"Pleased to meet ya; I'm the teacher." Walking onstage to his own words over
the PA, Ian Hunter spent two hours living up to his own legend as the Bob
Dylan of glam rock. Fearlessly backsliding through his own classic cut-out
repertoire and the gilded antiquarian of former band Mott the Hoople, Hunter
introduced a few new quality cuts, but mostly catered to the aged crowd at
this one-stop performance. "Drew Carey saved my life" was the intro to
"Cleveland Rocks" (actually about Alan Freed), while Hunter dedicated
"Michael Picasso" to his long-time partner-in-crime, the immortal Mick
Ronson. Replaced by a younger guitarist, Ronson's presence will forever
shadow much of Hunter's work, including the definitive death-disco dirge
"Bastard." If you've never heard this "true love story" and its accompanying
LP, You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic, find a copy now. Also from that
album, a droopy bloozer about a night in jail, "Just Another Night" provided
the obligatory call-and-response audience participation segment, and staples
like "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," and "All the Young Dudes" primed the hard-core
for obscurities like "Irene Wilde" and "Saturday Gigs," Hunter's meditation
on the death of glitter rock. When his adolescent son Jesse brought out a
birthday cake to the 61-year-old Hunter, still in shades after all these
years, a magical night became perfect; though some of his brilliant verse may
soon become uncomfortably appropriate: "For those of you who always laugh,
let this be my epitaph." -Stone, Cheap Trash NYC
Set List
"Boy"
"Central Park & West"-harmonica
"Wish I Was Your Mother"-strung out love song
"Just Another Night" in Memphis jail
"Room Upstairs" from Brain Capers
"Living in the Wrong Time"-"RR Queen"
"Hatolicee Boogie"
"Sat Gigs"
"Golden Age"
"Irene Wilde"
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