Curious how the significant places of one’s childhood that once seemed vast appear so much smaller when you visit them years later. Last night (Monday 5th October), the Hammersmith’s Apollo looked minuscule compared with the days when it was called the Odeon and I queued all night to get front row tickets for David Bowie and his Spiders From Mars.
Spider-in-Chief, blond bombshell and guitar supremo, Mick Ronson, was the ghost absent from the feast at last night’s Mott The Hoople reunion gig, the penultimate in this run. I’d last seen Mott’s Ian Hunter at the Odeon/Apollo in the 1970s when he was teamed up with Ronno, a match made in heaven for glamrock kiddies mourning the loss of Ziggy Stardust and still resistant to the Thin White Duke. But it never made the hoped-for sales impact, contracts clashed, and the project fizzled out.
Tragically, Ronson’s liver went into meltdown in the early 1990s and he died of The Big C before his career as a producer had a chance to go stratospheric.
Ronson sort of made an appearance in the form of his daughter, Lisa, brought on to provide backing vocals along with Hunter’s daughter who looked like a chip off the old block in her halo of platinum hair and shades.
The band played a set that thrilled hardcore Mott fans and kept them on their feet throughout in a packed auditorium. Tough on this junior admirer whose back was killing her and had to sit down for most of it. But what got me bopping along was when they reached the poppier favourites — All the Way From Memphis, Roll Away The Stone, and that glorious hit written by Bowie, All The Young Dudes. Note that Ian (a lively 70) has Billy rapping “about his suicide, how he’d kick it in the head when was ninety-five,” and not twenty-five any more. Tee, hee!
Afterwards, off to the obligatory lig in the pint-sized VIP bar once Suzi Fussey, Ronson’s widow and inventor of the Bowie Ziggy mullet, heroically mustered purple wrist bands for Charles Shaar Murray and myself, there to down a sophisticated plastic mug of cider while a host of 70s and 80s stars paid homage to Mott. I jostled for liquid refreshment with Madness’s Suggs (sorry about banging into your bum, Suggs), Spandau’s Gary Kemp, old friends Gene Loves Jezebel’s James Stevenson and Patti Palladin, and Glen Matlock who supported the band that evening, plus an assortment of half recognised faces. All snapped by Mainman stalwart and Bowie in-house photographer, Leee Black Childers.
It was like being a kid again. Thanks, Mott The Hoople, for a great night.
Anna’s food blog here:
http://annacheneats.blogspot.com/
Actually, with the benefit of hindsight, he's half right; it isn't their finest hour.
Anyway, the wound has just about healed (!) and he's gone up instantly in my estimation for his liking of When My Mind's Gone. It's utterly wonderful; I remember Ian saying that he sang it whilst looking at Guy Stevens and that he made the words up as he went along
You rebel, Nick. Har, very amusing. CSM says he still doesn't like Honaloochie Boogie but he loves the rest, especially Memphis, Stone, Golden Age and most of the album tracks. And Dudes, of course. He was disappointed they didn't play When My Mind's Gone.
Funny you should mention dear old Charles Shaar Murray in the context of Mott.
Back in 72 he gave Honaloochie Boogie a crap review in NME and as the world's most ardent Mott fan, I wrote 'I hate CSM' on my white Adidas training bag and left it lying ostentatiously around school for a few days (as if anyone would have known what the heck I was going on about…)
They were just great on Monday and it was just like being transported back to 73 when the safety curtain was lowered by the management in an attempt to force the band off for curfew reasons, only for a load of fans to storm the stage and hold it up.
Thanks for posting the review x
You're right. Just before he passed away, Mick Ronson produced one of Morrissey's best albums ever, "Your Arsenal". It sounds very distinctive and bears his hallmarks very clearly!
Just signed it, Colin. Bought our own drinks but would have signed anyway. As you can probably tell, I was a fan. Mick deserves his posthumous Hall Of Fame honour so I'm adding the petition link to the main post.
Thanks for letting me know. Hope the last night of Mott was brilliant.
In exchange for Suzi securing your back stage drinks, here's a link to our Mick Ronson HOF induction petition http://WWW.ipetitions.com/petition/Ronno thank you darling,
Colin Blades,
Ooo, Ian Hunter – still love listening to All American Alien Boy. Hard to believe he's 70, the guy must have some energy yet.