When Rob met Adam

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Adam Ant was a huge name in the early 80’s with his band of Ants, dominating the charts.
They had the best selling album of 1981 with Kings Of The Wild Frontier and, at one point,
had an impressive seven singles in the top 40 at the same time.

If you follow me on Twitter (@robfossey) you will know that I am a big fan of Adam Ant, or if you have read my review of Adam
Ant in Basingstoke (http://80slegends.com/adam-ant-at-the-anvil-basingstoke/) on this very website, then you will also know
that I am a big fan of Adam Ant. If neither of the above apply to you, then let me tell you (or can you guess?) that I am a big fan of
Adam Ant.

It all started way back in October 1980 when I was living with my parents. Every Sunday I would go into my bedroom with my
tape recorder and listen to the top 40 countdown on the radio. Back then, radio and television were the only media available to
hear ‘new’ music. Along with, probably, the rest of the population in my age group, I would wait for my favourite songs to come
on and quickly press play and record, trying to avoid the bits the DJ would speak over at the start and at the end. That was when
I first heard Dog Eat Dog by Adam and The Ants, a mix of tribal beats, strong guitar rifts and chanting to make a very distinctive
sound, the likes of which I had never heard before.

Thirty-two years later and Adam Ant has recently been very busy, having done far too many gigs to mention, released a new
single, Cool Zombie, and a new album due out early next year. He has been fighting his ‘Black Dog’ and is back on fine form.

I have now been to quite a few Ant gigs and have been loving every moment of seeing my lifelong idol, as he struts around the
stage, owning the audience. Can you imagine my excitement when it was announced that Adam would do a meet and greet on the
final night of his BlueBlack Hussar tour at Shepherd’s Bush?

And so it was that on Friday 30th November I set off, once again, to witness the sheer joy of Adam Ant’s performance with the
knowledge that I would be meeting him afterwards.

Adam’s performance was incredible, singing his usual mixture of punk and pop hits, making both genres work perfectly side by
side. With his new single and an album track, Adam showed us that he is well and truly back.

Once the performance was over, we made our way upstairs to meet the man himself. There was a bar so we could have something
to drink whist waiting our turn and band members walked among us chatting and posing for photographs. I had my photo taken
with Joe and Georgie Girl, both of whom came across incredibly well during our brief chat

Then came my moment, I had some questions about lyrics that I wanted to ask. I, obviously, wanted to tell him how amazing I
thought he was, I wanted to ask about his comeback and new album, how he felt the Press were treating him this time around, so
many questions – could I get a chance to photograph him with my DSLR? Any news on the unreleased Persuasion album? Would
he say “hello” to me on twitter? Would he do an interview for this website? What does he think about people taking photos and
videos at gigs? (of which I am guilty)…..

I walked towards Adam and he put his hand out to shake mine, I put my right hand into his and found my left hand going onto
his shoulder as I said “Hello Adam, thank you so much for this, it means so much to me!” “You’re very welcome.” he said as I
turned into jelly. “I’ve got a question” I said, struggling to know what to say. “In Hampstead you sing ‘I was down The Venture,
knocking two bits of wood together’, well I’ve searched the internet for The Venture in Hampstead and can’t find anything?”
Adam smiled and said, “It’s the adventure playground.” His voice was soft and quiet, which surprised me even though I have seen
him interviewed on numerous occasions. “I was down the ‘venture playground knocking two bits of wood together” “Thank you”
was my reply, “I have wondered about that for so long.”

I had received an email that morning from Movember, the charity promoting awareness of men’s health issues, about sending in
photos taken with a celebrity, so I mentioned this to Adam and had a photo taken with us pointing to my moustache. That was
it. I, again, told him how amazing he was, had a hug and off I went. I didn’t get him to sign anything and I didn’t get to chat about
anything of importance but I got to meet my idol, I had an amazing time and I floated out of Shepherds Bush Empire on cloud
nine.

Adam Ant Cool Zombie is out now and his new album Adam Ant Is The Blueblack Hussar In Marrying The Gunner’s Daughter is due
for release on 21st January.

Published by Kind Permission of Rob Fossey

Short URL: http://80slegends.com/?p=1693

Posted by 80sHog on Dec 8 2012 Filed under 80's Buzz, Headline. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry