Site of the former Capitol Cinema, The Capitol Building, Grand Parade.
The Capitol Cinema on Grand Parade opened on April 5th, 1947. It was a large cinema that in its first incarnation seated up to 1300 people. It was the main Cork City centre film screening amenity showing the latest in contemporary cinema for decades but like many cinemas grew challenged by more modern times in how people chose to watch films, sadly closing in 2005 making way in time for the Capitol Building you see at this location today.
Tony Palmer’s documentary on Rory Gallagher’s tour of Ireland premiered at the 19th annual Cork International Film Festival at the surprisingly early time of 10:30am on the 10th of June 1974 at the Capitol Cinema. The film includes many moments of Rory Gallagher’s life in Cork city and wonderful footage of the city and concert footage of the Cork City Hall and its audience when Rory played there.
The documentary filmmaker met Rory when he was filming Cream’s farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England in 1968. Rory’s band Taste were the support band for Cream at the show.
Tony went backstage after Taste’s set and introduced himself to Rory and told him how remarkable his playing was. The two agreed to keep in touch, and in late ’73 when Rory decided to film his upcoming Christmas shows in the south and the north of Ireland, he requested Tony Palmer for the job. Intrigued by the idea of filming on both sides of the border, despite the dangers involved in those turbulent days of ‘The Troubles,’ Tony Palmer was keen to make the most of the opportunity
Rory’s decision to play in the North was, however, not a political statement but a musical one; as he says in the documentary:
‘In an Irish tour, I always try to include Belfast and the North of Ireland. After all, I lived there for a while and I learned a lot playing in the clubs there, so I’ve a sort of home feeling for the place.’
Rory’s tour of Ireland at that time had its anxious moments. Prior to his show at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, ten bombs went off at various locations around the city and many thought he would cancel.
Despite the potential threats of violence, the shows went on and were a unifying success where people from both sides of a divided community and identity, came together peacefully without prejudice to share in their love for Rory Gallagher’s music.
The documentary film was one of Ireland’s entries in the Feature’s section of the Cork International Film Festival. Rory attended the first screening of the film and met the press afterwards at a reception at the Savoy Cinema where he was presented with a Golden Disc in recognition of selling 250,000 sales of his album Live in Europe.
Another film being screened at the Savoy later that evening was the U.S. entry, Blazing Saddles. Rory and his brother Donal were huge fans of this Mel Brooks comedy, so much so that when Rory’s film ‘Irish Tour ’74’ premiered at the Cork Film Festival, Rory nominated Blazing Saddles to be also screened as part of the festival!
Rory was an avid moviegoer and was seen often on the streets of Cork on his way to the local movie houses such as the Palace or Capitol Cinemas, going there when he was home with some spare time between tours.
The Cork International Film Festival celebrated the 50th anniversary of the film with a special screening at the Everyman Palace in 2024 to a full house full of Rory Gallagher fans and also introduced Rory and the film to many sets of new eyes and ears of a younger generation.
Watch the official trailer for Irish Tour ‘74: The Official Trailer-Rory Gallagher Irish Tour '74
2025 is a special year for the Cork International Film Festival with the marking in November of its own special anniversary of 70 years in the making.
More details of this and the rich programme of content on screen provided by the Cork International Film Festival each November, as well as their brilliant year round programme can be found here: https://corkfilmfest.org/