I was shocked to learn of Gary Moore's untimely death from an apparent heart attack on February 6th, 2011, while he was on holiday in Spain. He was only 58 at the time, and still in his prime. Throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s, Moore's solo work had focused primarily on rock and metal, while he also worked with the bands Skid Row (not the Sebastian Bach-led flavor), Thin Lizzy, and G-Force. In 1990, Moore released the electric blues masterpiece, Still Got The Blues, which became his most successful and well received album, so, understandably, Moore stuck primarily to the blues genre for the better part of the last two decades.
2010 saw Gary Moore making a return to his rock roots with a tour that would end up focusing mostly on his older rock material from the 1980's, and a new album of Celtic-flavored rock was supposedly also in the works. Three of the new songs from those sessions were proudly on display when he played the Montreux Jazz Festival this one last time on July 6, 2010, so if that new album never sees the light of day, at least we will always have them to enjoy here.
The video begins with a darkened stage illuminated only by a couple of swirling spotlights, as intro music signals the start of the show. After a few minutes Moore and his three-piece backing band of Neil Carter (keyboards, guitar), Jon Noyce (bass), and Darrin Mooney (drums) take the stage. Moore opens the show with two of the best tracks, "Over The Hills And Far Away," and "Thunder Rising", "off his 1987 album, Wild Frontier, which was also chock full of the Celtic imagery and history of his Irish homeland.
You may be taken aback by the amount of weight Moore had put on recently, looking to be about 40 pounds heavier than he was only a few years ago. He was also sweating profusely just moments into the first song, and his performance was a bit lethargic when compared to all of the other times I have seen him play. Just watch the 1997 bonus footage on this disk, or any of his other excellent concert DVDs, to see what I mean. This video certainly gives some indications as to how Moore's sudden passing at the young age of 58 from a heart attack could have happened.
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