Rory Gallagher - Live At Cork Opera House 1999 (2006)

This Dvd contains the concert originally released on vhs as "Messin' with the kid - Live at The Cork Opera House". But now with superior audio to complement this landmark performance, a unique and highly personal "Rough Guide to Rory's Cork" has been compiled, showing locations, memorabilia and rare and unseen photograhps - all suplemented with ancedots, plus, there's the Big Guns Short documentart, a comprehensive discography and much more.

A true labor of love, Live In Cork (previously released on VHS as Messin' With The Kid) functions as a salute to the late guitarist and singer Rory Gallagher, a travelogue to the Irish city and a celebration of the bluesman's homecoming. The well-wrought graphics of the DVD menu aren't mere niceties but an extension of the colorful adventure that was Gallagher's career as one of the greatest, albeit relatively unsung, blues-rock musicians of our time.
Rory Gallagher was unique among guitar heroes of his era. It wasn't so much the tireless work ethic that made him the definition of a road warrior, or the diffident attitude toward his career that moved him to stubbornly refuse to release singles from his albums at a time such releases were a paramount means of commercial promotion. The late Irishman steadfastly clung to his roots in rock, folk and blues with an earthy attitude that, like the weathered body of his guitar revealed in the close-ups of the instrument, lent his music a gritty tenacity.
Consequently, in marked contrast to his peers of the prior generation—Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page—Gallagher eschewed compromise in any form and so engendered a loyalty in his fans that matched his own fiery demeanor onstage. Featured here with a trio in 1987 at the Cork Opera House—Brendan O'Neill drums and Gerry McAvoy on bass with occasional guesting on harmonica by Marc Feltham—the stripped down sound nevertheless roundly resonates, whether within the slashing hard rock riff of "Continental Op" or the funkier likes of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Don't Start Me Talkin.'" Not in optimum health at the time of this recording by Irish television, Gallagher nevertheless dives into his performance with focus to match his customary abandon.

~Doug Collette. Allaboutjazz.com

Tracklist:

01. Continental Op
02. Don't Start Me To Talkin'
03. Tattoo'd Lady
04. I Ain't No Saint
05. Follow Me
06. When My Baby She Left Me
07. Off The Handle
08. Out On The Western Plain
09. Wanted Blues
10. The Loop
11. Shadow Play
12. Messin' With the Kid
13. Loanshark Blues
14. Goin' To My Hometown
15. Messin' With The Kid
16. Shadow Play
17. In Your Town
18. They Don't Make Them Like You Anymore
19. Souped-Up Ford
20. Out On The Western Plain
21. Kickback City
22. A Million Miles Away
23. Just Hit The Town
24. Big Guns

Musicians:

Rory Gallagher - Guitar
Mark Feltham - Harmonica
Brendan O'Neill - Drums
Gerry MCavoy - Bass