Ian Hunter's 1999 UK Tour - Bilston 17th April 1999

After the success of the convention earlier in the day we were all looking forward to tonight. Friday Ian had played a stormer, but tonight he produced something real special.

The set list has been extended since the start of the tour, and included All Of The Good Ones and Boy (both in response to audience requests). Joe Elliott (of Def Leppard) made an early appearance to sing All The Way From Memphis, but the surprises were saved for the encores.

Verden Allen was introduced on keyboards, and then as we'd anticipated ('cos we'd seen him waiting in the wings) Luther, sorry, Ariel Bender on guitar for Walkin' With A Mountain. Luther's guitar was turned down somewhat in the mix (some fans wondered whether he was in fact plugged in), which was just as well, since Mr Bender was, to put not too fine a point on it, well sloshed by this point.

By now all hell had broken loose, with Ariel and Ian battling for control of the stage (and the microphone). At one point Bender grabbed the mic and in speech slurred to the extreme proclaimed Ian to be "the greatest" (we know that already).

And so to the final encore. The audience requests Boy, so they do it, with Joe Elliott again providing the vocals, ably assisted by the audience. And finally they did ATYD, with yet another ex-Mott member (Blue Weaver) on keyboards.

This is as close as we're ever gonna get to an MTH reunion, and this was a night, nay, weekend none of us present are ever likely to forget.

(Adrian Perkins)