Day 98: Who'll support?

"Well I grow my hair just to scare the teacher
My goodness gracious me ain't little Johnny a creature."-- One of the Boys (1972)

The only time I saw Mott the Hoople perform was the first time I saw a support band run afoul of the audience.

It was May 21, 1974 at the Auditorium in Chicago, two weeks after the first Uris Theatre show on Broadway. And the support band was Que ... no. It was Kansas.

People came that night expecting to see Queen, who had begun the tour. But this was the pre-Internet Stone Age; no one knew Brian May had fallen ill and Queen wasn't performing. I can still hear the excitement when the lights went down stopped cold when the voice said, "Good evening. We're Kansas."

Wait ... who?

Kansas was up-and-coming then, riding its first album, but it was a poor match for a MTH show and an unwelcome substitute for Queen. The band sensed it wasn't going over with its first few songs. Finally, the singer -- was it Kerry Livgren? -- said, "If I knew we were replacing Queen, I'd have worn my sequined underwear."

That did it. The crowd was hostile for the rest of the set. It was the worst reception I saw a support band get until the night I saw Brownsville Station driven from the stage while trying to open for ZZ Top.

I guess we can scratch Kansas as a possible opener for MTH's reunion shows at Hammersmith. But who should it be?

A nice thing about Ian Hunter's solo shows the last few years has been the quality of support band. In 2007, the Charms opened in California, the Silos in New York and Jesse Malin in the UK -- all worth hearing. I bought two Jesse Malin CDs on the strength of hearing him at Shepherds Bush.

I would love to see Jesse open these shows.

What are your thoughts? Who'd be the right choice to open the shows?