
Gary Moore appeared at London’s Islington Academy on December 2nd, 2009, for a defining one-off showcase of some of blues-rock’s biggest names, doing what they do best in an intimate club setting. Nobody in the sell-out crowd that night suspected they were witnessing one of his final shows, but when Moore passed away fourteen months later in 2011, at just 58 years old, the show took on a new level of sentimentality. “Live From London” captures the blazing performance which is widely cherished as one of his great last stands.
“Live From London” documents a special one-off club show recorded on December 2nd, 2009 at Islington Academy, almost 10 years ago to the day, and it’s widely regarded as one of his very best. This is Gary mining every corner of his catalogue for gold.
Though I was getting bored with the blues albums, and yearned for a return to the Celtic rock of the mid 80’s, it can’t be denied that Gary’s playing, and particularly his voice, soared in the genre. Gary Moore just seemed to let loose and shredded his ass off. Blues purists no doubt scorned, but for real Gary fans, this was the real Gary. Tone, passion, technique to burn, phrasing, melody… The guy had it ALL in spades, and was unparalleled in this respect. This is brilliant stuff, and would get the full 5 star review, but for the fact some songs have apparently been cut from the vinyl version, so I feel somewhat short changed. Gary could solo for an hour, and you wouldn’t get bored, so even missing a single note is annoying. Anyhow, lets hope the archives keep being mined. We all miss him immensely, but albums like this keep him “alive”, and inspire, I hope, whole new generations of players.