Brian
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Post by Brian on Dec 25, 2014 1:16:52 GMT -8
You can find previous Ian Hunter threads on this message board by clicking here. The new show opening: Ian Hunter and the Rant Band in Nashville last month.I've been following Ian Hunter for more than 40 years for the surprises -- and the blessedly familiar. Here Ian retrieves "I'm the Teacher," his obscure title song from the early 1980's movie soundtrack, to kick off the concert and follows it with one of his most famous post-Mott the Hoople hits, "Once Bitten Twice Shy." After touring Europe and the eastern half of the U.S. this fall, Ian and the band are coming to California for three shows early in January. Wish I could make it to the Fillmore on the 9th. But tickets are still available for Ian's return to the Roxy on Saturday, Jan. 10: www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/682571?utm_medium=bksThen he plays the Coach House behind the Orange curtain the next day before flying to Japan: www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=5392935&pl=coach
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Jan 6, 2015 0:00:07 GMT -8
The Roxy was the first venue to sell out of Ian Hunter and the Rant Band's three dates in California next weekend. I had been worried because neither TicketWeb nor Ticketfly, the outfits that sell tickets for the Roxy and the Coach House, have mentioned Ian in their mass e-mails since I bought mine in September. No doubt the opening act -- hometown legend Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate -- helped sell out Los Angeles.
Anni and I are developing our wish lists. Topping them is "Flowers," my favorite anti-war song of the last 40 years. Ian and the Rant Band performed it for "Later with Jools Holland" on television in the U.K. in May 2010, a year after the song came out:
Every man killed is an insult to any faith/Sometimes flowers ain't enough/Give it up, give it up (the published lyrics)
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Jan 12, 2015 3:05:17 GMT -8
Later, I'll have a lot to say about Ian Hunter and the Rant Band's fabulous performances Saturday and Sunday nights -- and the radical differences between seeing them at the Roxy and the Coach House. Also, Anni will post some photos while I look for good You Tube videos to embed. For now, let's just talk about the songs, starting with the setlist from the Coach House: - (I'm The) Teacher
- Once Bitten Twice Shy
- Something to Believe In
- Now Is the Time
- Just the Way You Look Tonight
- Boy
- I Wish I Was Your Mother
- Just Another Night
- Standing in My Light
- All American Alien Boy
- Black Tears
- All the Way from Memphis
- Flowers
- When I'm President
- Michael Picasso
- Ta Shunka Witco (Crazy Horse)
- 23A Swan Hill
- Sweet Jane
- Original Mixed Up Kid
- Bastard
- Life/All the Young Dudes/Miss Silver Dime/Goodnight Irene
Except for the first six songs and the closing medley, the setlists varied substantially in running order and selection. They did not play "Laugh at Me," "Irene Wilde," "Wash Us Away" or -- gasp! -- "Roll Away the Stone" at the Coach House as they did at the Roxy. But only at the Coach House did we get "I Wish I Was Your Mother," "Standing in My Light" and --whew! -- "Flowers," which I thought was especially timely and so did Ian apparently, mentioning the millions who marched in Paris on Sunday. Interesting that Mott the Hoople's farewell single "Saturday Gigs" has finally dropped off the setlist. More interesting: With the addition of "Something to Believe In," Ian now has four songs from his 1996 "Artful Dodger" album, which was recorded in Norway and never released in the U.S., in his set. More proof that Ian and the Rant Band's latest album, "When I'm President" in 2012, might be his best is the inclusion of five songs from that one. But all of his wonderful albums in between were only represented by one song each night. Songs that I never thought I live long enough to hear live: "(I'm The) Teacher," a stunningly brilliant song and a genuine Ian rarity from the soundtrack to the 1984 movie "Teachers," "Something to Believe In" from "Artful Dodger" and the segment of "Miss Silver Dime" in the closing medley from his third and arguably worst album, "Overnight Angels," which has now replaced the traditional spoken call at the end of "All the Young Dudes" to the guy with the glasses in the audience -- "I want you." That's fine with me. I was that guy once, yet I still want Ian more than ever. Their version of "Bastard" Sunday night was the best I've heard in 35 years. I believe that Mick Ronson would have appreciated it too.
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anni
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Post by anni on Jan 12, 2015 17:39:34 GMT -8
Yes...Brian is right! The best "Bastard" EVER! Though I thought the whole CoachHouse show might be the best...ever! And we made some new friends, too.
These first 2 pictures are the only ones from the Roxy...as I was stationed at the front door...for fresh air.
And these from the more civilized Coach House:
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Jan 18, 2015 0:00:14 GMT -8
Pinch me. I haven't come down for a week. While the setlists at the Roxy and the Coach House play in my head, happy images of Ian Hunter and the Rant Band sharing smiles onstage dance through, reflected in my constant idiot grin.
A portion of the encore with most of "All the Young Dudes" at the Roxy on Saturday, January 10, 2015.
I could have been standing behind the shooter of that You Tube clip. Instead, I joined the far saner Anni at the only viable spot still within the Roxy -- as far from the stage as two people could possibly be, leaning on the wall next to the front door of the club. We saw Ian's half of the stage through the door to the main room and heard almost everything. Occasionally, I'd wander in for awhile, until the lack of any place to stand and the 20-degree increase in temperature drove me back to the small lobby. We had arrived in steady rain showers at 7:30, with the tickets bearing an 8:00 show time, then sat in the bus kiosk across the street for an hour an a half until the line of soaked fans reached the door. Only then did we go in.
Anni says never again, but I'm glad I went. We got to stand in the same building, if not the same room, as Ian and the Rant Band for two hours, and we made some new friends. An Ian Hunter concert is the only place and time that we don't feel isolated and lonely. But why can't he fill a 2000-seat venue like the Wiltern or the Orpheum instead of a 500-no seat torture chamber that can only be ruled legal by the likes of Dick Cheney? (And did that shit really pass muster with the West Hollywood fire marshall?) They've played the El Rey twice in the past decade, which is a much more civilized club where at least you can walk around if there's no place to sit.
I'm not here to wax nostalgic about all those great evenings in the 1970's swilling drinks at a table in the Roxy next to folks like Bianca Jagger. I understand that the current economic model in central L.A. cannot support any modicum of comfort at a rock and roll show when tickets only cost $20 to $30. Further out, venues like the Canyon Club and the Coach House sell dinners to us boomers. (The food was pretty good at the Coach House compared to everything we've had at the Canyon in Agoura Hills.) There must be a better way to experience Ian and his band in the city of my birth. Why not just charge us loyal fans $50 to $100 for a set in the 280-seat Largo?
"Bastard" at the Coach House on Sunday, January 11, 2015, spotlights James Mastro on lead guitar.
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anni
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Post by anni on Jan 25, 2015 13:47:58 GMT -8
One of Ian's songs that is also just one of many "our songs" belonging to Brian and I...IMHO, LOL. And for you fans with inquiring minds...that's Tracie, Ian's daughter in the cameo speaking part, with her invite.
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