Mott the Hoople - Live Reviews London (Oct 1-5)

Reviews are coming in from Mott the Hoople's five-night stand at the Hammersmith Apollo in London this past weekend.

It's another in a line of bands from my youth and yours (Pavement, Pixies, Police and in this Financial Times piece, Spandau Ballet) reuniting for a variety of reasons (money, recapturing old glories, reliving a moment once passed, etc...)

The UK's Independent wrote: "I've seen a few reunion shows, including the Cream and Zep shows, and none elicited the genuine waves of joy – as opposed to reverence or awe – Mott did tonight. Their fans clearly view them more as mates than rock gods, an attitude which Ian Hunter's bluff, self-deprecating banter does nothing to dispel."

The Times wrote (with a mispelled 'Hopple" in the headline!): "The crowd, most of whom were not much younger than the band, rose to their feet from the opening notes of Hymn for the Dudes and stayed up until the dying chords of Saturday Gigs, more than two hours later. It has been a very long time since anyone in this group could have been called “young dudes”, but given recent shows by long-defunct bands such as Cream and Led Zeppelin, the idea that they should now be back on a stage together seemed more plausible than it might have done in the past."

The Telegraph wrote: "Forty years on from their inception, and thirty years since some of the members had actually spoken to each other, Mott stormed back into London for the first of five sold-out nights at the Apollo. Their singer, Ian Hunter, agelessly shrouded in corkscrew curls and face-blotting sunglasses, led straight into a ballad, 'Hymn For the Dudes’, his gnarly, Dylan-esque voice roaring at the high notes. This was not to be a half-hearted canter through the hits. The first hour was mostly devoted to the band’s pre-Bowie, high-voltage rock 'n’ roll material. Hunter, a busy solo artist for more than three decades, and the silver-topped lead guitarist, Mick Ralphs, riffed vigorously, in active defiance of Time’s subsequent intervention. The partisan crowd — at least eighty percent of whom, gloriously, unrepentantly, were old enough to remember it all from the turn of the Seventies — responded with commensurate enthusiasm."

Here's a great (both quality and performance) video of Bowie's "All the Young Dudes", the song that reignited Mott's flagging career back in the early 70s. Thanks to video dude Ofifoto for capturing all these awesome clips from the shows. The Golden Age of Rock n Roll!