shadowplays.com

The following is another short and lackluster review of a Rory Gallagher show found in the New York Times. This time around it’s pop columnist, Ian Dove, reviewing a Rory Gallagher and Aerosmith concert at the Schaefer Music Festival in Central Park. The former Times and Billboard music critic shared the paper’s occasional rock ‘n roll concert duties with John Rockwell until moving on to more auspicious work with the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences — those wonderful folk who bring us the Grammys. It was Ian Dove who led the charge to add a polka category to the Grammys back in the 1980’s. If that’s not enough to cause a bit of hesitation, then check out what he had to say about those purveyors of schlock rock, KISS:

It may be overly simple and unpretentious rock, not, so much sung as shouted, but Kiss communicates a sense of fun and commitment to the music (Ian Dove – New York Times, 3/24/75)

With statements like that perhaps Mr. Dove’s reviews should be taken with a grain of salt, or perhaps the whole shaker. So without further ado, here’s Ian Dove’s review of Rory at the concert in Central Park:

The final concert of the 1974 Schaefer Music Festival in Central Park — the most successful season to date, according to a stage announcement — was not without its touch of drama Saturday. In its center was Rory Gallagher, the British rock guitarist, who whetted his fans’ ardor in a long set but failed to give the requested encore. The result was a certain amount of self-expression from the audience — trash and garbage, with an occasional bottle, were thrown onto the stage at the hapless and helpless road crew changing equipment for the following group, Aerosmith.

Mr. Gallagher belongs to the virtuoso school of rock-guitar players and is more than able to maintain the high decibel, frantic sprint toward the end of his numbers, apparently required by such. Sticking close to the simple rock and blues forms, the Gallagher guitar far outweighs and dominates the Gallagher voice.

Aerosmith, a group from Boston, showed that rock fans have short attention spans, however, wasting no time in carving out its own niche in the evening. It was a group that musically had no frills — the second number was an old classic, “Walkin’ the Dog” — and Aerosmith provided a contrast to Mr. Gallagher by stressing the vocal side.

In essence, flashes of virtuosity apart, the evening was another exploration of musical paths already traveled.

Ian Dove, New York Times, September 9, 1974

Perhaps this fan’s reaction to the concert at the Schaefer Music Festival gives us a better idea of Rory’s performance there:

9/7/1974 the first time I saw Rory, he opened the show for
Aerosmith, he blew away the crowd, they kept calling for more, Aerosmith
played 3 songs and was booed off the stage, the crowd wanted only Rory
that night.– roryon.com

The following is a short review of Rory’s gig at the Bottom Line in New York on February 8, 1976. Rory did a 2-night run at the Bottom Line — 2 shows each night. The reviewer is not much of a Rory fan however, and his lukewarm review of his show says more about his bias against white men playing the Blues than any legitimate critique on Rory’s playing. Over the past few years I’ve read dozens of reviews of Rory Gallagher concerts, some are well written and informative and some otherwise. The New York Times music critics invariably are of the latter ilk. Music critics from other cities, from LA to Chicago to Kansas City to Philadelphia, can usually put away their own personal musical preferences and review a concert from the audiences point of view. Not so with the New York Times. Their music critics, like John Rockwell, seem unable to separate their own supreme ego and resulting bias from their reporting. Mr. Rockwell won’t tell you how good (or bad) an act was just whether you should be listening to them in the first place. If there is praise in his comments, it’s faint praise. Mr. Rockwell mentions that Rory “packed them into the Bottom Line for his two-night run” and then says it’s no big deal since the Irishman has played in much larger venues before. He states the music was “engaging” but lacking in originality, “demonstrably skillful” but not much more.

Such “damning with faint praise” makes it difficult to get a good feel for how the concert actually went. Reading between the lines, it sounds like it was a damn, fine show. It should be noted that Mr. Rockwell still likes to give critiques and you can catch up to him at artsjournal.com. Be sure to let him know how you feel!

Rory Gallagher, the Irish blues-rock guitarist and singer, packed them into the Bottom Line for his two-night run that ended Monday. But that’s not too surprising sinced Mr. Gallagher, who hadn’t been to New York for about 1 1/2 years, was accustomed to playing such larger spots as the Felt Forum and the Schaefer Music Festival.

Mr. Gallagher’s way with this traditional or traditional-sounding material is solid and flashy, and he and his three industriously energetic sidemen clearly gave the crowd a lot of pleasure. He was being particularly blues-oriented at the Sunday early show; excursions into more overt rock of the Hendrix-Clapton variety were being held to a minimum. Instead he offered a rather unvarying succession of high energy variants on the 12-bar form, all of them involving throaty singing and highly ornamented guitar work from Mr. Gallagher and equally frenetic if controlled keyboard flights from Lou Martin.

It was decently engaging entertainment. But as far as this observer is concerned, most white bluesmen have trouble asserting their personalities — either they play the blues and sound derivative or they don’t play the blues — and Mr. Gallagher is no exception. It was a loud, hard-working, demonstrably skillful set, but it wasn’t much more than that.

John Rockwell, New York Times, February 11, 1976