Run for Cover.

Music has always flowed through me, ever since I can remember, I have seen just about every artist that I want to (with the exception of  Steve Walsh of Kansas) I think I have done alright, some artists I have seen more than once, that’s why I usually get the odd blog out of it, I have mentioned in previous blogs I’m not really bothered about meeting the actual stars, I have many times, some of them have been great/good/bad/shite (delete as you feel fits)This blog is about my obsession with Gary Moore that lasted from around 1977 through to about 2001.

I had seen in a couple of TV programmes one for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Variations album and one was a Sight and Sound Concert on the BBC for a band called Coliseum II now I’m not saying that I liked the music (I did however I was too young understand it at that point) but I loved the guitarist the afore mentioned Mr Moore, then I found out that he had joined Thin Lizzy and I was desperate to seem him live so to speak, my brother got tickets and was going with two girls from school (one of the girls dads had said they couldn’t go unless there was a boy with them, someone that they could trust) now my brother took every opportunity to rub it in that he was going to both nights, then our mum was taken ill and me and my brother were let loose to do some shopping, otherwise we would starve, thankfully it was only a bad case of the flu for my mum, it was the first time I had seen her poorly, as it happens we were in the store arguing over the shopping (that’s my brother and me) and we bumped into the two girls that he was going with they were both Lynott fans and they thought I was cute as I raved about Gary Moore, so much so one the girls taped (those were the days) the album for me, how nice.

Then karma bit my brother in the ass, as he caught the same lurgy of our mum, it was a deal breaker, at the time I had a beard (three years younger than my brother and I could grow a full beard hahahahaha he still can’t) so the girls asked if I wanted to go, I hate to say it but I don’t honestly cannot remember the girls names, although one of the girls dads owned a chemists in Gimpsville, any way I went both nights I was the perfect gentleman ( I was 14 for gods sake and these were sophisticated women of 15)the band (as always in the days before I became jaded) blew me away damn I was happy, then  the git up and left I went to see them plenty of times after this but it was never the same for me!

Then he upped and released the G Force album/CD or whatever format you have, I recommend it, then I discovered they were supporting Whitesnake on the Ready and Willing tour, I couldn’t get in for the first night although I did hang around outside and met the band and got my album signed by all of the band (long gone in the mists of time) and Gary was nice he asked if I was coming to the show the next night I was honest and suitably crestfallen and told the truth “no I cant afford the tickets, all I can afford is the bus fare down I was going to hang around the back stage door to listen” he then turned to Mark Nausef the drummer and asked if he could organise to get me on the guest list (my first time ever) again to say I was naïve was an understatement as I didn’t have a clue what the guest list was, the drummer soon told me all I needed to know, I got down early the next night (too early the list wasn’t out) finally got in and yes I was the annoying person down the front going absolutely mental (I’m sure they were going to through me out, thankfully they didn’t) as soon as they finished I rushed out to the backstage area to say thank you, Gary was not as happy as the previous night, but he did cheer up when I said thank you, he then asked me if “I was going to watch Whitesnake”? now I didn’t know that I could go back into the venue but I simply said “no thanks I have seen who I wanted to” I was simply being truthful, years later I was annoyed at how dumb I had been as I could of and should have seen them (whitesnake that is , oh the folly of youth).

I then went and joined the army, but all was not lost, I was still music mad and I still started to collect as much music as I could, (still do) I found a bootleg of a Thin Lizzy gig at the Mayfair in 1973 with Gary Moore covering for Eric Bell and his solo was essentially the main solo from Black Rose, I still have the tape somewhere, then I found out G Force had folded (bugger) and that he had joined Greg Lake, now this was a slight hiccup as I couldn’t get home to see the gig in Newcastle as I was down on the south coast and they didn’t like you going AWOL, however all was not lost as a couple of NCO’s were going to see the gig at the Winter Gardens in Bournemouth, I was allowed to tag along, I wasn’t disappointed even though Greg Lake was a dick outside, Gary again was pleasant (I didn’t get to speak to him).

I was soon back on civvy street and was trying to stay solvent, which in the early 80’s was hard then I found out on the night of the gig he was again playing the Mayfair the closet day ever for my birthday I was despondent, however Big G was as always a good guy and he paid for me to get in, I didn’t have a drink all night and I watched the gig from the  rear of the stage with another friend watching what Ian Paice was doing, go figure Gary was again brilliant but we couldn’t work out why he had John Soman with him, I liked Gary’s vocals just fine!

It was another two years before I say the Irish Wizard I saw him in Newcastle and Middlesbrough (Town hall) this time Gary seemed unhappy outside but was pleasant with the gaggle of people hanging around, I then saw him ten months later at the Marquee in London, to be honest I don’t remember much of the gig as I was slightly …..erm….drunk, I know I was happy as he played hurricane and white knuckles back to back, I’m told that there was famous people there but sorry I have no idea and the person who gave me the information couldn’t remember who they were , he can remember waking up in the marquee toilets the next morning bless him, no names as his mum could be reading this lol!

Then it transpired that he had hooked up with Glenn Hughes and they were playing the City hall, double Joy as FM were the support, I was disappointed as Glenn was off trying to get sponsorship from Mars bars (look it up) I enjoyed the gig but I was disappointed as I was desperate to see Glenn, I had tickets for other gigs but we usually left after watching FM, me fickle, no not really but FM were on fire and Mr Moore wasn’t!

I next caught him at the Garden Party gig at Milton Keynes for Marillion, I wasn’t there for Gary and again I was disappointed, I was there for the headliners, who also disappointed but for completely other reasons, I then caught Gary on the wild frontier tour at the NEC in Birmingham and the city hall (actually paying for one of them) and both gigs were great although I preferred the city hall as it was more intimate (and I payed for the ticket) I will be honest though I was getting a tad jaded by now, gigs had to special to keep my attention by now!

Next it was the After the War tour and I simply did not enjoy the gig and I have no idea where I saw it, I’m guessing London, I do know that Mr Moore was pissed off after the gig and jumped straight in his car and buggered off, a friend saw a couple of other dates and said he was even more unhappy then (I don’t even know how that is possible). My love affair with the Irishman was starting to turn sour I still loved his playing and his albums (to date)however it appeared that he didn’t, then shock horror he went and released Still got the Blues  and it looked and sounded pretty damn good, I saw three shows (Edinburgh, Newcastle and Hull) I have to admit by the third one I had probably overdosed, I certainly wasn’t happy that the album afterwards was another blues album, mix it up a bit mate we parted ways and I didn’t go to see him again until the “A Different Beat” tour at the city hall and to be honest I got in for free and I thought that was too bloody expensive, too many covers too indulgent and again he just looked miserable, before he always looked as he was enjoying it on stage.

The last time I saw him personally was on the Monsters of Rock tour wedged between Y&T who were awesome and Whitesnake who I did enjoy (probably one of the last times at least in a bigger venue) it was a welcome change as he did a couple of the covers that he had done but the rest of the stuff was off the Scars cd, largely unfamiliar material well played but not so great, if he had done a few more older songs he would have gone down a storm, mind you  he had also put on tons of weight and generally looked pasty, and even more unhappy, was this because he had gone back to rock, even if It felt a little half-heartedly, not a good look. however, after the set Y&T had done, he didn’t really stand a chance especially in Newcastle! And that was me done, he went back to the blues (yet again) and I wasn’t bothered it was all good it just didn’t float my boat year in and year out.

I then watched on You Tube a gig he did in Dublin to celebrate Thin Lizzy which was damn good, could there be redemption for him? Yes, I think there could be! And then he buggered back off to the blues until 2010 when he did a European tour with old cohort Neil Carter featuring a Wild Frontier set list with three new tracks that all had a decidedly Celtic feel to it, the music and the playing was excellent, however he didn’t look the picture of health, I was skinnier than he was and then the sad news came that he had died while on holiday just before recording what I think a  lot of people would have said would have been a damn fine new rock album.

I kind of get it you don’t always want to play the same old stuff but you get stuck in a rut, but he did the same with the blues, and now we will never have another round of blazing solos, there’s plenty of great stuff on You tube though get on there and enjoy it all!

So there you go a blog that reminisces about music and has a slight historical bent, enjoy, stay safe, stay alive, watch the skies for incoming, until the next one ………..Toodles!