Irish rock and blues legend Rory Gallagher
A statue of Irish rock and blues legend Rory Gallagher is finally to be erected at Belfast’s Ulster Hall – nine years after its planning application went to City Hall.
In October 2016 Belfast City Council’s Planning Committee gave the proposal the go-ahead for unveiling at Bedford Street at the side of the Ulster Hall, which Gallagher saw as his musical home and where he played regularly and faithfully throughout the Troubles years.
But since the 2016 council decision at City Hall, fans have had to wait for the statue of their guitar hero. Before that in 2007, a memorial plaque to the guitarist was unveiled at the Ulster Hall during a special tribute concert.
Details of the January 2025 unveiling emerged in papers for a Belfast Council committee meeting this week.
A report in the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee agenda for November states:
“In recognition of his contribution to music and to Belfast, the Rory Gallagher Statue Project Trust have crowd funded to create a Rory Gallagher Statue and associated base with the intention of having it installed at the Ulster Hall Site and to gift it to the council.
“The unveiling date of the statue is proposed as January 4th 2025, which is the 30th anniversary of the BBC recording at the Ulster Hall of “Rory at Midnight”.
“There will be no artist rights attached to the statue and the future maintenance of the statue will become the council’s responsibility once installed. Subject to members approval, it is proposed that an agreement will be entered into between the Trust and the council, to document the unveiling date and the gifting of the statue to the council.
“Members approval is also sought for the council to enter into a short-term licence agreement with Martin Contracting Services Ltd (the Trust’s appointed contractors) who will set up a temporary working area at the Ulster Hall site, enclosed with heras fencing to enable installation of the statue and its associated base.”
No reason was given in the report as to why the erection of the statue was delayed.
Gallagher was born in Ballyshannon, Donegal and spent part of his childhood in Derry before moving to Cork and creating the band Taste in the late 1960s.
When Belfast musicians Richard McCracken and John Wilson joined the band, Taste took off and released two acclaimed albums while gaining a reputation as one of the great live acts.
After Taste broke up Gallagher was known as the “One Man Led Zeppelin” and throughout the 1970s and 1980s sold more than 30 million records worldwide. He died inJune 1995 at the age of 47.