Legendary blues rock guitarist Rory Gallagher has been voted Ireland’s Greatest Music Artist by the listeners of Dublin’s national independent radio station station, Newstalk.
Gallagher topped the list, beating U2, Thin Lizzy, Van Morrison and Christy Moore (You can read more about it here).
50 years ago, in the summer of 1971, Gallagher’s set as part of the very first Reading Festival is still considered to be one of the greatest and on Thursday 26th August, The Museum of Reading will launch a major exhibition entitled The 1971 Reading Festival: For the First Time.
The exhibition takes its title from the Rory Gallagher ‘For the Last Time’, featured on his debut solo album, released after leaving Taste.
“Through the generous support of the Rory Gallagher Estate, various items from Rory’s archive will be presented for the first time in a UK public museum, including Rory’s 1966 Fender Telecaster, his Vox AC30 amplifier and other items that Rory played at the festival 50 years ago,” come the official statement.
Curated by rock photographer Jill Furmanovsky, the exhibition tells the story of the first Reading Festival through rare and unseen photographs, posters, ephemera, and rock memorabilia, celebrating 50 years of The Reading Festival You can read more about it here).
It’s all a rather timely event, as it dovetails with the forthcoming release of the 50th Anniversary of that eponymous Rory Gallagher album that will be released on 3rd September 3rd by UMC (For more information about this and how to order it, go to RAMzine here).
