Alejandro Escovedo & The Rant Band - Mar 23 I wasn’t too sure what this was going to be like – Ian Hunter’s current backing band fronted by the musically eclectic legend that is Alejandro Escovedo, performing all of Mott the Hoople’s classic ‘Mott’ album along with other selected highlights from Ian Hunter’s career. I shouldn’t have been concerned. With the likes of Bobby Gillespie and his impeccable musical taste in the crowd, it was going to turn into one of the best gigs I have seen in a long time.

Bush Hall, down the road from Shepherd’s Bush Market, is one of those old school London venues – a dour façade hiding a large ornately decorated room with large mirrored walls, a viewing balcony and a plethora of chandeliers. It would be a fitting venue to hear one of the best albums of the early seventies played by a highly accomplished band.

York’s Boss Caine starts tonight’s proceedings with an accomplished set made up of old favourites (opener ‘Ghosts and Drunks’ never outstays its welcome) and a few newer unrecorded tunes. As always Boss Caine’s deep baritone voice and skilled guitar playing adds layers to the lyrical power of his song writing abilities. On record, Boss Caine is accompanied by a full band and it would be great to see him backed by other musicians in a venue as iconic and impressive as this.

Boss Caine - Mar 23 Chasing Mallory have a direct lineage to Mott the Hoople with Ian Hunter’s grandson sitting behind the drums. Musically they are damned loud – I was in the bar during the soundcheck and the walls were moving even then. Close up to the stage, your entire body vibrated as sound washed across you from the speakers. Fronted by a seemingly young tattooed Tom Cruise, they played a competent emo/grunge infused set but with the exception of ‘Reason’, no songs really stood out to these seasoned ears. Singles ‘Everybody Needs Somebody’ and ‘Breakaway’ have plenty of promise but don’t quite yet hit the anthemic heights they aim for.

Chasing Mallory - Mar 23 Alejandro Escovedo has a career going back to the late seventies when his band The Nuns opened for the Sex Pistols’ final infamous gig at Winterland in San Francisco. Since then, he has played in a number bands or solo across a wide range of genres from power pop through alternative country onto rootsy rock n roll. He’s gathered a wide following of fans over the years to the extent when incredibly ill during the early 2000s, the likes of Ian Hunter, John Cale, Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle contributed versions of his songs for an album raising funds for his medical expenses.

Tonight, Alejandro is paying Ian Hunter back by fronting the band that has supported him for a good part of the last two decades, The Rant Band, playing what is considered to be the best Mott the Hoople album, ‘Mott’. Riding high after the career invigorating ‘All The Young Dudes’ album, ‘Mott’ was a band flexing its musical muscles and was a breakthrough for the band in the elusive US market. If an album was to define classic rock, ‘Mott’ would be near the top of the list.

Alejandro Escovedo & The Rant Band - Mar 23 The epic piano build up at the start of ‘All the Way From Memphis’ sets out the band’s muscular musical intent for the night with Alejandro’s vocal style matching Ian Hunter’s perfectly. Considering the age of the band and the material, this is an invigorating start to the set, sounding as fresh as it was in 1973.  It’s a straight run through ‘Mott’ with the contrasting sounds of ‘Hymn for the Dudes’ and ‘Honaloochie Boogie’ demonstrating what a varied album it was. Between songs we get engaging and reverential anecdotes from Alejandro which makes the set even more enjoyable.  

In stark contrast to the glam rock overtones of ‘Drivin’ Sister’, the laid back grooves of ‘Ballad of Mott the Hoople’ see the band readying themselves for the full on throttle of ‘I’m a Cadillac’ leading into its coda, the dust trodden meander of ‘El Camino Dolo Roso’. ‘I Wish I Was your Mother’ has the crowd singing joyously and concludes the run through the album.

Alejandro Escovedo & The Rant Band - Mar 23 The second half of the set starts with ‘The Golden Age of Rock n Roll’ and they are not wrong. We are treated to a brilliant version of the song that laid the template for several eighties glam rock bands, ‘Once Bitten Twice Shy’. Otis Lee Crenshaw himself, Rich Hall pops up on stage to read a well received poem before the band proceed through ‘Boy’ and ‘Walkin’ With a Mountain’.

Rich Hall - Mar 23 Delving onto Alejandro’s own back catalogue, the band play an excellent ‘One More Time’, the song that Ian Hunter had covered on the fund raising album. A euphoric ‘Saturday Gigs’ follows before the set closes with a triumphant ‘All the Young Dudes’ complete with full audience participation.

This was one of those gigs that you approached not quite knowing what to expect and were subsequently blown away by it – it was one of the most enjoyable celebrations of music I have been to in a long time. Alejandro did a fine job in bringing life into those words, whilst the band were beyond words. My appreciation for Ian Hunter and Mott the Hoople is now undergoing a serious renaissance whilst I also explore the magic of Alejandro’s varied back catalogue.

Alejandro Escovedo & The Rant Band - Mar 23