Adam Ant in concert: What does he do? Hits and more

To say that Adam Ant’s concert scheduled for Jacksonville last fall was delayed by weather is putting it mildly.

He was planning to play the Florida Theatre on Sept. 10 — until Hurricane Irma put an end to any chance of that happening.

“You were stopped in your tracks, and we were stopped in our tracks as well,” Ant said in a recent telephone interview from his home in London.

But the post-punk pop star rescheduled, and he’s set to perform at the theater Friday evening. The show is a continuation of his Anthems: The Singles tour.

Ant is bringing hits such as “Goody Two Shoes,” “Prince Charming” and “Vive Le Rock” with him, along with some lesser known tunes — the “B-sides,” or songs released on the same single but less likely to get radio play — he has recorded over the years.

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“We wanted to give them an opportunity to get heard,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of interest. I’ve had a lot of fun with them, the band enjoys playing them and the fans seem to enjoy it as well.”

Ant, now 63, was in his late 20s when he became a sensation in the United States.

Anybody who was around in the early 1980s and watching MTV was probably introduced to him through the video for “Goody Two Shoes.”

It was inspired by his first solo record following the 1982 breakup of the British new wave group Adam and the Ants. He performed the catchy, dance-rock tune dressed as a new wave pirate, which quickly became his signature look.

The song, Ant has said, was somewhat autobiographical. The refrain — “Don’t drink/Don’t smoke/What do you do?/Subtle innnuendos follow/There must be something inside” — was a dig at the media, which he found intrusive at times.

The role that MTV played in its success was not lost on him.

“It was enormously helpful,” he said. “It became another method of recording, really,” and a new way to introduce audiences to music before the performers came to town.

Thirty-five years later, he’s pleased to see that “Goody Two Shoes” is still a crowd-pleaser.

“It’s great,” he said. “It’s good that people pick up on it, and the wholesome energy of it really lifts up the evening.”

The song’s durability seems to reflect a larger appreciation for ’80s-era music and bands — dismissed for a period by critics — that Ant believes is now taking place.

But the music that Ant made before then, as well as the hits that gave him a much larger presence in the ’80s, has earned a new round of support since he began re-establishing his music career after a long period of absence as an entertainer.

“Adam Ant is back in top form on his latest, swashbuckling tour,” was the headline for a concert review in LA Weekly for a show in Los Angeles last February.

A reviewer for The Mercury News in San Jose, Calif., wrote that “Ant music never goes out of style” after watching Ant perform at the Fillmore in San Francisco the same month. “Some of the music still sounds ahead of its time,” the reviewer observed.

“It’s a great compliment,” Ant said when the comments were shared with him.

At the time, he said, he was trying hard to create his own distinctive music and “not sound like anybody else … Hopefully that’s paying off a bit.”

Ant toured extensively in the early ’80s, and played to massive audiences when he performed on NBC’s “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever” in 1983 (singing “Where Did Our Love Go?”) and at Live Aid in 1985 (singing “Vive Le Rock” at Wembley Stadium).

His final leg of concerts in ’85 included a show at the Florida Theatre.

At the end of the year, Ant took a break from music to pursue acting, and didn’t do a full concert again until 1993. After 1995, he didn’t perform again until 2011.

In the years between, he dealt with personal issues, most notably his long struggle with bi-polar disorder, which he wrote about in his 2006 autobiography, “Stand & Deliver.”

By 2010 he decided to make his way back musically, starting with low-key performances and modest tours, and gradually expanding each year.

“It was about playing live, and playing small places, and getting a love of music back, and not just doing one massive show and be done,” he said.

In 2013, Ant released his first album in 18 years. The title: “Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter.”

Music critics were generally enthusaistic and praised the album for its creativity and ambition, even if they found the results to be somewhat uneven.

But the reaction to Ant’s work onstage has been favorable, and reviews for last year’s concerts were consistently good.

Still, Ant said he doesn’t make a habit of following critics, even when they’re supportive.

“You hear various things from the band, but generally you focus on the concerts and hope that the people like it. It feels gratifying when they do, and that the people who pay their money go away happy and satisfied.

“I’m out there for the audience.”

David Crumpler: (904) 359-4164

Adam Ant

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Where: Florida Theatre, 128 E. Forsyth St.

Cost: $27.50-$49

Tickets: (904) 355-2787 or floridatheatre.com

Concert info