Adam Ant Milton Keynes Nov.25 I credit Adam Ant for getting me into music, his song ‘Stand and Deliver’ was brilliant and fired up a whole new passion for me. Adam Ant posters decorated my bedroom, his records started building my vinyl collection, and he was discussed at length with my primary school buddies. Adam Ant made music exciting when I hadn’t found it particularly interesting before.
Even approaching 55 years old, I have an A2 Adam Ant Screen Scene poster magazine cover framed on the wall in my office.
On the 24th November, I went to the theatre in Milton Keynes (MK) to see Adam perform live for the first time. Having waited about 45 years to see my childhood hero, I hoped to come away from the gig as enthusiastic as I was when I saw Frank Carter and The Sex Pistols.
But for a variety of reasons, that was not to be. What follows is just my opinion, others may well have different perceptions and that’s a good thing.
The Venue
The theatre in MK is an odd gig venue in some ways, whilst it has great acoustics, it’s all seated and there are no standing areas (or mosh pits as I prefer to call them).
The impact of the style of venue was that people stayed seated, there was no dancing and there was even ‘polite’ silence between songs.
The audience were mostly ‘of an age’, which is no surprise I guess given that Adam’s biggest impact was at the beginning of the eighties.
Whilst the acoustics were good, they did make Adam’s occasionally ropey vocals all the more obvious. I’ll be honest, I winced at the start of Dog Eat Dog.
The stage show was minimal, which meant all the attention was on Adam, and at times he didn’t command the space in the way that I thought he might. Some more props could have helped him not feel/look quite so exposed.
On a positive note, the two drummers with their full drum kits were brilliant, the ‘two drum kits live experience’ was completely new to me and I liked it a lot.
Adam
When Adam took to the stage, I was impressed that he had kept his slim figure and that he looked the part in his black outfit and signature bicorn hat. For a man in his early seventies, he still had some ‘dandy highwayman’ about him.
I’ll be honest though, I expected more energy and more swagger from the seasoned front man. I got the impression that he was lacking some confidence; he didn’t make demands of the audience or move around like the space was all his to command. Maybe he was bothered that his voice was letting him down.
I don’t know if he was tired from the tour, not feeling his best, or just underwhelmed by the audience, but I felt he was not altogether in the moment (or perhaps going through the motions a bit).
When he sang Prince Charming, I hoped he would do the arm moves and instead he clutched his guitar with one arm and barely moved the other, to me he almost looked embarrassed. Even when the audience was singing along with ‘ridicule is nothing to be scared of’, Adam didn’t come alive. Though it’s one of his best-known songs, it wasn’t performed with the energy or arrogance that it deserved.
There were occasional moments of animation - he came to life for example on Kings of the Wild Frontier; he made a point of saying, in a quiet way, that he was still very proud of that particular song.
Some filler* when there could have been more killer
Set list:
The best song, in terms of its delivery versus the original, was Young Parisians – that one though is not one of my favourites.
It was good to hear Los Rancheros live.
Stand and Deliver, an absolute anthem of the eighties, was the encore, it should have been the best song of the entire evening … and it wasn’t as good as it should have been either.
The verdict
The 2013 album ‘Adam Ant is the blueblack hussar in marrying the gunner’s daughter’, though unrepresented in the set list, was a metaphor for the MK show. The album had moments of greatness but was patchy in others and let down by some production issues.
I think there’s a good chance that I just got unlucky, other tour dates have had great reviews (though interestingly the Adam Ant Facebook account didn’t even celebrate the MK show when it did highlight others).
I wish I could have got the buzz from the concert that I had anticipated, rather than feeling like I am making excuses for an old hero. The fact is that when the gig was done, I wasn’t clamouring for more, I actually felt a little sad to be honest.
I went to a show that wasn’t supported by Toyah. Before the gig, I was a bit disappointed about that because when I saw her a couple of years back, she rocked. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that the date wasn’t supported by Toyah, she would have outclassed Adam and that really would have been a shame.
This year’s tour was a re-scheduled tour from 2024 that was cancelled because of Adam’s ill health. The blue-black hussar might have had his last hurrah.
With that in mind, I am glad I went the gig, I would have regretted not making the effort if I didn’t buy a ticket. There were moments of excellence, but I sat in the audience thinking that I had waited too long and really should have found a gig to go to 20 years ago.
Even approaching 55 years old, I have an A2 Adam Ant Screen Scene poster magazine cover framed on the wall in my office.
On the 24th November, I went to the theatre in Milton Keynes (MK) to see Adam perform live for the first time. Having waited about 45 years to see my childhood hero, I hoped to come away from the gig as enthusiastic as I was when I saw Frank Carter and The Sex Pistols.
But for a variety of reasons, that was not to be. What follows is just my opinion, others may well have different perceptions and that’s a good thing.
The Venue
The theatre in MK is an odd gig venue in some ways, whilst it has great acoustics, it’s all seated and there are no standing areas (or mosh pits as I prefer to call them).
The impact of the style of venue was that people stayed seated, there was no dancing and there was even ‘polite’ silence between songs.
The audience were mostly ‘of an age’, which is no surprise I guess given that Adam’s biggest impact was at the beginning of the eighties.
Whilst the acoustics were good, they did make Adam’s occasionally ropey vocals all the more obvious. I’ll be honest, I winced at the start of Dog Eat Dog.
The stage show was minimal, which meant all the attention was on Adam, and at times he didn’t command the space in the way that I thought he might. Some more props could have helped him not feel/look quite so exposed.
On a positive note, the two drummers with their full drum kits were brilliant, the ‘two drum kits live experience’ was completely new to me and I liked it a lot.
Adam
When Adam took to the stage, I was impressed that he had kept his slim figure and that he looked the part in his black outfit and signature bicorn hat. For a man in his early seventies, he still had some ‘dandy highwayman’ about him.
I’ll be honest though, I expected more energy and more swagger from the seasoned front man. I got the impression that he was lacking some confidence; he didn’t make demands of the audience or move around like the space was all his to command. Maybe he was bothered that his voice was letting him down.
I don’t know if he was tired from the tour, not feeling his best, or just underwhelmed by the audience, but I felt he was not altogether in the moment (or perhaps going through the motions a bit).
When he sang Prince Charming, I hoped he would do the arm moves and instead he clutched his guitar with one arm and barely moved the other, to me he almost looked embarrassed. Even when the audience was singing along with ‘ridicule is nothing to be scared of’, Adam didn’t come alive. Though it’s one of his best-known songs, it wasn’t performed with the energy or arrogance that it deserved.
There were occasional moments of animation - he came to life for example on Kings of the Wild Frontier; he made a point of saying, in a quiet way, that he was still very proud of that particular song.
Some filler* when there could have been more killer
Set list:
- Dog Eat Dog
- Vive le Rock
- Ant Music
- Miss Thing*
- Cartrouble
- Zerox
- Ants Invasion
- Prince Charming
- Lady
- Young Parisians
- Puss 'n Boots
- Desperate but Not Serious
- Kings of the Wild Frontier
- Beat My Guest
- Strip
- Friend or Foe
- Never Trust a Man (With Egg on His Face)*
- Red Scab*
- Killer in the Home*
- Los Rancheros
- Goody Two Shoes
- Stand and Deliver (encore)
The best song, in terms of its delivery versus the original, was Young Parisians – that one though is not one of my favourites.
It was good to hear Los Rancheros live.
Stand and Deliver, an absolute anthem of the eighties, was the encore, it should have been the best song of the entire evening … and it wasn’t as good as it should have been either.
The verdict
The 2013 album ‘Adam Ant is the blueblack hussar in marrying the gunner’s daughter’, though unrepresented in the set list, was a metaphor for the MK show. The album had moments of greatness but was patchy in others and let down by some production issues.
I think there’s a good chance that I just got unlucky, other tour dates have had great reviews (though interestingly the Adam Ant Facebook account didn’t even celebrate the MK show when it did highlight others).
I wish I could have got the buzz from the concert that I had anticipated, rather than feeling like I am making excuses for an old hero. The fact is that when the gig was done, I wasn’t clamouring for more, I actually felt a little sad to be honest.
I went to a show that wasn’t supported by Toyah. Before the gig, I was a bit disappointed about that because when I saw her a couple of years back, she rocked. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that the date wasn’t supported by Toyah, she would have outclassed Adam and that really would have been a shame.
This year’s tour was a re-scheduled tour from 2024 that was cancelled because of Adam’s ill health. The blue-black hussar might have had his last hurrah.
With that in mind, I am glad I went the gig, I would have regretted not making the effort if I didn’t buy a ticket. There were moments of excellence, but I sat in the audience thinking that I had waited too long and really should have found a gig to go to 20 years ago.
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