Gig Review – Adam Ant – Sub 89 Reading 11th April 2015.

Adam Ant plays Dirk Wears White Sox.

A Rendezvous was made with SiB and FdN as we made journey by Flower-powered Antler-Infusion Sugar-Tong Pumpkin Drive to Reading in April of the year 2015, where we encountered Ravenette at a local watering hole.

Travelling via India for reasons nutritional, we suddenly found ourselves in a local club – Sub 89, where several colonies of Ants were gathered for an Audience with The King Ant – Adam himself.

And soon their audience was granted, as Adam and his band fired up in to Car Trouble Pts 1 and 2 and proceeded to take us through the whole of the Dirk Wears White Sox Album with an efficient, quick-fire delivery.

The sound was loud, up-front and in your face with songs like Never Trust a Man With Egg on His Face and the sublime Table Talk, sounding quite heavy, while not losing any of their subtlety. Great stuff!

In addition to the Dirk material we were treated to a whole host of dark punky goodness; ranging from early release classics like Plastic Surgery, Lady and Zerox, to a whole host of the bootleg era classics (many released as the B-sides during the hits era) like Greta X, Red Scab and Beat My Guest.

Adam appeared tightly focused at the start of the set, driving the band and concentrating on his performance. As the performance progressed he seemed to ease into it and open up to the audience more, all the while remaining in control yet radiating genuine warmth.

On the covers front there were two: Paying tribute to and name-checking former Ants; Matthew Ashman, Dave Barbarossa and Andy Warren, Adam and the band proceeded to deliver a highly atmospheric rendition of a Dave Berry number Strange Effect (one of tonight’s highlights). While at the encore the venue curfew was met with T Rex’s Get it On.

So the set tonight was comprised mainly of early Adam and The Ants material and the audience lapped it up. On the hit front we were treated to just the two in the first encore with rocking versions of both Kings of The Wild Frontier and Ant Music.

Before we knew where we were Prince Charming had left the building, Ravenette had done a bunk for the last train and FdN had slipped outside unnoticed, leaving just SiB and myself to fend off a surreal Siren and her UKIP recruitment campaign (at an Adam Ant gig! Raving Looneys more like!). Reading itself was beginning to teem with nightlife as we made our timely exit and subsequent escape.

Verdict: Adam and his band have got it in spades. Top Stuff!

Over…

EiTC.

Apologies for Errors and Omissions.

Thanks to Andy Miller for Time Travel!