By Steve Newton
The first big concert I ever went to was T-Rex, with guests Blue Öyster Cult, at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum on October 21, 1974.
That was a killer show, and I clearly remember that B.Ö.C.–which was touring behind its stellar Secret Treaties album, the one with “Dominance and Submission”–blew poor Marc Bolan and company right off the stage.
I always thought that seeing Blue Öyster Cult in its prime as a teenager was a pretty cool way to kick off my concert-going life, but then I heard about the first real concert that fellow B.C. rock fan M.G. Hucul experienced when he was a teen, and I got a tad jealous.
A year before my eyeballs got zonked by B.O.C.’s stunning lasers–the ones Patterson Hood sings about on the Drive-By Truckers‘ “Let There Be Rock”–Hucul witnessed guitar hero Rory Gallagher performing at the Coliseum. (The show was originally scheduled for the smaller PNE Agrodome (see posters), but brisk ticket sales brought about the change of venue.)
Here’s what the lucky dog remembers about that gig:
The first time I saw Rory Gallagher was in April of 1973 when he was a late addition to a Deep Purple/Fleetwood Mac double bill. This was the classic Deep Purple Mark II lineup, the Machine Head lineup, and it was the Bob Welch-guided Fleetwood Mac.
It was my first concert ever. It was an Easter Be-In weekend or whatever the hell you used to call those gatherings in Stanley Park. I was maybe 14 and too young to drive but a buddy of mine was 17 and old enough. He even had his own car–a 1970 383 cubic-inch Dodge Dart.
For young teens, this was epic. This was the real deal. We were going to see Deep Purple, and we were driving there in a V8 muscle car. We were living the song. We were literally Highway Stars.
When Rory took the stage, no one knew who this kid in the red-and-black plaid shirt was. He looked not much older than we did. But then he started playing and his talent signalled that he was skilled far beyond any chronological age.
I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Mikey. We’re not at just another Friday night Coquitlam high school dance. Now we’re getting a taste of the big league.”
This was my first-ever concert and I had nothing to measure the opening act against, but in retrospect, it was the greatest opening act I ever saw, and that still holds true over 50 years later. The crowd loved this guy in the plaid shirt, even though we didn’t have a clue who he was.
Following Gallagher, Fleetwood Mac was a substantial letdown, but then Deep Purple raised the bar back up to Gallagher levels. After all, they were the band we knew and who we paid to see. Deep Purple played their hits, including “Smoke on the Water”, “Lazy”, “Highway Star”. I remember “Woman From Tokyo” and “Rat Bat Blue” being standouts. We had never heard a band perform their own songs before, and that was a revelation.
The bigger revelation was that Gallagher just played, and he played not a single song we knew. And we loved him just as much if not more than Deep Purple.
The next day it was the opening act that everyone was talking about. I sought out a concert review so I could find out more about the kid in plaid. Rory Gallagher was his name, and later that day I bought Live in Europe, my first of many Rory Gallagher records.
Thanks to M.G. Hucul for sharing his memory of seeing the legendary Rory Gallagher. Any other hardcore Rory fans are welcome to post their own concert recollections in the comments section below. Let’s keep spreading the word until those braindead twits at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame come to their senses and finally induct him. It’s just the right thing to do.