“He said, ‘Never do this to me again’”: Rory Gallagher was once so starstruck at meeting one of his heroes he couldn’t step on stage
Rory Gallagher is a guitar hero for many, but when it came to playing before his own favourite musician, he couldn’t physically step on stage from feeling so nervous.
Gallagher particularly looked up to Lonnie Donegan, also known as the King Of Skiffle, and thanks to his brother Donal, he actually got to play for him at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Donal secretly invited Donegan to see Gallagher as part of a surprise Christmas present, completely without his knowledge.
READ MORE: Noel Gallagher’s Definitely Maybe Epiphone Les Paul is up for auction – and it’s expected to sell for up to £80,000
Speaking to Guitarist for its new print edition, Donal recalls how drummer Rod de’Ath was able to help him call up Donegan back in 1975: “Lonnie came on the line and I explained how much Rory and I admired him and told him that Rory was playing the Albert Hall that evening and, despite the short notice, would he consider coming to the gig. He said, ‘Well, look, if you meet me at the stage door I’ll come – but I don’t want any messing around getting in and all that,’ and I said, ‘I’ll be there.’”
Donegan did infact stick to his word, and turned up that very night: “I went on and introduced Lonnie Donegan and explained how Rory was one of his biggest fans and he was such an inspiration to Rory and the crowd took to their feet and gave him a very warm reception, and Lonnie came on and said a couple of words and introduced Rory.
“Rory, of course, had absolutely no idea that any of this was going to happen, and was so taken aback when he saw his hero introducing him to the stage at the Royal Albert Hall that he simply froze,” he remembers.
“I was looking around to see where Rory was but there was no Rory. Normally, he came on like a bullet, straight across the stage, in his usual form. The band had come on, but no Rory: most unusual. But, in fact, Rory was in a state of shock and couldn’t bring himself to step on stage! Afterwards he said, ‘It was lovely, but never do this to me again.’ He’d actually got stage fright because he was performing in front of one of his heroes.”
Rory Gallagher’s iconic 1961 Fender Stratocaster is due to be put up for auction this Autumn. A GoFundMe was launched following news of the event, with hopes to bring the guitar back to its original seller’s family in Cork, Ireland to be displayed in a museum. Shortly after, it was revealed that the Irish government were also considering purchasing the guitar.
The auction is currently still scheduled for 17 October.
Find out more over at Bonhams.
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