"He brought us the music, the friendship and the memories": A crowdfunding campaign to erect a Gary Moore statue in Belfast has been launched

Gary Moore holding a guitar - studio portrait
(Image credit: Jesse Wild)

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to raise money to erect a statue of Irish guitar legend Gary Moore in his hometown of Belfast. 

The fundraising campaign to erect the statue of the former Thin Lizzy man originally kicked off with a memorial show at Belfast's Empire Music Hall in 2019, but now the Wild Frontier Memorial Project are appealing for donations to move on to the next stage in the process.  

"He brought us the music, the friendship and the memories," say the organisers. "We would like to honour Gary in a manner that he rightly deserves, so his music can be remembered by future generations long after all of us have left this earth."

The crowdfunding campaign hopes to add another €10,000 to the money already raised, with a total of €80,000 needed to complete the work. The campaign has support from members of Gary's family, Belfast City Council and local councillors, as well as musicians including former Thin Lizzy members Scott Gorham and Darren Wharten, plus Mama's Boys leader Pat McManus and Dead Daisies man Doug Aldrich. 

Details of the crowdfunding campaign can be found at idonate.ie, with fundraising shows scheduled for the Purty Kitchen in Dublin on March 15 and the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast on April 20

Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott is remembered with a statue in Harry Street, Dublin, while a statue of another Irish guitar great, Rory Gallagher, can be found in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal.

Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.