Rory Gallagher to be honoured with statue outside Belfast’s Ulster Hall
A statue of Irish blues-rock icon Rory Gallagher is to be erected outside Belfast music venue Ulster Hall.
Last updated 9th Aug 2021
At a meeting last night (18th October), Belfast City Council’s planning committee gave the green light to proposals to immortalise the County Donegal born legend who died in 1995.
The statue will stand on the Bedford Road side of the 154-year-old listed building where Rory Gallagher played numerous times throughout his distinguished career.
When many other musicians chose to stay away from Belfast at the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, Rory continued to play shows for his dedicated fans at Ulster Hall.
It’s the second honour to be bestowed upon Rory at Ulster Hall, after a plaque was unveiled by his brother and manager Donal Gallagher in 2007.
Ulster Hall manager Pat Falls said at the time: “Rory had a special love for Belfast, where he made his first real breakthrough playing with Taste in the late 1960s.
"He remained loyal to his Belfast fans right through the darkest days of the '70s and '80s, returning every year for barnstorming performances at a time when many other big names stayed away."
"This plaque is a great way of us showing our respect to one of the greatest Irish performers of his - or any - generation."
Such is his profound legacy, Rory has already been immortalised twice in statue form. The first was unveiled in the newly renamed Rory Gallagher Place in Cork in 1997, while a life-sized bronze statue was revealed in Rory’s birthplace of Ballyshannon in 2010.
As well as being synonymous with Rory, Ulster Hall is the venue where Led Zeppelin first played 'Stairway To Heaven' live on 5th March 1971.