The strife between the British soldiers and the patriots of Northern Ireland had reached a violent climax in the 1970's. It was essentially a bad idea to visit, never mind publicize the fact that you were there. This was evident in the lack of entertainment. No one played Belfast. The risks were too extreme. Yet every December, when Rory and the band returned home for Christmas, they would perform a tour that included Belfast.

Donal Gallagher: "It happened unconsciously. Rory liked to work. So being at home at Christmas we would do our gigs then. Also you had to think of the economics and the situation for your audience at that time. They didn't have a lot of money. People had to save up for their concert tickets. And you had to allow for the fact that a lot of your audience were students. Being allowed to go to a concert was one thing. But if it was during school periods they weren't allowed to go out on nights of study. In effect, playing at Christmas, people were on holiday. They had a few bob that they could afford. Or they were given presents of a couple of tickets. So there were a lot of social factors taken into account."

Joe O'Herlihy: "The possibility of trouble breaking out was the one thing that was always at the back of people's minds but it never happened. The music thing seemed to cross the actual divide. Rory was accepted as an Irish guy making it on the international stage. We are very conscious of Irish people doing well and he was welcomed with open arms. There was never a sense of people going in there with fears or thoughts of trouble or anything like that. What crossed my mind was, 'Yeah, we're going to Belfast. And the crowd is great in Belfast. Wait until you see these guys, the way they'll react.' And it was always like that. Great audience. Great response. Incredible emotion and complete participation. Great connection."

It seemed that there was somewhat of an imposed moratorium on violence when Rory Gallagher and his band set up shop to perform for the people who had supported him from his earliest days on the circuit. Dino McGartland is the publisher of Stagestruck, a fanzine devoted to Rory and his music.

Dino McGartland: "Other groups thought Rory was mad for playing in the North. It was OK to play Dublin or Cork but to play Belfast was unheard of. But whenever he played there, they sold out maybe four or five nights. It was complete mayhem whenever he arrived because people took him to their hearts. He was a fantastic performer."

Gerry McAvoy: "The first night we played Belfast in '71, there was ten bombs that went off around the city as we were playing. And you're always worried. But you had to take a step and do it. No one would play Belfast. But Rory would do it religiously every year and he was admired and respected for doing it. The thing was, it was an amalgamation for both communities, Protestant and Catholic. There was no divide on the night of the concert. And right to the end there was no divide. To music fans, it didn't matter. You might have had guys from the IRA in the audience. You might have had guys from the UDN in the audience. But for three hours everything was forgotten about and you could see that in their faces."

Donal Gallagher: "Rory was accepted by all sides. I wouldn't say he was untouchable but there was an element of that. Particularly at Ulster Hall where the Belfast concerts were. That street was bombed so many times it was known as 'Bomb Alley.' He never felt immune to anything happening but he felt he was shielded somehow. In retrospect, had Rory been blatantly supporting one side or the other, he might have fell foul to some sort of sabotage. But because they would know that everyone in that hall was a mixture they wouldn't risk hurting their own."

Alan O'Duffy: "Rory was a great humorist and a lovely fellow. He would say things like, if we were all inside the room and you had just walked into the control room, for example, he'd turn around to Ted McKenna and he'd say to Ted, 'Right Ted! Say to Dan what you just said to me about him! Go on, say it! Dan, do you want to listen to this or not? Ted, just say it! Say it again, now, honestly! Alan, you heard what he said. What did you say about Dan before he came into the room?' That was one of his standard jokes. It made everybody sort of nervous and laughing at the same time. Nice man. And particularly a gentleman. More of a gentleman than I am! But when he had his guitar on he was a different person. A guitar player that could stand beside anybody."

Phil McDonnell: "One of the funniest stories … I'd never seen Rory laugh so much in his life! He had a great sense of humor about him and he used to literally cry with a good, funny story. We were down in … it was somewhere like Hartford, Connecticut."

Ted McKenna: "I think it's clear to understand that we all might be guessing at where it happened. I think we were all pretty polluted. I've told that story a few times. It goes down kind of well."

Gerry McAvoy: "Duluth, Minnesota. I remember it well."

Ted McKenna: "The night before Pete Collins said 'Guys, to save you getting up too early I'm going to take the cases to the airport and check you in. So pack your bags tonight and I'll pick them up at eight tomorrow and then you can have another couple hours sleep.' 'Ok, thanks.' We got blitzed. I went back to my room, forgot to pack. Peter arrived at the door - bang, bang, bang - 'Ted, give us your case.' So I leapt up, went, 'Oh fuck, I forgot to pack my case.' So I just threw stuff into the case, kind of in the darkness, opened the door a pinch, give him the case."

Phil McDonnell: "He stood there in a T-shirt and his underpants 'cuz we'd just woken him up, got him out of bed. So we grab his suitcase and me and Collins jump in the car and we go out to the airport."

Ted McKenna: " 'OK, see you at the airport. Bye.' Went back to sleep. Next thing I'm getting a call from Rory. Rory's downstairs. I've slept in. He's going, 'We've got to get to the airport. The taxi's here to take us to the airport.' So I opened the curtains, I looked around the room and realized I'd packed my pants. Son of a fuckin' bitch!"

Phil McDonnell: "We'd gone off with his suitcase with all his clothes in it. And he'd forgot to leave a pair of pants out."

Ted McKenna: "I opened the door and I just caught Gerry McAvoy going to the lift. I said 'Gerry, I've got a wee problem here (laughs). I haven't got any fuckin' pants to wear.' So he went downstairs, went around the corner into an Army-Navy store and bought me a pair of black cord denims. Which would have been seven sizes too big. You could have fit another one of me in. But he was in such a rush he just grabbed a pair."