Ian Hunter ~ 2011 November 4 ~ Paradise Rock Club, Boston
Videos
Scroll down past the videos for review; photo gallery to the right.
"Arms and Legs":
"Man Overboard":
Review
Ian Hunter rocked the house at the Paradise on Friday, Nov. 4. I had never seen Ian before but of course I've known who he is for ages. What the h - e - two sticks is a "hoople," and who's "Mott"? I'm sure he's pretty tired of that silly question. Ian Hunter has been a successful solo recording artist for many, MANY more years than Mott the Hoople were in existence. I have heard his most recent record, Man Overboard, and I like it a lot. Ian, sporting his trademark dark glasses and still beautiful curly hair, accompanied himself on keyboards, guitar and harmonica and was ably backed by five other musicians (two guitars, bass, keys and drums). He didn't banter much; I think more banter would have improved the show, but this was a Rock Concert. This night that was all about the music.
The amazing Ian Hunter is 72 years old. He is in great shape and had a great deal of energy on stage. At one point he announced that he was celebrating his 39th wedding anniversary! He played a song ("Alice") from an album recorded around the time he got married.
One of the guitarists spent the night having technical problems with his foot pedals and he seemed pretty disgusted by the end of the show. The crowd was packed and pretty rowdy. The only thing I didn't like about the show were the encores. The band went off stage (Ian with a glass of wine in his hand) and stayed off stage for a very long time while the crowd hooted and hollered. These days, other performers don't make the crowd wait like this. The first encore ended with the excellent "Memphis," which I thought was such a perfect song to end the night with that I didn't expect any more. But then after another long wait, complete with more shouting and noisemaking by the audience, the band returned and played a couple more songs, ending with what I suppose is the obligatory "All the Young Dudes." I think it's a shame that someone of Ian's caliber as a songwriter is known most for a song written by someone else (Bowie), and that he apparently feels that he is stuck playing it.
I took two videos with my Flip camera from my vantage point in the front row, just in front of the guitarist with the malfunctioning electronics. I was lucky enough to get two songs from Ian's new record, and have posted them to Youtube.
Mike Gent of the Figgs was spotted in the audience.
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