Mott the Hoople

Mott the Hoople

Posted: 17 Nov 2013

Newcastle City Hall

16 November

 

Forty years to the week since they last played the City Hall, this was the middle night of a five-date reunion tour by a band at their peak in the early ‘70s, a time when their previous appearance at the same venue was marked by them having Queen as support.

With a packed audience standing from start to finish, the crowd were determined to roll away the years. Missing only drummer Dale Griffin from the original five-man line-up, a band who split amidst rumours of trademark rock-and-roll acrimony displayed little stage bonhomie but plenty of individual enthusiasm. This was reflected in plenty of rough edges to the sound. So much so it was reminiscent of The Kinks, a fact highlighted when Mott burst into The Kinks’ You Really Got Me – a number that opened Mott’s first album way back in the late ‘60s.

Powering their way through a back-catalogue that went down well with the audience, Mott the Hoople put all their eggs in one basket by keeping all of their hits for a big finish.  Closing with Honaloochie Boogie, The Golden Age of Rock and Roll and All the Way from Memphis left the audience baying for an inevitable encore of All the Young Dudes.

Ian Hunter and co duly obliged – though with cameras for the big screen turned onto the audience for the first time there was ample evidence that the dudes weren’t quite so young any more! Roll Away the Stone ended the night on a high but it had been a slow burner.

 

Rob Mason