By Ken Paulson
You won’t find Ian Hunter on the Happy Together oldies tour anytime soon.
As he made clear in his set Saturday night at the City Winery in Nashville, he’s earned the right at age 75 to play exactly what he wants. So it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise that he did as many songs from his most recent album When I’m President as from his years with Mott the Hoople.
Ian Hunter (photo by Ken Paulson)
We saw Paul McCartney on tour a few weeks ago and marveled at his stamina and performance. Hunter, three years McCartney’s elder, was just as energetic and committed. From the second song of the evening – a driving take on “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” through the moving “All the Young Dudes” at the close, this was a full-on rock show.
Hunter shifted to keyboards about a third of the way into the set, and delivered some of the show’s best moments, including a poignant “Irene Wilde” and raucous “All the Way From Memphis.”
It’s a measure of his deep catalog with Mott and as a solo artist that so many great songs were left on the sidelines. For my part, I would have traded “Boy” or “Bastard” for the fun factor of “Central Park and West,” “Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll” or “Cleveland Rocks,” but I’m sure every Hunter fan has own list of favorites.
It’s remarkable that an artist whose band scored just a single hit in the U.S can continue to tour to good-sized crowds a half-century into his career. And yet his audience is with him every step of the way, devoted, enthralled and cheering madly for “I Wish I Was Your Mother” and “Michael Picasso.”
Hunter clearly doesn’t take that for granted.
“I can’t believe you’re still here and I really can’t believe I’m still here, he sang on “Life,” as he neared the end of the set.
Believe it. Ian Hunter still delivers.
(Nashville’s own Amy Speace opened the show with a brief, but compelling set, previewing her upcoming album That Kind of Girl. You can pre-order it here.)
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