“The band had come on, but no Rory: most unusual. He was in astate of shock and couldn’t bring himself to step on stage”: The night Rory Gallagher was spooked by his childhood hero – as the Royal Albert Hall waited in anticipation

A black-and-white image of Rory Gallagher playing his '61 Strat at the Royal Albert Hall.

We recently photographed Rory’s guitars, for perhaps the final time, in the Royal Albert Hall – the scene of some of Rory’s most glorious moments. So perhaps it’s only fitting we share a story about the one occasion where Rory, the consummate live performer, was lost for words and paralysed by stage fright at the Royal Albert Hall in the presence of his childhood musical hero.

“To Rory, Lonnie Donegan was the first guy [to inspire him to play roots American music] – even though he wasn’t an electric guitarist,” explains Rory’s brother, Donal Gallagher. “But it was that introduction to blues music and Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, you know – Lonnie really was bringing it through… he was the guy who was passing the torch down the line.