[kj] (OT) R.I.P. Gary Moore

[TB]

Heard that the great guitarist Gary Moore died in his sleep last night at the relatively young age of 58.

Many hear probably don't know who he is or was.  He was really one of the top tier rock guitarists ever.  He was a true innovator
like Hendrix, Van Halen, Clapton, etc, but he could play *any* style with complete authority and among other things, he was a key
player in Thin Lizzy on some of their best music.  He was an incredibly prolific solo artist, often releasing an album a year like
clockwork since the 80's when he gained real notoriety as a hard rock/metal guitar player and later he completely changed his style
to become a well known blues artist.

I was lucky enough to see Gary live in the early 80's.

Once when he opened for Rush when Moore was plugging his "Victims Of The Future" album.  My friend and I were actually huge Moore
fans but couldn't care less about Rush.  We'd bought 10th row seats right up front through a ticket broker which cost a pretty penny
just to see Gary's set.  We were so blown away, and then so bored with Rush's set, we wound up leaving early in Rush's set and
giving our tickets to a pair of girls up on the lawn.

The second time was during Moore's "Wild Frontier" tour in '87 when he played the tiny Roxy Club in Hollywood.  Just fucking
outstanding show seeing Moore in such a tiny setting.

I missed out in his "Still Got The Blues" tour and I don't think he ever toured the US again after the early '90's which sucked.

I will say I was shocked to see in recent YouTube clips how much weight he'd put on in the last couple years but his playing was
still stellar as seen in this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz9YiOWXBb8

Compared to his older clips back in the 80's and 90's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-w16vdoO1A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcTt1IdxGew

With Thin Lizzy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpOxjOj0zhk

I don't know what the status of his final album is, but I understand he had just finished a Celtic Rock style album for release this
year.

RIP Gary.