With the lack of activity relating to Mott The Hoople after their five sell out reunion shows at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2009, any activity by the original band members is always jumped on with great anticipation. This event seemed to be no exception.

Billed as a 'home town show' it was great to see Hereford reaffirming its link to the great Mott The Hoople name. With Hereford seemingly lacking in venues The Lad's Club at first seems an unlikely venue but the press release states the venue was a old rehearsal haunt for Ian Hunter and the Mott boys, apparently just before signing to Island Records. Spotting a few 'Mott' t-shirts around town led to a great build up and what turned out to be a pleasant summer evening's entertainment.

Opening with 'Wine Ridden Talks', a song written for Mott but passed over, the band set out their stall nicely and the song bopped along, followed by the slower 'Find Yourself', surely an autobiographical reference from 'Phally' Allen's Mott days. The set consisted of fine cuts from Verden's four solo albums released since MTH that have given Mott fans such classics as 'Hold Onto This' and 'Fine Time To Love'. Next up the song 'Soft Ground' taken from the Mott album 'All The Young Dudes' which spawned their biggest hit with the title song. Bowie produced this album and apparently ensured this song was included and rightly so, as you can hear the influence of a great rock / organ riff that was emulated in many songs that came after. Featuring some real showcase, solid drumming from Matt Blakout, this was powerful and punchy. A great and unexpected inclusion of the great Mott jam 'Santa Clause' really showed how Mott and indeed Soft Ground can rock with the best of them. Taken from 'Mad Shadows', with Allen really making his organ growl like a lion, building up to a real rock crescendo, some truly classic Hammond Organ playing from 'Phally' showing why he was so influential with his sound and indeed bringing the Lesley Tone cabinets to the pop/rock masses of the late 60's. 'On The Rebound', a tune co-written by the later Mott guitar player Ariel Bender followed and nicely brought the set down a pace. 'Knocking On Those Old Back Doors' followed, another Mott era classic, sadly not included on the earlier albums. The last of Verden's solo material, 'A New Way', featured Graham Masters with some quality riffing guitar work.

Now the part of the set which was mostly anticipated, what Mott classics would be aired, having had the two 'greats'? It was to a great applause that the opening guitar solo of 'Roll Away The Stone' was struck. Followed by the Bowie penned 'All The Young Dudes' a fantastic double whammy end and surely had sated the thirst of the hardened Mott fanatics that had travelled far and wide to attend a rare appearance of Allen, but no, Masters again hitting us with the Mick Ralphs penned 'Rock and Roll Queen', a real classic and Mott at their best.

With the crowd on its feet and baying for more Soft Ground gave us 'Sweet Sweet Girl' and a rollicking rendition of the Kinks classic 'You Really Got Me' which Mott also recorded for their first album. Again with such a great response there had to be more so we were treated to 'Long Time No See' and 'Masochistic Side' and then due to overwhelming applause and demand to finish another run through of 'Rock and Roll Queen'.

I'd heard that Martin Chambers of the Pretenders was due to take to the stage for a song, and though in attendance, he seemed to be enjoying the show and happy not to take a further role. Noting Stan Tippins the legendary manager and ex MTH singer also moving through the packed club, I wondered if he would also take to the stage to add backing to some Mott classics as he did at Hammersmith, but unfortunately no.

If Verden Allen's wish was for this band to take up some slack while everyone waits for more Mott shows then this would fill that gap quite nicely, with five sold out Hammersmith shows in 2009 that surely is evidence enough of the demand for the Mott brand and an outlet for those great songs. Verden Allen and his band Soft Ground proved tonight they can certainly fill that demand very nicely indeed!

www.softground.net

www.facebook.com/SoftGround

Photo kudos to Tessa Blakout