Adam Ant’s out-dated rock anything but ‘Wonderful’

Adam Ant’s out-dated rock anything but ‘Wonderful’

New wave artist puts on lukewarm Pantages concert

By Michael Nazarinia

The "wonderful" Adam Ant came to the Pantages Theatre Friday
night and put on a show that lacked energy and displayed a rock
star personality that went out of style about five years ago.

Beginning the set with his radio-friendly single "Wonderful"
from the album of the same name, Ant and his backing band
introduced themselves to the audience with Ant looking like a cross
between Elvis and Bono, and putting on moves that were
frighteningly early ’80s.

Aided by a cape-like long, flowing trench coat and a pair of
form fitting silver lamé stretch pants, Ant quickly proved
that he was still clinging to an image that was prevalent 10 to 15
years ago.

After a strong opening start, Ant made it clear that he planned
to stay with the material released on his new CD, much to the
disappointment of the black=clad crowd, which varied in age from 15
to 50.

The backing band and Ant himself gave lukewarm performances at
best, and seemed to be caught in a time warp that could only be
remedied by transporting Ant back to the early ’80s, when his music
was fresh and new wave was in.

The sound mix was muddled throughout the show, possibly because
of the two drummers, two guitarists and bassist, who all seemed to
be playing second fiddle to Ant’s disappointing voice.

Ant ended the set with a better than average rendition of
"Physical," recently popularized by Trent Reznor’s cover in Nine
Inch Nails. Whereas NIN seems to at least care about emotion in
their music, Ant appeared more interested in playing a rock star
image, and rehashing old ideas in the garb of new music.

The striking dissimilarity of Ant’s and NIN’s perspectives was
apparent from the beginning of the set. With the sterile backing
band and apparent flair for cheesy pop melodies, Ant had no
apparent idea how much his music was out of tune with today’s more
emotionally honest music.

The best part of Ant’s concert was probably his choice of venue
(the Pantages seats a capacity crowd of 3,000 and has an arching
ceiling), which added some charm to a set that seemed eager to end
from the beginning.

Flux, the first of the two opening bands, whose guitarist/singer
doubled as Ant’s bassist, was a perfect blend of heavy guitar riffs
and a slight country western personality that succeeded in creating
a wall of noise.

The Murmurs, easily the highlight of the evening, turned in a
performance filled with vitality and energy. The female duo dressed
in the coolest looking red and green vinyl pants, shirts that were
equally amusing, and pink and rainbow-colored hair reminiscent of
coloring books in kindergarten.

The acoustic punks played songs from their debut album,
including an excited version of the hit single "You Suck" and an
emotional version of Jefferson Airplane’s "White Rabbit."

Maybe Ant should take some pointers from the Murmurs about
playing with sincerity and emotion, because the song "You Suck"
could easily have been about him.