Gig review: BAND OF FRIENDS – 229 Club, London, 12 January 2025

January 20th, 2025 by andynathan

In the 30 years since his untimely death, the stock of the late Rory Gallagher continues to rise. Last year there was a new documentary shown on the BBC and hardly a week goes by without some form of tribute, be it a physical one like a new statue or in musical form such as Joe Bonamassa’s upcoming gigs in Cork.

Playing a big factor in keeping his music alive have been Band of Friends, featuring at their core his former bandmates in bassist Gerry McAvoy, who was constantly at Rory’s side for his first 20 years as a solo artist, and Brendan O’Neill, drummer for the last 10 years of those. They don’t play the UK enough for my liking so their presence at the 229 Club was the biggest draw for me in the remarkable roster of the London Blues Festival, boasting a gig every night for the best part of a month.

As at all those gigs, there was also a support in the Too Bad Jims, in fact a three piece, albeit with two guitarists in Little Victor and Son Jack Jr and no bass player, playing North Mississippi blues. Of advanced years, they had a good humoured, almost hillbilly style and I found myself enjoying songs like ‘Miss Maybelle’ and ‘Peaches’ while during ‘Over The Hill’ they conducted a singalong and got people to edge forward towards the front in this venue, which very much seems to fill from the back. However by the end of a generous 45 minute set their schtick was beginning to become a bit repetitive.

When I last saw Band of Friends 18 months ago they had an unusual line up with two guitarists in Jim Kirkpatrick and Paul Rose, on a brilliant night which reawakened my dormant interest in Rory Gallagher’s work. This time though they returned to a classic power trio headed by Isle of Man raised, Chicago domiciled Davy Knowles.

Opening with ‘Double Vision’, Davy’s check shirt peaking out from under a jean jacket was a sartorial tribute to the great man and his wavy dark hair also bore a passing resemblance. The finish of his Stratocaster was however way too clean! While he was a study in concentration, Gerry – a very sprightly, almost ageless 73- was pulling a variety of smiles, grimaces and bass poses, and throughout the set acted as rabble rouser in chief.

One of those standards most associated with Rory, ‘Messin With the Kid’ followed, but for a long time the set either featured their own songs or shone a light into the lesser known side of the Gallagher catalogue. In the former category were ‘Under The Gun’ and ‘Stand Your Ground’ and it was also notable that Davy’s vocal style was not especially Gallagher-esque. Instead it was melodic and soulful with just the right amount of grit, and more reminiscent of Frankie Miller, Paul Rodgers or Eric Martin in their heyday.

In the latter category were a couple sung by Gerry- on ‘Lonely Mile’, which I’m afraid I had to swiftly google, his own voice was surprisingly strong and melodic and possibly naturally closer to his old bandmate, while it sounded more world-weary on ’Heaven’s Gate’.

Whenever Davy burst into one of those familiar yet unique riffs, my head was bobbing in delight, none more so than on ‘Moonchild’ though for once his vocals seemed to fall a bit short of the mark. However on the one out-and-out slow blues of the night in ‘When You Lose a Friend’ his singing and soloing was exemplary. Chat was kept to a minimum, but Gerry’s words of tribute led into a very impressive song they had composed in Rory’s memory in ‘Man ’O’ the West’.

The more traditional acoustic-style blues prominent on earlier albums like ‘Live in Europe’ were absent from the set, which instead focused on the rockier side of Rory, notably ‘Bought and Sold’ with some great jamming between Davy and Gerry, and ‘Overnight Bag’ with Brendan’s always crisp drumming overlaying a great riff.

By the latter half of the set we were onto one crowd pleaser after another, including a trio from ‘Tattoo’, the first album of his I bought and probably still my favourite. A full-on ‘Cradle Rock’ saw Davy let rip with almost his first slide playing of the night, on an extended ‘Tattooed Lady’ his soloing was outstanding, and ‘A Million Miles Away’ extended to twelve minutes as the band brought the pace down to near silence in the middle and Gerry led the crowd in a chorus of ‘a million miles away, sailing like a driftwood on a windy bay’ before they picked it up again.

It was followed by two out and out rockers from his late seventies period in ‘Bad Penny’ and ‘Shadow Play’, with one memorable riff or solo after another and loads of false endings as the band jammed out.

We were now well over the published 10:30 set time, and arguably some people’s bedtime, but there was still time for an encore of ‘Bullfrog Blues’, with some great bottleneck slide from Davy and a 12 bar intensity from the band worthy of vintage Quo. A brilliant band in their own right, this performance confirmed there is no-one better placed to keep the flame burning for one of the great underappreciated musical legends.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Rock)
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14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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