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Those of us of a certain age still remember vividly a dashingly handsome young man with a white stripe across his face, dressed like a modern day pirate, crashing onto our Top Of The Pops screen and imploring us to "unplug the jukebox and do us all a favour". Backed by four of the coolest looking musicians, including two drummers, Adam and his Ants (along with Gary Numan's Tubeway Army) changed the way I looked at music. Before them I was aware of music, thanks to a musical father, but it consisted of either disco records, Queen (who were good but didn't set my world afire), or whatever happened to be on that week's TOTP.
Fast forward a quarter of a century, and we're gathered at Hombres in London for a celebration of Adam Ant's 50th birthday. Yeah, 50 - kinda makes you feel old doesn't it when your idols hit the big five-oh. Ant Lib had run two previous conventions, but this was the first one that I'd become aware of, so we rolled into the Smoke and joined 300 other Antpeople to pay tribute to the great man.
The day kicked off with a showing of the excellent documentary "The Madness of Prince Charming", which examined the illness that has plagued Adam Ant for his whole adult life - even at the height of his fame he suffered from depression, and has been fortunate enough to have people like Marco Pirroni stand by him over the years. Despite what The Sun might have you believe, Adam's not mad, just suffering from a condition that is more common than is popularly thought.
Next up was a 'best dressed' competition, won by (surprise, surprise) a handsome young man with a white strip across his face, dressed like a modern day pirate. To give him credit, though, he looked the part, and if there are any Ant tribute bands out there, he's your man.
Next up was the alternative comedian Gary Le Strange, whose great love of the whole new romantic scene came across in his comical, yet frighteningly accurate pastiches of classic tunes, simultaneously paying tribute to and taking the piss out of the likes of Numan, Ultravox, John Foxx and others from the new romantic scene. A 'best tattoo' competition followed, and then we were on to the highlight of the evening.
With no Adam or Marco in attendance (although they had sent some signed pictures and records along), the Ants were very ably represented by Terry Lee Miall and his band Magnificent Seven. Kicking off with a faithful rendition of Blitzkrieg Bop, dedicated to the late brothers Ramone, the band powered through a selection of classics from the era, including Teenage Kicks (dedicated to John Peel), I Fought The Law, Antmusic, God Save The Queen and a rousing version of Stand And Deliver. Watching Miall playing that most famous of drum lines brought back memories of playing the 7-inch to death on my record player way back when.
After they left the stage, we decamped briefly next door to Ben Crouch's Tavern for some food, which meant missing Madam And The Ants, who I was informed on our return were entertaining, and the rest of the evening was given over to a disco featuring the sounds of the era. While the masses danced I got the chance to talk to Miall and his mate Dave at the bar (who turned out to have been the bassist for The Macc Ladds for a while, and who I'd actually seen play a couple of times some fifteen years previously) about the early days of the Ants and punk in general, which made my day - to hear tales of the era I grew up with from a couple of guys who were actually there was awesome, and made this a day to remember.
All that remains to be said is "great party Adam, you missed a blinder!"
Fast forward a quarter of a century, and we're gathered at Hombres in London for a celebration of Adam Ant's 50th birthday. Yeah, 50 - kinda makes you feel old doesn't it when your idols hit the big five-oh. Ant Lib had run two previous conventions, but this was the first one that I'd become aware of, so we rolled into the Smoke and joined 300 other Antpeople to pay tribute to the great man.
The day kicked off with a showing of the excellent documentary "The Madness of Prince Charming", which examined the illness that has plagued Adam Ant for his whole adult life - even at the height of his fame he suffered from depression, and has been fortunate enough to have people like Marco Pirroni stand by him over the years. Despite what The Sun might have you believe, Adam's not mad, just suffering from a condition that is more common than is popularly thought.
Next up was a 'best dressed' competition, won by (surprise, surprise) a handsome young man with a white strip across his face, dressed like a modern day pirate. To give him credit, though, he looked the part, and if there are any Ant tribute bands out there, he's your man.
Next up was the alternative comedian Gary Le Strange, whose great love of the whole new romantic scene came across in his comical, yet frighteningly accurate pastiches of classic tunes, simultaneously paying tribute to and taking the piss out of the likes of Numan, Ultravox, John Foxx and others from the new romantic scene. A 'best tattoo' competition followed, and then we were on to the highlight of the evening.
With no Adam or Marco in attendance (although they had sent some signed pictures and records along), the Ants were very ably represented by Terry Lee Miall and his band Magnificent Seven. Kicking off with a faithful rendition of Blitzkrieg Bop, dedicated to the late brothers Ramone, the band powered through a selection of classics from the era, including Teenage Kicks (dedicated to John Peel), I Fought The Law, Antmusic, God Save The Queen and a rousing version of Stand And Deliver. Watching Miall playing that most famous of drum lines brought back memories of playing the 7-inch to death on my record player way back when.
After they left the stage, we decamped briefly next door to Ben Crouch's Tavern for some food, which meant missing Madam And The Ants, who I was informed on our return were entertaining, and the rest of the evening was given over to a disco featuring the sounds of the era. While the masses danced I got the chance to talk to Miall and his mate Dave at the bar (who turned out to have been the bassist for The Macc Ladds for a while, and who I'd actually seen play a couple of times some fifteen years previously) about the early days of the Ants and punk in general, which made my day - to hear tales of the era I grew up with from a couple of guys who were actually there was awesome, and made this a day to remember.
All that remains to be said is "great party Adam, you missed a blinder!"
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