Gary Moore is back in town

Many years ago, I saw one of my guitar heroes….Mr Gary Moore. It was one of those balmy sunny days in the UK, and along with my friends we were frazzled and quite noticeably drunk. Donington Park Monsters of Rock….yeehah.

               

This was my first big gig, and I had been told that Gary Moore was ‘quite’ entertaining. I was looking forward to watching him close up (we had staggered to the front – which is kind of a mistake when you have copious amounts of fluid inside!) as another quote was ‘fast fingers’. They weren’t wrong! He made such an impression on me that day that shortly afterwards I went out and bought his entire back catalog.

I was pleasantly surprised when he completely changed his style a decade ago, and began playing blues. It must have been difficult, as purists described his style as ‘rock blues’. Playing blues guitar is an art form in itself. Less is more (or moore), so Gary for me started out playing a bit hectic. It was still fantastic entertainment, but was as they said a kind of rock blues.

Recently though Gary has been playing a more traditional style, deft touches, quieter runs, less distortion, and has made the transition into a true blues god!

So it is with great anticipation that I and my friends look forward to this summer when he plays The Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. We haven’t got tickets, but who cares, touts do have their uses occasionally. Haven’t seen him for 3 years now, and he always captures that magic associated with a truly great guitar player.