'Celebrate his genius' - Cork to rock for Rory Gallagher anniversary

From the main roadway into Cork Airport being named after him, to concerts, exhibitions and a city-wide walking trail, the 30th anniversary of the death of guitarist Rory Gallagher is being widely marked this weekend in Cork City.
Cork Rocks for Rory festival is supported by both Cork city and county councils.
Announcing details of the memorial weekend, Lord Mayor of Cork Councillor Dan Boyle said marking the 30th anniversary of his passing allows the city to "celebrate his genius".
While born in Co Donegal in 1948, the blues and rock guitarist who was widely regarded as a virtuoso, grew up in Cork City.
This is the first time the city has celebrated his international career on such a large scale.
Last October, his famous 1961 Fender Stratocaster guitar was purchased at auction for just over €1 million by Live Nation Gaiety Limited and donated to the National Museum of Ireland.
Fans, new and old, are expected to flock to the city to mark the 30th anniversary of his death in 1995 from complications after a liver transplant.
Thousands attended his funeral service at the Church of the Holy Ghost, while his grave with its sunburst headstone in St. Oliver's Cemetery remains a must-see for fans.
Tomorrow, Taoiseach Micheál Martin will officially name the main roadway within Cork Airport 'the Rory Gallagher Road'.
He will be joined by members of the Gallagher family, among them his brother and manager, Donal Gallagher.
A brand-new permanent walking trail 'Stompin Ground' will mark out the venues where the guitar legend played and the places that shaped his life.
Cork City Hall, which hosted his legendary home town Christmas concerts, will host a photographic exhibition of never before seen images.
🎸 Cork Rocks for Rory🎼
ℹ️ Opening on June 14, to mark 30 year's since his passing, an exhibition about Rory Gallagher's Early Years in Cork up to Taste MK2 will be launched.
📍 Cork City Council Atrium
🕐 10 - 4 - Monday - Friday
📅 Open until July 4 pic.twitter.com/1u65u5tHT7
— Cork City Council (@corkcitycouncil) June 5, 2025
The Cork Public Museum's is hosting 'The Continental Op' exhibition which Curator Dan Breen says includes family archives, and a number of instruments including the mandolin on which 'Going to My Hometown' was most often played.
The city already has a Rory Gallagher Music Library at Cork's main public library.
A collection of Rory's writings can be found on display, as well as selections from his personal vinyl and book collections including detective novels, and his Beatles 'Revolver' album.

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When Rory broke down those barriers, people began to take Ireland more seriously and went to look at the talent in Ireland. 'And of course, they found a goldmine!' For that, Rory and indeed the city can thank Mike Crowley's decision to allow a young Gallagher to purchase the Stratocaster for £100 on credit, whose previous owner belonged to Jim Conlon, of the Royal Showband, who decided to sell the guitar because its colour wasn't exactly what Conlon had in mind. Mike's daughter Sheena, who remembers as a 16-year-old the then revered Gallagher coming into the shop regularly to talk tech with her Dad, was a key part of the success of the exhibition, attending the auction in Bonhams to purchase a number of items, and many prospective buyers backed off once they learned why she was present. 'You'd be on a high thinking about it really,' Sheena said at the launch. 'You'd be thinking about what my Dad must have been thinking, what Rory would be thinking, it's fabulous really. 'I'm absolutely buzzing,' said the owner of Crowley's Music shop, adding that she would like to soon scale up to a larger premises, having vacated their shop on McCurtain Street in August 2013, before reopening a new shop on Friar Street a decade later. Rory's nephew, Eoin, has now been living in Cork for the past 20 years, following in both his uncle's and father's footsteps, and has continued the family's impact on the city through over a decade's work in the arts, before focusing full-time on keeping alive his uncle's legacy. 'When you're born into a family where you have someone like Rory Gallagher, who's just your uncle starting out. When you become a teenager, you get into your own music, and then Rory died, and when you compare contemporary stuff, you see how great he was and the talent that he had. 'Newer generations are finding out about him and seeing the lineage that traces the music they like, all the way back to him, so there's always work to be done!' The new project has all taken place within a whirlwind four months, that saw constant collaboration between Eoin and City Council, in securing vital exhibits for the Cork Public Museum in Fitzgerald's Park and in the atrium of City Hall, as well as a number of other exhibitions across the city, complimented by a 'Stompin' Ground' walking train, which acts as a permanent legacy, 'highlighting the places and streets that were Rory's stompin' ground' across Cork. 'Cork City Council have been absolutely fantastic in their help. It's been intense but everyone has worked extremely hard, and I'm very optimistic about the future in honouring Rory and his Cork roots. 'I think he would be extremely proud, especially in his hometown. He was a fantastic musician, but at the end of the day he's our Rory, from our Cork, our man.'