I expected an absurd marvel of madness and delight from an Adam Ant revival and yes, it was strange to say the least.
The flamboyant, sexually charged showman does indeed enthral. Bemused, confused, comical and at moments cringing it was all rather entertaining.
Adam enters on stage to Missy Elliott’s ‘Get Ur Freak On’ – a rather bizarre beginning to the evening. He bops in front of the mic donning a red bandana, black leather trousers and a matching black zipped up jacket – is ghetto Jack Sparrow the new look?
An energetic rendition of ‘Plastic Surgery’ is a good start and the crowd seem to enjoy it. Next is ‘Beat My Guest’ during which he vibrantly gyrates about the stage. Through ‘Why Do Girls Love Horses’, he of course playfully straddles the microphone. Cheekily charismatic he continuously flirts with the audience and has some adoring female fans scream, “I love You Adam!”. He responds by upping his sexual thrustings with a glimmer in his eye. This of course ensues throughout the whole of ‘Cock in My Pocket’.
It does all get a little tacky and perverse when his two backing dancers enter in kinky leather outfits, one being former Satanic Slut, Georgina Baille – from the Sachs scandal. She appears awkward and uncomfortable every time Adam approaches her, giggling and looking scared. Adam of course enjoys this however.
There is a short interval and for the second part of the show he enters in his Napoleon hat and libertine jacket – his signature statement look reminding us of what a style icon he is. He plays his hits, ‘Stand and Deliver’ and ‘Antmusic’ which are all crowd favourites. Vigorous in performance, he exudes a marvellous charm.
For the latter part of the second half he plays covers – ‘If Your Looking for Trouble’ by Elvis, ‘No Fun’ by The Stooges and The Who’s ‘My Generation’. He rips off his t-shirt, tearing it apart and throwing it into the audience and appears to be having fun, however it all ends rather abruptly.
Midway through Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born in the USA’ he beckons the crowd to sing back the chorus, the crowd are not the most responsive and Adam seems frustrated at this, muttering words of abuse, “Fucking sing back… Fuck off”. Playful banter and a bit of heckling and abuse from the frontman are not unheard of, though moments later Adam adopts a rather deranged look in his eye and storms off.
Will he be back… who knows?
Words by Camilla Felici
Photo by Ben Meadows
View a full photo gallery from Adam Ant live at London’s Relentless Garage HERE.
