Mott The Hoople Reunion

Carol and I arrived in London on Friday 2^nd October along with William, her jet-lagged cousin who had just arrived from Canada. We went straight to the Troubadour in Old Brompton Rd where Morgan Fisher was holding his exhibition of light paintings and photos of the band - Morgan and I had been the two keyboard players on Mott The Hoople's 1973 tours. John Fiddler was there too (British Lions and Medicine Head) and at the end of the afternoon the two of them launched into a superb impromptu performance - John on vocals and guitar and Morgan on melodica. The songs included One More Chance To Run, I Wish I Was Your Mother, Saturday Gigs and a great performance of John Lennon's Working Class Hero. We all sat in the garden of the Troubadour restaurant and had a meal before setting off for the Apollo. John Fiddler told a great story about Status Quo's old manager who once knocked someone unconscious when they said that the band could only play three chords. Morgan laughed and said: 'now that's what I call a manager!'

In the Distillers pub before the gig we met Tim Stafell who was the singer with Morgan, the band that Morgan formed after leaving Love Affair.

We had seats up in the circle at the Mott concert on Friday night. Ian Hunter looked and sounded great - stomping around the stage like someone half his age. Overend was just as energetic too. I won't go into detail about the concert - if you're reading this you have either been to the concerts or you have probably read more knowledgeable reviews than I can write. It was good to hear the band as they were before any of the personnel changes that were forced on them, but I would have loved to have heard Morgan on piano - at least for the later songs that he played on. Buffin and Verden were both at the aftershow get together as well as Ray Majors.

On Saturday afternoon Morgan shared his exhibition room at the Troubadour with the launch of a book on the life of Mick Ronson. Friday had been well-attended but today the place was packed with fans from all over the world. It was great to meet up with people who had come from Australia, the USA, Europe and Scandinavia - everyone friendly and enthusiastic and eager to shake hands, talk and get autographs and photos. Mick Ronson's wife and mother were there as well as Trudi Hunter.
Staying in the same hotel as ourselves was Constance and her husband Don - both huge fans of the band. Constance has an excellent MySpace site. She had flown over from Chicago and was attending almost all the concerts including the Monmouth warm-ups. She is a palaeontologist and had been in Wales for a conference. I made a weak joke about her coming to Hammersmith to study a few old fossils.

Here is an article I have written for the next edition of Two Miles From Heaven, the fanzine of the Mott The Hoople Appreciation Society. It describes Meet The Keyboards, an event that Morgan, Blue Weaver and myself organised to coincide with the reunion concerts.

MOTT THE HOOPLE - MEET THE KEYBOARDS, by Mick Bolton

At about 4 pm on a damp Tuesday afternoon in early October 2009, people passing by a pub in Hammersmith may have glanced up and thought: 'what the…?!' Somewhere in the noise coming from the top room they might have recognised a familiar tune. It was All The Young Dudes, but not as we know it - Morgan Fisher thumping out the chords on a grand piano whilst singing/shouting the lead vocal, John Fiddler and I adding random backing vocals while in front of us the whole audience stood with arms draped over each other's shoulders swaying from side to side and belting out the chorus. Towards the end Willie, a Scottish fan resplendent in his kilt got up on stage and joined in on a giant silver kazoo, which Morgan had given him earlier. It almost drowned everything else out when Blue Weaver held out his mike for him to blow into - but everyone was having far too much fun to care. (Yes that's the same Willie who was invited onstage with his kazoo with Mott themselves at the Tartan Clef Awards in Glasgow in November!).

Like much of what happened at MTK, this chaotic but triumphant performance of Dudes had started almost accidentally. John Fiddler and Morgan had just finished a storming version of One More Chance To Run - John thrashing out distortion-laden guitar chords against Morgan's rock and roll piano. At the end John enthused about Morgan, praising him for instigating the whole thing and for being a thoroughly great bloke. He went over to the piano, put his arm round Morgan, gently kissed his hat and walked back to his mike. He then demanded that the audience do the same, which they did - forming an orderly queue rather like pilgrims kissing a holy relic. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen, but also a perfectly genuine show of affection and esteem from one musician to another. To the tune of the Dudes guitar intro John sang 'Da, da, da, I kissed his ******* hat', Morgan joined in on piano and away we went.

In July, Blue and I had received an email from Morgan suggesting that we hold a meet-and-greet event to coincide with the reunion concerts. It seemed like we had plenty of time to arrange it but by mid August we still hadn't found a suitable venue. It had all seemed fairly simple at first as we weren't planning to do any playing - Morgan would show his film 'Mott In America' and we would answer questions from the audience. Eventually though, we agreed that we would each do a ten-minute solo set followed by some Mott songs played together in various combinations. Finally Morgan suggested inviting John Fiddler and the line-up was complete. At the end of August I was lucky enough to find a near-perfect venue just round the corner from the Apollo. The Regal Room at the Distillers Pub had a digital grand piano, a screen to show the film and a state of the art sound system. It all seemed too good to be true - which of course it was. The only two days on which all four of us were available were the Monday and Tuesday afternoons of the two final Apollo shows - not exactly the ideal time to be holding such an event. But we had enough people there to make both days a real blast for everyone concerned.

Morgan's film was an excellent way to start proceedings - showing footage he had shot on the 1974 US tour, accompanied by his own atmospheric soundtrack. Then came the live music. Morgan was our master-of-ceremonies, announcing that we would be starting with 'gentlemanly' and ending with 'loutish' - and so it proved to be. My solo set consisted of several of my own songs including Rainbow Over Michigan, Under The Glitter Ball, Me And My Old Piano and finishing with Rock And Roll Widow which prompted Blue and his wife Siggy to do some very stylish jiving, much to the delight of the audience. As well as being the publisher of TMFH Keith Smith proved that he is a heckler of the highest order. During one song the piano suddenly fell silent and I shouted to the folks on the sound desk: 'I've lost my piano', at which he called out helpfully: 'it's that big black thing in front of you'.

Blue was next with an instrumental medley of songs by some of the people he has played with down through the years including Amen Corner, The Bee Gees, The Strawbs, The Pet Shop Boys and of course Mott. When he reeled off the long and impressive list of artists, our resident heckler shouted out, with perfect comic timing: 'nobody good, then?'. After that Blue played and sang his own composition For Emma On 07.08.09 which he had written for his daughter's wedding.

What can you say about Morgan - except wotta bloke! He performed Trudi's Song, Saturday Gigs, and Moth Poet Hotel. Halfway through Saturday Gigs, Blue took over seamlessly on piano, releasing Morgan to belt out an outrageous 'sax' solo on that giant kazoo, straining every muscle to reach the high notes. Moth Poet Hotel saw Morgan shouting (and pointing) and playing piano over the instrumental track while the rest of us contributed backing vocals - actually we just bellowed out the title at the appropriate moments. The album Moth Poet Hotel was produced by Morgan in the 90s and features Japanese bands (plus Brian May) playing Mott songs. The title track is a great song about Morgan's time on tour with the band - strange that both Morgan and myself wrote songs about that subject (mine is Rainbow Over Michigan).

And then Morgan introduced John. He kept telling the audience how privileged he felt to be invited, but really it was a joy to have him there and it wouldn't have been the same without him. With Morgan on piano he gave us superb performances of Back Where I Started, Working Class Hero, One More Chance To Run, and Wild In The Streets, but he contributed so much more with his stories and humour. Tuesday was definitely the more chaotic day - John was only one verse into a promising performance of Working Class Hero, accompanied by Morgan improvising on a rather nice keyboard sound, when he suddenly stopped and said: 'that's enough of that, we're gonna do some rock and roll' - much to everyone's surprise, including Morgan. While he swapped his acoustic guitar for an electric, Morgan, completely unphased by the sudden change of plan, played a gentle piece by Bach until John came crashing in with Wild In The Streets. On Monday John was playing Back Where I Started on electric guitar when he began to get shocks from his mike, so an unplugged version was hastily put together - John on acoustic guitar plus Morgan and Blue on melodicas, an instrument that Morgan had used to great effect at the events at the Troubadour over the weekend. Someone neatly summed up the whole thing as 'morganized chaos'. Hardly anything was rehearsed as we had arrived at Hammersmith from virtually the four corners of the world - John from Arizona, Blue from southern Spain, Morgan from Japan, equipped with two melodicas, a giant kazoo and half a plane-load of CDs, DVDs and photos! By contrast, all I had to do was catch a train from Hastings.

One of the highlights was Tuesday's performance of All The Way From Memphis. Morgan took the lead vocals and played piano, then Blue joined him on piano as he delivered another wild 'sax' solo on kazoo. Keith Smith came up onstage and joined John and myself on backing vocals and towards the end I leaned over to the piano and bashed away at the top end, making a total of three piano-players at one piano.

There were moments of hilarity and some great music, but the best thing about MTK was the chance to meet and talk with Mott fans who, like ourselves, had travelled from all over the world to see the concerts and who had also taken the time to come to our little event. It's a memory that will stay with me and my wife Carol forever, particularly as we have made some good friends because of it. I've read about meet-and-greet events that have been rather perfunctory - a quick photo, a handshake, an autograph and not much more. Meet The Keyboards was very much more - spontaneous, emotional, celebratory and around three hours long! In fact everyone was having such a good time that it could have gone on all night - if we hadn't had a concert to go to!

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Here are the original write-ups that Morgan Fisher produced to announce the other extra events...

3 EVENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE MOTT THE HOOPLE REUNION CONCERTS (to be held at Hammersmith Apollo, first week of October).

WeirdAndGilly.com - Boogaloo Dudes Event News

*1*
MTH-MTK (Mott the Hoople - Meet the Keyboards)
After organist Verden Allen departed Mott the Hoople in 1973, keyboard player Morgan Fisher (from The Love Affair, later with Queen) was drafted in as a sideman, soon to become a full member, playing on "The Hoople" and "Mott the Hoople Live" albums. Also playing organ onstage with the band was Mick Bolton (later with Dexy's Midnight Runners) followed by Blue Weaver (from Amen Corner, The Strawbs, and later with The Bee Gees).
The three keyboard men, still very active in music, have decided to put on their own event to tie in with the Mott the Hoople reunion concerts. The two afternoon events (in a venue just a short walk from Hammersmith Apollo) will feature:
* Brief performances by all three members * A Question and Answer session (prepare your questions!) * "Mott in America" - A first time showing of the full 40-minute 8mm film shot by Morgan Fisher on MTH's 1974 US tour, with a soundtrack recently created by Morgan. * Sale of limited-edition DVD's of the tour film and personal photos of MTH by Morgan Fisher.
Venue: The Regal Rooms, upstairs at The Distillers pub 64 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London, W6 9PH
Dates: October 5 & 6, 2009 Times: 1.30 until approx. 4.00pm Admission: £20 [or free if you were in the band or worked with them!] Drinks and snacks available from the bar.


**2**
BACKTRACKS AND ABSTRACTS - Morgan Fisher Photography Exhibition
Morgan Fisher has been a keen photographer since childhood and in recent years has held several exhibitions in Japan, the country where he has been living since 1985. This short introductory exhibition, his first in England, covers two distinct periods from his long photographic experience.
BACKTRACKS - Unique "verité" photographs of Mott the Hoople members and crew backstage, in the studio and on the road. Plus grainy, charismatic stills taken from Morgan's "Mott in America" 1974 tour film. These photographs will be available for sale as limited-edition 11" x 16" prints, signed by Morgan Fisher. The tour film will also be available as limited-edition DVD's.
ABSTRACTS - In recent years Morgan has evolved a fascinating way to create abstract images in the camera. He calls these stunningly beautiful images "Light Paintings". They are creating interest in Japan and the USA, and for the first time can now be seen in the UK. People have described them as "visual music" - not surprising for images that have come from the mind of a man whose career has taken him into many unusual areas of music in addition to his more publicised Mott adventures. Large limited-edition signed prints may be ordered at the gallery.
More information and images will be available soon at http://www.morgan-fisher.com
The Troubadour is a historic gallery and cafe: a magnet for musos, beats and intellectuals since the 50's, Bob Dylan played his first London concert there (read the fascinating history page on their website).
Venue: The Troubadour Gallery 1st floor, 267 Old Brompton Road, London SW5 9JA Tel: 020-7370-1434 http://www.troubadour.co.uk
Dates: October 1 & 2, 2009 Times: 12.00 until 5.00pm Admission: free NOTE: Morgan will be in the gallery most of the time to meet, sign and chat. Drinks and snacks available from the bar.

***3***
Boogaloo Dudes: FAB! (Film-Art-Book) Celebrating Mick Ronson, Mott The Hoople and the photography of Morgan Fisher
This event celebrates the launch of the new edition of "Mick Ronson - The Spider With the Platinum Hair" This book, written by two dedicated fans, documents the extraordinary life of Mott the Hoople's last guitarist and David Bowie's right-hand man, Mick Ronson, who tragically passed away in 1993. Authors Weird and Gilly interviewed over fifty family members, close friends and colleagues of Mick. The first edition of this book (2003) has already acquired cult status. This new edition honours the guitar hero even more lavishly. Publisher: Independent Music Press. Now available to pre-order at Amazon.
The event also includes: Mick Ronson film show & other video surprises presented by Spontanuity and Suzi Ronson. Continuing "Backtracks & Abstracts" photography exhibition by Mott the Hoople keyboardist Morgan Fisher. This is a great opportunity to hang out and have a drink and a chat with Mott/Ronno lovers in a great atmosphere - and you never know who is going to drop in! Check http://www.weirdandgilly.com for more FAB! updates Also see http://www.spontanuity.com re the forthcoming Mick Ronson documentary film.
Venue: The Troubadour Gallery 1st floor, 267 Old Brompton Road, London SW5 9JA Tel: 020-7370-1434 http://www.troubadour.co.uk
Date: October 3, 2009 Time: 12.00 until 4.00pm Admission: free NOTE: The artists and authors will be on site for the celebration, as will Mick Ronson discographer, Sven Gusevik. Drinks and snacks available from the bar.