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Rating: Ian Hunter is a very talented musician who took about forty years to realize it, after success brushed him, ensnared him, seduced him, deluded him, and then - of course - abandoned him. He must have come to realize this through the unconditional applause his fans bestow upon him, but also thanks to more prosaic considerations among which - for example - the fact that there are more than 50 covers of his songs out there (by artists including Great White, The Presidents of the USA, Status Quo, Blue Oyster Cult, Bonnie Tyler, Barry Manilow, The Pointer Sisters, Willie Nelson, Thunder, etc.), thus finally realizing that if there are so many people who love him, there must be something good in what he does. Having therefore reached the awareness of being in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame thanks to the faith of his fans, now he can afford to entertain without selling out, to propose without bewildering, to simply be himself.
This is what Mr. Ian Hunter, one of the great survivors of the legendary '70s English rock scene, founder of Mott the Hoople, has been doing for some time, who could have (or perhaps should have, but you know, fate) been thicker than Bowie, tougher than T-Rex, more badass than Slade and certainly more worthy than Gary Glitter. Yet they didn't do any of that after touring the States from 70 onwards with the nascent Queen (yes, those very ones) as support. Leaving the Mott in '75 to their (somewhat sad) fate, Ian in '75 packed his bags and started doing his own thing, which he has continued to do over the 22 years since then, including, naturally, concerts, not a huge number and mostly usually in the United States (where he lives) but never forgetting the motherland and the old continent.
This year, his European tour kicked off in Paris, where on May 12, he gave a beautiful semi-acoustic concert at New Morning, a small venue in the - if I'm not mistaken - 10th arrondissement that provided a perfect setting for the hundred or so people who rushed to see the now ex "original mixed-up kid," who at 67 years old took the small stage, settled into a plastic chair - electric guitarist John Mastro on one side and drummer Steve Holley on the other - picked up one of the numerous guitars he had available, told us "It was '75, Mick Ronson was playing... we had one of those early drum machines that had only three tempos: rock, slow, and samba... Mick said 'Press all the buttons!'... and this is what came out" and then launched into "Once bitten twice shy".
The concert was truly fantastic. A man and his music. The sound mix between acoustic and electric - which was only planned for the four opening tour concerts, thus both an experiment and a rarity - was nice and full and aggressive, with the drums - without exaggerating but also without holding back too much - not intruding on anyone's field, and for some pieces, before the finale, our man also moved to the piano. How to put it? Acoustic? Wow, it rocks! :). Savoring such a sound was unique: an unexpected surprise and an exceptional result.
With a voice in great shape and a strong desire to use it, taking it as far as and beyond what was reasonable to expect, Mr. Gianni Cacciatori reviewed almost the entire latest album ("Shrunken heads"), which being very beautiful - the best thing he's done since "All of the good ones are taken," if I may say - did not make one regret that too many beautiful things from yesterday remained in the guitar strings, and pieces like "Twisted steel" and "Seeing double" were appreciated as never before. Switching between mandolin, Fender, and steel guitar, guitarist James Mastro impressed with his own style, proving to be a perfect counterpoint to the interpretive verve of a musician who knows how to always offer new emotions by simply being himself, except at the end when with a criminal act of treason, he flubbed the opening solo of "All the young dudes", causing the other two to stop, who - especially Hunter - looked at him as if he had smeared crap on the Mona Lisa... Honestly, I was a bit taken aback... I mean, it's not like he had never done it before, damn it!
Nonetheless, aside from the unfortunate episode, full marks to everyone and naturally the regret of never having had and apparently not having even on this tour (the European dates until summer are UK - Spain - Scandinavia, and those in October are again in England) Ian Hunter here in Italy to play for us old fans and - if anyone still understands anything about music - for the new ones who want to hear someone who, after writing immortal pieces with his hands, said "I wanted fame, but then there's nothing when you get there... The only important thing for me is what comes next. You're only worth what you'll do next, the rest doesn't matter. Can you imagine a field where only one cow is left out of a herd? That is success: remaining."
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