Adam Ant: Leicester Academy 24 April 2013 I don't know quite what it is about Adam Ant, but his gigs are electric, it may be because of the 2 drummers, it may be because of the incredibly catchy tunes, it may be the swagger of Adam front and centre, it may be the foxy backing singer, it may be the warmth from the crowd but every gig is electric. That's 4 times now I have seen Adam Ant, crack through just short of 2 hours of blistering tunes, and every time I have come out of the gig on cloud 9. I think however it may be the memories evoked from the songs. Tonight I went with one of my oldest mates (not old old, but I have known him since the first day of school) and in between songs we were reliving the memories that the songs evoked, listening to the albums in our bedrooms, taping albums off record players whilst being incredibly quiet (and having a Mum shouting did we want a drink on tape) the listening to Lady surreptitiously due to its lyrics commenting on a naked lady. A great memory was of the old C90 that my Dad got me with Friend or Foe on it, sadly it had Shaking Stevens on the other side, but I can still recite every word on the album. My mate also recalled the gatefold sleeve he had with Adams ankle looking deformed as it was on the fold. Tonight's gig was littered with a sprinkling of the new songs, with most sitting very well, particularly the Bob Dylanesque Cool Zombie. Pretty impressive for a guy who must be comfortably in his 50's at least. Going back to the Burundi Drumming, why hasn't Anyone else done anything like this over the years, it's so powerful, really enjoyed the Prince Charming with both drummers stood up, 2 big gong sticks in hand going dum der dum der, dum der dum der...... Couple of encores, roof raised, a rocking cover of Get it on(bang a gong), acoustic sing along to Prince Charmings, 'Dont you ever, don't you ever, lower yourself forgetting all your standards' Early start for the gig meant I missed support band New Killer Shoes but the charms of my mate obtained a signed CD from them, each so I will relive their set at my leisure.
Georgie Girl
Walking back to the car, my mate confirmed this was one of the best gigs he has ever seen, and he's seen some legendary gigs like Stone Roses at Spike Island. Final comment, its funny to see backing singer Georgie Girl in the flesh knowing that she was the cause indirectly of Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's Radio shows (she being the focus of Sach's gate, his granddaughter), anyway I blame the outraged daily mail readers for that one, 'Outraged from Surbiton, they should be sacked, hung, drawn and quartered'. I would recommend Adam Ant to anyone, no one at this gig, of any age, left without a smile on their faces, the highlight for me, Ant Invasion - I have always loved the tension in that track, brought out tonight by Adam & guitar playing the chords throughout.
Howler: Leicester Sound House Gig 23: Thursday 10 May 2012
Another trip to the East Midlands, another debut venue, and another sat nav route through a pedestrian bollarded area.
As a new venue, this was a bit of a surprise, the Leicester Sound House sounds grand, and turned out to be a long thin pub, where should you need the loo you have to get almost to the stage (if you are a bloke) and virtually sitting in the stage if you are a young lady.
When I arrived the support band Fin (who had let me know on twitter when they were on stage) had just kicked off, and the phrase that springs to mind was cock sure, they had a guitarist who whirled about like a dervish, and a lead singer with quality hair who shouted out 'life is wasted on the living' they were a pretty average support band, with one exception, the stage antics of the lead singer both hanging from the scaffolding around the stage for the penultimate song and then walking in amongst the crowd to sing the final song was a first for a support band.
I stepped back from the stage, glanced up, and saw a celebrity, the Dove from above. Suddenly this venue leapt in my opinion from simple pug with a stage to shrine to the world of Vic and Bob, just quality, I barely managed to stop myself cooing to beckon down the dove.
Half an hours crappy work emails later and on came Hooded Fang a Canadian band who I was really looking forward to as their song Tosta Mista is one of the best songs of the year. I was a little disappointed as the first few songs were a little dull until Tosta Mista came on and the lass of the band joined in with the vocals with her enchanting voice, the excitement must have been too much for her because after that song she asked for permission to pop to the loo, which was no problems as the loo was right by the stage for the ladies and off she went. The lads in the band improvised a song, which was a cracking surf guitar romp, and the rest of their short set picked up from there. I wonder what these Canadians really made of a support act in a pub in Leicester.
Another half hour and Howler came on, an incredibly young indie band from Minneapolis who I had been turned onto by Radcliffe and Maconie as usual. Johnny Marr has also come in favour of the band which sits them in good pedigree having stood by him to watch Suede in Manchester many moons ago, the man has good taste (not meaning standing next to me).
The audience at the front were youthful, and ready to full on mosh, I make no bones about moving over to the side of the room to let them mosh, mainly because I was still within about 8 foot of the band in this tiny venue. The mosh was full on, its a very low stage, no space between the band and audience and within seconds the mosh pit was doing its best not to sprawl all over the stage. In one song a young lady found herself burst onto the stage and went quietly to sit on a stool by the stage until the song finished.
This was one of the tightest gigs I have seen, the nature of the band reminded me of the Libertines in full throng and whilst I've not seen them live the Strokes. There was a really strong connection with the audience and the band knew it. They had a lot of interaction with everyone at the front rattled through the songs, primed everyone for no encore and finished with Free Drunk (having jammed sone classics songs before hand) claiming we've got no more songs for an encore.
This was really an electric gig and I can't see Howler doing a gig of this size again for a long long time, I was caught up in the moment and bought the Vinyl album on the way out before driving back home feeling I had seen a special gig, from a band who deserve more hype.........
