Ian Hunter & Mick Ralphs

[Nigel no longer of Lysander]

Maart,
        I'm sure I read somewhere you were going to see the two highly esteemed gentlemen at a gig somewhere near Mr. 'Unter's home town of Shrewsbury. Has the gig taken place ? How good were they ? And wouldn't a Mott the Hoople reunion for Cropredy cut the mustard ?

Cheers Nigel

[Maart]

Blimey! That was May last year! The same week we went to see Pater Gabriel at Birmingham. It was at Worthen village hall in Shropshire, not far from where he grew up. He was absolutely mind-blowing, as he was back in 200x when we saw him in Wrecsam.

His regular guitarist Andy York is fantastic, world-class. THe rest of his band is well up to the mark too. The addition of Mick Ralphs was icing on the cake. The gig, in a village hall about the size of Cropredy's, was limited entry, so there was room for everybody.

Waiting in the queue (while Jan waited in the car) the couple in front of me were talking to a chap from Los Angeles. It turned out he lives in Dingle, Co Kerry.
“Do you know Eoin Duignan?”, I asked
“Indeed! My daughter’s at his daughter’s birthday part right now!”
So we phoned him. First coincidence.

We got into the hall and chatted with a couple who recognised me. It turned out that the lady had gone to the same school as Jan in Leamington! Second coincidence.

The gig was fantastic, all the hits plus all the best ones. Andy York blew me away. The guy of the couple we were standing with told us that Ian was 65 yrs old next birthday! Apparently 10 years had been shaved off his life when they were a glam rock band! He was really funny in his intros and really talked to the audience, a lot of whom could relate to local references he was throwing in.

He is famous for wearing shades, and although 64+, moves like a 20+. He ROCKS! Unfortunately his shades fell off at one point and one of the lenses popped out. He looked really shocked and made a comic face to the crowd before rushing offstage for his emergency pair.

Sitting at the piano for All The Way From Memphis, he said, “Thank you all for coming. You won’t remember this gig for the great music or the fact that it’s our end of tour party, will you, you bastards?”

It really did feel like a private party and I’m so glad we went. We drove from Harlech to Shropshire and back for the gig and it was worth every mile. We decided to leave before the end of the last number so that we had a chance of getting out of the very small (village hall!) car park before the meleé. As I started the engine, my car radio kicked off with Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love by Bad Company, featuring the star guitarist still onstage in the village hall. Third coincidence.

Fantastic night altogether!

Maart