Legendary blues rock guitarist, Rory Gallagher, was recently voted Ireland’s Greatest Music Artist by the listeners of Dublin’s national independent radio station, Newstalk. Rory topped the list, beating U2, Thin Lizzy, Van Morrison and Christy Moore. Read the article here.

Rory Gallagher is still considered to have performed one of the greatest sets at the historic Reading Festival when it first launched 50 years ago in the summer of 1971.

On Thursday August 26, The Museum of Reading will launch a major exhibition entitled “The 1971 Reading Festival: For The First Time.” The exhibition takes its title from Rory Gallagher’s 1971 song, “For The Last Time”.

‘“Through the generous support of the Rory Gallagher Estate, various items from Rory’s archive will be presented for the first time in a UK public museum, including Rory’s 1966 Fender Telecaster, his Vox AC30 amplifier and other items that Rory played at the festival 50 years ago.”

Curated by rock photographer Jill Furmanovsky, the exhibition tells the story of the first Reading Festival through rare and unseen photographs, posters, ephemera, and rock memorabilia, celebrating 50 years of The Reading Festival.  

For further info about the exhibition, visit the official Reading Festival exhibition website, here.

The Reading Festival exhibition dovetails the highly anticipated September 3 release of the 50th Anniversary Box Set of Rory Gallagher's eponymous 1971 debut solo album, Rory Gallagher.

Including five discs, the deluxe box set includes a brand-new mix of the original album, 30 previously unreleased outtakes and alternate takes, a six-song 1971 BBC Radio John Peel Sunday Concert, plus four 1971 BBC Radio Sounds of the Seventies session tracks, all mastered at Abbey Road Studios.

Also included, a previously unreleased 50-minute DVD of Rory's first-ever solo concert which was filmed in Paris, for the “Pop Deux” TV show.

Rory’s box set is available to pre-order here.

(Photo - Strange Music Ltd)