Photo courtesy of Brian Gray. Click on it to check out his site.
To kick off our anniversary and my birthday weekend, we checked out Adam Ant again. This time at the relatively new Austin venue the Belmont. It’s alright. I need to attend a few more shows to have an informed opinion.
Adam and his new band were great again. The new album was released earlier this year so that’s probably helping getting more people out to see him. For Austin, I think the Belmont’s location was a plus since Emo’s move to Riverside; parking is terrible and the neighborhood remains scary.
I readily admit I wasn’t impressed with Adam Ant is the BlueBlack Hussar… upon my initial listens. Going with the Fiona Apple-school of titling was a negative. He’s also going back to his earlier catalog in the shows and sound. Eventually I came around to it as I grew to like “Bullshit,” “Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter” and “Hardmentoughblokes.” They all had elements from the albums I grew up with. No T-Rex cover though, unless he saved it for last. We had to duck out near the end of the encore as the parking meter would expire. This was a wise move, a huge downpour kicked in five minutes after we were headed home.
The crowd was mostly our age. You could tell it was predominantly Austin from the tattoos and piercings. Ugh! Those things get nastier looking as people grow older. They didn’t mind the newer stuff. The Vegas crowd just wanted the hits.
Adam remains entertaining. I loved his jab at Fifty Shades of Gray. “Why read it when you can experience it.” I might be wrong yet I paraphrased his point.
Opening for Adam Ant was a terrific quintet from California called Prima Donna. Just like the Brazil Brothers, I scored a couple CDs. Great job Adam, you’re three for four on openers. Hoping all goes well and we get another album around his 60th birthday.