Irish Tour '74 (Film)
| Irish Tour 1974 | |
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| Directed by | Tony Palmer |
| Produced by | Donal Gallagher |
| Starring | Rory Gallagher, Gerry McAvoy, Lou Martin, Rod de'Ath |
| Music by | Rory Gallagher |
| Cinematography | Les Young |
| Distributed by | Eagle Vision |
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Release date
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Running time
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57 min. |
| Language | English |
Irish Tour '74 is a film directed by Tony Palmer. It documents Rory Gallagher's tour of Northern Ireland in 1974. Gallagher toured at a time of great political turmoil and violence. Gallagher's band at the time was Gerry McAvoy on bass guitar, Lou Martin on keyboards and Rod de'Ath on drums.
Tony Palmer was a founder of BBC Four's Kaleidoscope radio programme. Palmer first came into contact with Rory Gallagher when he filmed Cream's farewell concert in 1968. Gallagher was the front man for the band Taste at the time and Taste opened for Cream at that concert. Palmer decided to film the concerts on Gallagher's next Irish tour. He originally planned to use the footage for a television special, but he later found it so good that he released it as a theatrical motion picture. Gallagher also released a double album that was considered the soundtrack of the film.
Gallagher's 1974 tour of Northern Ireland coincided with one of the most tumultuous times in the region. Violence was erupting throughout the region and this affected many public events such as rock concerts. In this environment most groups didn't tour the region but Gallagher continued his tour as planned to Belfast Ulster Hall, Dublin Carlton Cinema, and Cork City Hall. The day before Gallagher's scheduled concert in Belfast ten bombs went off at various locations around the city. Everyone expected Gallagher to cancel as all the other big names had but he went on with the concert. A local Belfast journalist writing to describe the concert said:
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