Face Of Cheam

Never been the Barbican before. A struggle to find nearby pubs that were open on a Sunday, Ye Olde Red Cow was packed with Hunter fans then we found the Fox which did Meantime Hellebeer which was nice despite their obssession of playing The Police 'Next To You'. Seated in the fifth row we had a good view of the stage which is probably more suited to plays and other artistic things. As Ian Hunter said himself he thought he would play here and lower the tone. Despite opening with the classic Once Bitten Twice Shy, the majority of the set consisted of songs from his last three albums. Although Englands A Rip Off and Flowers are great instant songs it was a shame that earlier solo stuff such as Irene Wilde & Michael Picasso were ignored, as were the two best track from the Shrunken Heads album (Big Mouth and When The World Was Round). Instead he played the awful Hows Your House from this album. Sweet Jane was the first Mott song played though it was originally recorded by the Velevet Underground and the last song before the encore was All The Way From Memphis which got people off their feet. Mick Ralphs joined in as always in the encore which was all Mott (Roll Away The Stone, Saturday Gigs and All The Young Dudes). This made the effort to get here on a Sunday worthwhile.