Adam Ant
Fox Theater, Oakland
April 28, 2024
Photos by Raven Divito
The musician Adam Ant has worn many hats throughout his career. First a punk provocateur, then a king of the wild frontier, then on to Prince Charming the dandy highwayman, through on to the Blueblack Hussar and beyond, Adam Ant has never felt like he has tried to be anyone other than himself. And at his recent stop at the Fox Theater in Oakland as part of his Antmusic Tour, perhaps the most under-rated persona of Adam Ant was on full display: that of the genius pop artist.
With a live band consisting of Will Crewdson and AP Leach on guitar, Joe Holweger on bass, and Jola and Marc Slutsky on drums, Adam took the stage as all but Crewdson played some form of percussion with Leach and Holweger each playing a floor tom. “Well I’m standing here,” Adam sang, the final word echoing into the venue as the band played one. Once again: “When I’m standing here,” again with the final word echoing out. Finally Leach and Holweger put their drumsticks down as Adam properly launched into “Antmusic,” the crowd’s reaction one of untethered enthusiasm and joy.
What followed was an hour and a half-long celebration of the career and hits of Adam Ant, both solo and with his original band Adam and the Ants. Of course there were the expected songs: “Desperate But Not Serious,” “Friend Or Foe,” and “Vive le Rock” all received rapturous applause from the audience, while Adam prompted, “I want you to sing the end of this one with me,” before he and his band launched into “Prince Charming,” the final song from his album with the Ants. “Prince Charming, ridicule is nothing to be scared of,” the audience sang back as if they were also part of pop royalty.
That isn’t to say that every song that was performed was a single. Peppered in throughout the setlist were early songs like the driving b-side “Red Scab” and a selection of album cuts from the second Adam and the Ants album, the brilliant Kings Of The Wild Frontier. This was the album where Adam introduced the idea of having two drummers, and the duel percussionists onstage truly shone on these songs. “Killer In The Home” and “Ants Invasion” are two of my favorite songs that Adam Ant has ever had a part in, and to see him play them in the middle of a setlist that mostly catered to the most popular parts of his back catalogue felt like an act of subversion. The fact that these songs, as well as most of the rest of the earlier numbers like “Zerox” and “Beat My Guest,” drew looks of confusion from some of the people around me only cemented that feeling.
Not a lot of stones were left unturned throughout the evening, with even the title track of his overlooked 1995 album Wonderful being performed. If there was one glaring omission as the show went on, it was the complete lack of anything from his most recent album, 2013’s Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter, which is a shame because songs like “Cool Zombie” and “Shrink” would have fit in perfectly with the rest of the songs.
There was a short encore break following a rousing rendition of “Stand And Deliver” before the band came back onstage to play arguably the most popular song in the back catalogue of Antmusic, “Goody Two Shoes.” With AP Leach playing the original trumpet part on his guitar, the number felt like the biggest moment of the night with everyone in attendance echoing the question, “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, what do you do?” back at Adam and his band. Once the song ended, Adam strapped on his guitar and put his back to the audience as feedback blared out of his amp. The band slowly launched into a grimy rendition of the b-side “Physical (You’re So),” a song whose in-your-face sexual lyrics and instrumental sleaze make it one of my favorite Adam Ant songs. This was one of the songs where Adam Ant truly looked like he was enjoying himself the most onstage, and I had just as much joy watching him play it.
Opening the show was The English Beat. Throughout various line-up changes, the one constant in the band has been frontman Dave Wakeling, who was charming and left no shortage of stories between songs such as when he met Smokey Robinson. Unfortunately it was when the band was actually playing the songs that I was left unimpressed. The band has never been one that I’ve gravitated towards, and unfortunately most of their set was dedicated to the various covers that the band had done rather than their own originals (with a few exceptions). “Mirror In The Bathroom” was the obvious highlight of the set, but for a band that has such a long legacy behind them their show fell flat for me.
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