Music / Reviews
Review: Adam Ant, Colston Hall
I arrived at the Colston Hall not quite knowing what to expect. Yes, it’s true that I had adored Adam Ant many years ago, when he was a young and beautiful dandy highwayman and I was – well – I was too young to know any better. But a lot of water has passed under that particular pirate’s plank. I was prepared to be horribly disappointed.
I was yet more disconcerted when I got inside the place. Many of the ant-fans had made an effort with their attire (think pirate hats), but apart from one guy at the ticket office I was the only – uh – person of colour there. And I was alone.
Still.
is needed now More than ever
Once seated, I didn’t have to wait long for the support act, a Midlands-band called UKFeds. (So UKFeds, listen to me carefully: in future you need to tell the audience who you are because that will help you sell records. I only know your name because Twitter told me.) But anyway. UKFeds stormed onto the stage, all guitars and balaclavas, and hit the audience with a storming set of properly punk-inspired rock. Some of the audience members looked a bit bemused – and I’ll be honest, many of did look as though they might have been on a coach trip to Rhyl and took a wrong turn on the M5. But UKFeds put out some incredible sounds and the lead singer has a fantastic rock voice. No Coldplay-vocals here. So that was good.
It was 9pm before Adam Ant came on stage and, frankly, I was afraid he might not be as good as the support. Thank goodness I was wrong. And let me get this out the way first: from where I was sitting Adam Ant is still hot. (Just needed to clear that up.)
Adam Ant put on the most incredible live show; his band is seriously tight, he has two drummers (not one – two!) and one is a girl with white Marie-Antoinette hair. Exactly. Excellent. I’m in. Did you know Adam Ant can play proper guitar? The guitars last night were intense, there were four of them onstage. I think that’s a lot. A lot of guitars. But great guitars. And Adam Ant has a great voice. (Look, I’m afraid I’m completely in love with him. Again.) The audience was treated to all the well known hits, as you might expect, and some more that I didn’t know – but apparently I was not such a die-hard fan as some of the audience, since half of them seemed to know the words to everything. Even the Rhyl-people were on their feet by the end.
Sadly I had to leave halfway through the encore, I scurried out like Cinderella while Prince Charming was purring his way through T-Rex. Since I wasn’t wearing glass slippers and didn’t lose a shoe, I’m not sure how he’ll be able to find me in future. Although I am on Twitter.
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