Ian Hunter Rocks River To River Festival
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British rocker Ian Hunter recently played Battery Park City for free as part of the annual River To River Festival.
The legendary Mott the Hoople front man is best known for the 1970's sing-a-long, "All the Young Dudes," written by David Bowie; as well as "Cleveland Rocks," and "Once Bitten, Twice Shy."
Hunter says he was attracted to River To River's diverse lineup of music, art, film and dance.
"I like the art side of things," he said. "There are lots of different artists doing it in lots of different places on lots of different days, and I thought it was a neat thing to be a part of."
The River To River Festival was started to help bring the arts back to Lower Manhattan after the September 11th terrorist attacks.
"When the partners founded the festival in 2002, they didn't know how long they would need to be around," explained River to River Festival Executive Producer Jody Kuh. "They didn't know how long it would last, and here we are eight years later going strong. Every year our audiences are bigger, we get a little more experimental in the programming, we have greater diversity in programming. It's amazing. We've gotten a tremendous response from the public telling us how much they appreciate what we're doing."
Hunter says his audience continues to grow.
"You have the hardcore and then you have the mildly interested," he said. "You have a lot of the younger people who come with their fathers and scowl at you. Some convert and some don't."
Hunter's new album, Man Overboard, comes out July 21, and he and his Mott the Hoople mates are reuniting for the first time this fall for five sold out dates in London.
What does he expect from the long awaited reunion?
"It wasn't a perfect band, Mott, but it had kind of an X thing. So when we rehearse that's what we'll be looking for; the X, that weird thing that we had," said Hunter of the reunion.
Whether it's with Mott or solo, Hunter says his continued popularity is not about him, it's about the music.
"It's songwriting. I'm a songwriter first," he said. "I mean, the personality bits; I don't think I'm a personality. I think it's the songs."
The River To River Festival runs through the end of August. For more information, visit RivertoRiverNYC.com.