Adam Ant at Bristol O2 Academy

A year on from the last Ants Invasion of Bristol, Sir Adam Of Ant returned with another storming set of Pop hits and Punk perversion. And this time I even dragged Sarah and her mate Jacqui along. Well... I say "dragged" when in fact they had both been obsessing over Adam for weeks before the gig and were ready for some Friday night Antics...

Due to Bristol Academy's ridiculously early doors on a Friday night we missed the support ( probably no great loss ) while having a drink over the road in the slightly more sophisticated Colston Hall.We made our way across to the venue and, after about 20 minutes of listening to some groovy old rock 'n' roll on the pre-gig soundsystem, Adam and his band appeared to rapturous applause.

Still rocking the Hussar / Napoleon / NHS glasses look ( well, it's certainly unique ) Adam launched into a set which veered wildly across his career from the S&M days of Whip In My Valise and Beat My Guest, through the Burundi beat of Kings Of The Wild Frontier and Dog Eat Dog ( "Brush me, Daddio!" ) to the MTV-friendly likes of Strip and Goody Two-Shoes. Just as he had done a year previously Adam concentrated as much on old school Ants material like Fall In ( a great singalong ) and a cracking version of Zerox as he did on Top 10 stuff like Stand And Deliver. It was a good half dozen songs into the set before he spoke to the audience, telling us that Kings... still feels new every time he plays it ( and it still sounds awesome... but it needs some Marco... ) and regaling us with the surely apocryphal tale of how he was inspired to write Lady. ( It involves going through Malcolm McLaren's pockets to nick loose change and meeting a 7' 9" naked dominatrix... all good stuff! )

Highlights of the set for me were an atmospheric Ants Invasion, a sensual ( of course ) Physical, an audience-pleasing Ant Music and a Rockabilly reading of Goody Two Shoes  -  never my favourite of his songs, but pretty damn special tonight. Even Vive Le Rock sounded good...

I'm glad to report that Mr. Ant's recent flurry of touring hasn't affected his performance ( steady! ) and Adam is in fine, enthusiastic, cheeky form, with his stage moves still sending people weak at the knees... including my companions :-)
And, it has to be said, his voice is in bloody good shape for a man of his age, still managing to hit some impressively high notes, although occasionally reigning it in somewhat when necessary. I do however miss the  bonkers Native American yelping of the old Ants' backing vocals on the Kings... songs. Adam of course still does all that but his band don't really rise to the occasion. Come on, guys! After all, ridicule is nothing to be scared of...
New song Cool Zombie was unveiled and sounded pretty good. It should be interesting to see how well his new album does when released. Adam's unlikely comeback has been pretty amazing so far
( I never thought I'd be seeing him play these wonderful songs 30 years after his first brush with fame ) and it would be fantastic to see him actually sell some records too. Again, it's unlikely... but the unlikely is something Adam has always specialised in.
After a final, mass outbreak of  "doing the Prince Charming" in the encore ( I can't believe I did that! ) Adam and band took their bows and left. And so did we... to have a few drinks and mess about in Bristol...

Oh dear! Time to go home...