"We're afraid of everyone, afraid of the sun,,," It is always a pleasure to hear a John Lennon song covered, but for once it isn't one of the triumvirate, "Imagine", "Give Peace A Chance", "Happy Xmas (War Is Over If You Want It")" but his paralyzed in love and fear "Isolation". Nillsson recorded a great version of this song and Ian Hunter, behind the shades and behind the keyboards at Highline Ballroom Friday night, played a show stopping cover. Hunter's vocals had been miked too low all night but it worked to his advantage on the Ono ode. Hunter's growly all tender undertow vocal was a thing of great, great beauty and if I had had any doubts about the sets, they would have ended here.
But I didn't, really. Ian's vocals were too low and that's all, young dudes. The nearly two hour set was a model of consistency, with a number of Mott The Hoople songs, four tracks off his newly released When I'm President and a whole lotta career long hits and semi-hits from his solo years. And the amazing thing is not just that the 2012 fits seamlessly into Ian's long career, but that all we got from 2009's triumphant Man Overboard was "Flowers".
Leading one of his best bands, the Rants, Hunter is not a nostalgia act. He is still writing great songs deep deep deep into his career and his fans, the Highline was packed out, know his current material as well as his earliest, the only reason I can see for his last two albums not charting is because he is out of fashion.
The set opens with "Comfortable" and though the song really could have used a horn section, it worked for me and the first third of the track, with Hunter on acoustic guitar and lead guitarist Mark Bosch -who, no, isn't Mick Ronson, but is technically superior even if he doesn't have the late great Spiders tone and Andy York (who produced Hunters last three four albums) on second guitar. They bracketed Hunter for a rip through early set high point, the new "Fatally Flawed", its stop/start loud/quiet axis, was a magical distillation of how timeless this stuff can be.
Ian headed for the keyboards. Like I said, he isn't a nostalgia guy, he doesn't do the accepted strokes, no medleys and except here, "All The Way From Memphis" and on the chorus of "Dudes" at the end of the evening, he doesn't do singalongs (though sometimes ignoring em doesn't shut them down). The rest of the songs on keyboard is a set lull till the terrific Lennon cover.
The next three songs swing hard and sweet till he invites his son Jake on stage for the penultimate number before the encore. And it is a disappointing extended jam saved by a good "Sweet Jane" to end the set proper.The encore didn't do it at all. We lost "Roll Away The Stone" for "Sweet Angeline" extended into a jam but the Rants aren't that great a jam band. Then the usual "Saturday Gigs/Life" hook up, again not a big fan. "All The Young Dudes" , with that huge riff, brings the end in stunning fashion. Lisa and Jake Ronson sing back up and the band belts out a long satisfying finale.
I mentioned we didn't get "Stone" but dig this… we didn't get "Cleveland Rocks" either. Why? Because Ian didn't have to, the music is a muscular hard rock with so many melodies and hooks, the man can let the music do the work for him, he doesn't need to bother with the icing if he isn't in the mood. He can pick and choose his moments.
At 71 years of age, the man is a constant:: Harpo Marx in shades, his voice a gravelly beaut with none of the disrepair of, say, Dylan. Still the former bricklayer who has spent his life in the fast lane without succumbing to the emotional deadening effects of success and failure. Who needs TV when you have Ian Hunter?
Grade: B+