Following news of the death of Mick Ralphs, guitarist and co-founder of Mott the Hoople and Bad Company, Def Leppard paid musical tribute to the rock legend at their concert in Rogers, Arkansas, Monday night.
The band posted video of their tribute on Instagram, with frontman Joe Elliott telling the crowd, “Today’s a strange day for us. … The world is a worse place today because a hero of ours when we were growing up, a guy called Mick Ralphs, passed away today.”
“Mick Ralphs was a guitarist in Mott the Hoople, later to be the guitarist in Bad Company,” he continued. He noted that Ralphs had been in bad health for a while, letting the audience know he wanted to perform a tribute to him. He added, “You might know this one.”
Elliott then performed a portion of the Bad Company track “Seagull” on acoustic guitar, ending it by saying, “Mick Ralphs, rest in peace. What a guy. What a lovely bloke.”
Elliott is a well known Mott the Hoople fan and even formed a cover band, Down ‘n’ Outz, that covered Mott the Hoople’s music and music of any artists associated with the band.
Earlier in the day, Elliott posted his own tribute to Ralphs, writing, “I just heard the news … totally heartbroken … Mick has been a constant companion through my musical journey & he was one of the kindest souls I ever met. The world is a poorer place today.”
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