Live at the Marquee: Rory Gallagher remembered at Joe Bonamassa gig

“It’s a bitter-sweet night, but great that Rory is still selling tickets all these years later.”

Those were the words of Dónal Gallagher to The Echo on Tuesday night, ahead of the first of a trio of tribute concerts at the Marquee to celebrate his late brother, the legendary Cork guitarist Rory Gallagher.

Joe Bonamassa, a blues guitarist from upstate New York, and a three-time Grammy nominee, paid revered homage to his hero who died 30 years ago last month, at the tragically young age of 47.

As Bonamassa explained it to the full-house Marquee crowd: “I got a call from your man who runs the Marquee asking if I would appear. I said, ‘Hell, yeah, I can sing my songs like The Ballad Of John Henry and Sloe Gin all night’.”

However, Dónal Gallagher, keeper of Rory’s flame for all these years, had other ideas.

“Dónal called me,” explained Bonamassa, “and said it would be great if I did a tribute to Rory here. ‘Yeah, sounds great’ ... I put the phone down, thought for a moment, and said, ‘S**t!’”

If the American had stage-fright about how Rory’s hometown audience would respond to him performing a full set of his hero’s hits, he needn’t have worried. Bonamassa is a superb axeman in his own right, and, looking down on the Marquee, Rory would surely have approved of this brilliant virtuoso performance.

From the opening bars of Cradle Rock to the closing tune, A Million Miles Away — played with Rory’s trusty old hollowed-out guitar — Bonamassa had the audience spellbound.

He ploughed through hits from Rory’s landmark Irish Tour ’74 double live album — I Wonder Who (Who’s Gonna Be Your Sweet Man), Tattoo’d Lady, Too Much Alcohol, and As The Crow Flies — but also included other Rory favourites, like Calling Card, Bad Penny, Bullfrog Blues, I Fall Apart, and Messin’ With The Kid.

Bonamassa’s backing band included percussionist Jeremy Stacey, from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Cork guitarist Conor Brady, and a guest appearance by Gerry McAvoy, Rory’s bass player on that 1974 Irish Tour ’74.

The crowd comprised a fair share of bearded and pony-tailed 60-something rockers — many of whom surely saw Rory play at City Hall or Macroom Mountain Dew Festival in his heyday — but there were plenty of younger music aficionados and international fans to wallow in this celebratory and triumphant nostalgia-fest.

Bonamassa has spent the past week in Cork, visiting Crowley’s Music shop, where Rory purchased his famous Fender Stratocaster, and walking in the footsteps of his idol. At the Marquee, he completed his pilgrimage to perfection.