Adam Ant

Liverpool 02 Academy
May 28th 2011

Reviewed by Michelle McKay

The gig was sold out, the queue went up the hill and right around the block; Adam Ant's first gig in Liverpool this century was well overdue. Support was by Birmingham indie three-piece "Dressing For Pleasure". Lead-singer Naomi Hewson was very bolshy, repeatedly offering to fight a member of the audience.

Mr Ant and band "The Good, The Mad, And The Lovely" (featuring his trademark two drummers) arrived onstage at 9.15pm precisely in full ant regalia, and launched into a blisteringly hot "Plastic Surgery." A couple of tracks sounded fuzzy, but overall the music was just as good as ever, spanning the decades from his first albums "Dirk Wears White Sox" and "Kings Of The Wild Frontier" to his 1995 hit "Wonderful" with covers of the Rolling Stones and T Rex thrown in for for good measure. A personal highlight for me was "A.N.T.S" (sung to the tune of "Y.M.C.A") which I bought as a blue flexidisc on a magazine in the early 1980s. When Adam went off stage for half a minute then came back for the encore, it turned out to be the second half of the show: he was onstage until 11pm, almost two hours (see playlists below.)

Adam's ongoing bipolar affective disorder (manic depression) is well-documented but he was Prince Charming personified in Liverpool, and inbetween the hits regaled the audience with his thoughts on Ringo, memories of playing legendary punk club "Eric's" as well as his Margi Clarke impression! Adam had the audience in the palm of his hand right from the start, and over the course of the evening as some of his clothes gradually came off, he revealed a new tattoo (of his beloved grandad Walter, born in a gypsy caravan.) Then like the proper popstar that he is, Adam ripped the tshirt off his body in true punk style and one lucky lady in the front row caught it! Like they say in football, form is temporary but talent is permanent.

Click on the link below to hear one-minute interviews with audience before and after the show! www.winkball.com/walls/QHCWz1O3ZadQ/adam-ant-and-the-good-the-mad-and-the-lovely-at-the-02-academy-liverpool

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Comments:

Comment left by dazza on 7th June, 2011 at 19:54
I never really liked adam ant when he was around. But I heard a great interview with him on radio 4 and he came across as a pretty sorted guy. Great review by the way.

Comment left by Aleeyne on 11th June, 2011 at 11:27
A great review by one who really knows the music scene and knows her subject well.

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