Martin proudly. “ Thin Lizzy wouldn’t do it because of the aggravation. But Rory insisted on it.”

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