It's been a very emotional few days. On Thursday morning, I was rushing around getting ready to drive 250 miles to Cork to see Joe Bonamassa Play Rory Gallagher at The Marquee. If you don't know, Bonamassa is one of the great blues guitarists of our time and a huge Rory Gallagher fan. Recently, none other than Johnny Marr from The Smiths cited Gallagher as one of his main influences. If you love guitar solo's you'll love RG and JB! The first time I remember hearing Gallagher's name mentioned was when he died in 1995 and my housemate at university told me his older brother was heartbroken by the news and sat up all night, drowning his sorrows but got worried about drinking alone so poured some in the dogs bowl so he could join him! There was a CD shop on Royal Avenue in Belfast that sold classic albums for a fiver in the early 2000's. One day I went in and bought Morrison Hotel by The Doors and Against The Grain by Rory Gallagher. That was the album that got me ...
Once famous for thrilling chariot races, Circo Massimo was transformed into a stadium full of fans who had travelled from all over the world to visit the Eternal City and see David Gilmour play for six nights on the Luck and Strange Tour. Another ancient Italian location for a concert following the 2016 shows at Pompeii. I first became aware of Pink Floyd when I was at university in Coleraine, my portable CD and tape player was kept in the living room and everybody in the house played their music on it. One night I came in from the pub, pressed play, put the headphones on and lay down on the sofa expecting to hear what I'd been listening to last (Chemical Brothers Exit Planet Dust) but instead of heavy electronic beats, I was met with long, transcending guitar solos. I listened the whole way through and then I looked to see what it was. Written on the blank tape in pen was "Pink Floyd - The Division Bell". This was the brit pop/dance music/ Tarantino movie soundtrack era ...