Adam's only London gig is over the Easter weekend while we are away in Italy. The next nearest was Cheltenham last Friday which gave me an excuse to visit friends John and Andrea who live nearby. John and I went to the concert and left Andrea and Mary to go out to the local pub for a natter.
Back in 1980 I went to my local record store to buy "Kings of the Wild Frontier". They didn't have it in stock and I was persuaded to buy his previous album "Dirk Wears White Sox". I took it home, put it on the turntable and I have to say I was disappointed. What was this stuff? Where was the dandy highwayman I'd seen on Top Of The Pops?
I may not have liked Dirk but clearly Adam does. At the London gig he is going to play DWWS in its entirety so in some ways I am not unhappy to miss that date.
It was a concert of three parts. The first part was four songs from DWWS including "Car Trouble" and "Xerox Machine". The second part was what the crowd (or at least me) had come to hear including "Stand and Deliver", "Vive le Rock", "Desperate but not Serious" and "Strip". The third final 20 minutes was non-stop hard-rocking medley that I didn't recognise; perhaps I need to go and listen to the music in my collection again.
Adam did a fair mount of chat, well swearing actually, and it became clear that Dirk is the album closest to his heart. He also seems to think of himself as bit of a hard geezer and he dislikes Oasis intensely.
He still has serious charisma and stage presence as he swaggered about like a louche version of Cap'n Jack Sparrow.
As well as Adam there were two of the original Ants: the bass player, Leigh Gorman, and one of the drummers, Dave Barbarossa.
The music was very loud and we were near the right hand speakers so I called my earplugs into action. In the end I lent one to John so we had one each - both in our right ears.
It was an enjoyable evening but I'd only give it three stars. It might even have been two-and-a-half stars but for Adam's stage presence and iconic status.
Then back to John and Andrea's for a glass of red wine and to bed well past my normal bedtime.
2 comments:
I think I would have made the effort to see him also. I would have enjoyed the "second part" also. A blast from the past!!
Cant believe u left your womenfolk behind, they would have probably got more out of it than u appear to have done. Also he doesnt hate oasis, just not keen on liam, Plus how could u not recognise the music he played? its 35 years old.
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