Adam and the Ants – Tiffanys

 

Adam and the Ants – Tiffany's

by Pete Clemons

Adam and the Ants were a phenomenon although somewhat short lived. Here is a review of a visit, by them, to Coventry which recalls all the action.......

Adam is an excellent showman. He plays the crowd well. On a Tuesday evening at Tiffanys he produced a catalogue of old showbiz tricks. Judging by the performance of the Ants, they certainly needed them.

There is precious little to back up their recent popularity/fashion-ability after several years of obscurity and unfashion-ability.

Surprisingly, Tiffs did not seem too full, despite stories of trouble from locked out fans at earlier gigs. The majority of the crowd did not look much like the hordes of dressed up people that usually follow Adam.

Support band Gods Toys continue to improve. Despite a slightly dodgy sound they played very well, "Package Tours to Heaven" sounding particularly good.

Gods Toys were so good that Adam decided to pull the mikes out and switch the lights off during their last song, their theme "Gods Toys". This slightly annoyed sections of the audience, myself included.

The ant Disco provided entertainment between bands. This consisted of trendy old records by currently popular influences, e.g. the Sweet, Cockney Rebel etc. etc. jovial The Ants took the stage to the 1812 Overture.

The Ants were very well dressed though much the same as they appear on the cover of their latest glossy product. The two drummers began to pound away producing their customary tribal sound, a nice thumping, danceable beat. This got rather dull after several songs and the drums tended to dominate proceedings to the detriment of the songs.

The bass was inaudible but the bass player produced some pleasant tribal whoops to compensate for this. Marco Pirroni played guitar in his usual cutting manner, producing a sound similar to a chainsaw. He verges towards heavy metal at times, when his judgement temporarily deserts him, which on Tuesday was unfortunately rather frequent.

There was a definite lack of good tunes, although "Antmusic", "Jolly Roger", "Press Darlings" and "Car Trouble" were exceptions. The rest of the songs were unmemorable - in one ear and out the other.

The band take themselves very seriously despite the jovial nature of their songs, Adam's stage movements are somewhat macho. He appears just like a hairless Freddie Mercury. He is also putting on weight. His shirt came off, although he managed to keep it on until the encore. "Kings of the Wild Frontier" was left for this, somewhat predictably.

"Kings" was played very badly as was "You're So Physical", which followed. One more encore and a patronising comment to the audience from Adam – "Coventry, you're a sexy town" - and that was that.

I enjoyed seeing Adam getting hit in the gut by a bag of flour thrown by the Gods Toys keyboard player. It was annoying to see the audience forget so easily what had been done to the local heroes and lap all of the Antmusic up. Still, c'est la vie. They will probably be unfashionable again next week.

And Coventry band God's Toys.

THE CLASH - TIFFANYS 1980

 

THE CLASH - TIFFANYS 1980

by Pete Clemons

By 1980, and after several previous visits, The Clash had, by now, built up a sizeable following and returned to Coventry. The following review of that gig recalls how a section of the audience still thought it was 1977........

Its somewhere around 10.30 pm as the disco fades and the lights dim; and the audience ripples in anticipatory applause.

A roadie's flickering Ever Ready signals the impending blitz, and the Clash take the stage in customary darkness.

Seconds pass, lights blaze, and we're all "Rock, Rock, Clash City Rocking" to the one-time heartdrops.

From the mists of distinctively Clash guitar, Joe Strummer's voice rasps over the fate of war torn Spain and "Guys in the bar leaning over too far", as the London Calling set is despatched with an ease and skill that could all too easily be reserved for the "77 anthems.

"Safe European Home", "Jimmy Jazz", "Protex Blue", "Brand New Cadillac"... all are treated with art equal panache as definitive rock and roll receives ultimate presentation.

But all is not well. Time has hardened the Clash collective against the hail of saliva that accompanies every performance. "You've gobbed at us a million times", Strummer harangued, holding aloof his glistening guitar fret in evidence.

Joe then went on to say that the next person who gobs at me will get filled in. But warnings weren't enough. Cue more disgusting scenes. Joe then dived into the crowd and proceeded to fill this bloke in. He was swiftly followed by Topper Headon who had leapt in from behind his drum kit and along with some members of the crew began fighting with the audience.

Paul Simonon and Mick Jones looked on as a conglomerate of roadies and stewards struggled to re- install Joe onto the stage. When he did finally re-emerge, shirt torn and left eye injured, the audience appeared to recognise that there must endeth the gobbing. Strummer had fought Coventry's Joe Public, and I think, on balance, Strummer won.

The set stretched into a lengthy hour and forty minutes, during which I danced and sweated, and came to appreciate some of the reasons why the Clash are still with us, despite the decline of whatever happened in 1977.

They're still angry, and they still care, but their reach extends beyond punk- purism. Sophistication - if that's the right word - has led The Clash in new directions and the passion has found diversity and lasting appeal in the mixture of reggae and R & B that is the new album. And after all that, won't you give them a smile?