Apologies for the lateness in replying to this, life has been a bit hectic for me lately
The show was good, but the real revelation was listening to “Kings of the Wild Frontier “again with ears that are 30 years older and with 30 years wiser. Although I listened to in non stop when I was 12 I soon stopped , both being put off by the Prince Charming nonsense, and by becoming a pretentious punk who only listened to the “Authentic” first album, dismissing Kings as pop. My loss
Having not heard anything off it other than the occasional radio play of Antmusic since the 80s I listened to it again before the show, and was completely blown away by the sheer craft that went into it, for just 1 bass and 1 guitar the arrangements are
awesome, and the rhythms and percussion work are just sublime. I never really realised how ground-breaking it was at the time, it being my first foray into music. Listening to it now, being able to pick out what was bass and what was guitar etc made me realise how formative it had been on my appreciation of music to come. Ironically what turned me on as a kid, the lyrics, are the element that has not stood the test of time, seeming to me now to be really cheesy
Going back to the live show, it was a shame they had a rhythm guitarist this time as it wasn’t really needed, especially as Adam played a third guitar on many songs.
The most amazing thing was the drumming, I had always assumed the two drummers shtick was a gimmick, that they both played the same parts, but seeing them live was hypnotic, one drummer played a regular rock drum line, and then on top of that, this awesome chick in a cat suit with a giant blonde beehive played the most amazing, constant poly-rhythms on the toms. It was hypnotic to watch and hear
So yeah , really enjoyed it
