Adam Ant Live Concert London 19/4/14

As part of Record Store Day, Adam Ant (real name Stuart Goddard) was performing his debut album Dirk Wears White Socks in its entirety to commemorate its 25th anniversary. The ageing audience were there for a reminder of the day, they rushed out to buy the vinyl record upon its original release in 1979.

Nervous anticipation about his ability to perform and confidence, we're swiped away as he came on stage like a swaggering pirate, in oversized hat, dark glasses and leather jacket. Performances earlier that day at Rough Trade on Portobello Road and Berwick Street, had him ready to give the audience just what they had come for, a night of nostalgia and anarchy, but also a bit of fun.

The punk attitude of the album, was delivered with sincerity and songs like Digital Tenderness were met with fists in the air and on Cleopatra, girls on shoulders. The audience continued to turn it up a notch during The Day I Met God, with someone crowd surfing over the barrier.

Scathing into his latter material, the new romantic style became clearer and the anarchist on stage was replayed with a sexualised performance of Whip My Valine, with a simulated strip tease behind a changing screen which had some fans screaming like teenage girls.

He had lost none of the charisma of his heyday as he danced around, and he took to the songs Stand And Deliver and Ant Music with the hunger of his younger self, delivering a solid vocal performance clearing the drum heavy tracks. He acknowledged the two original members on stage, drummer Dave Barbarossa and bassist Leigh Gordman, who were interlaced with a young band including a fierce female percussionist with huge 80s teased out hair, which brought the songs to life.

The raucousness of the evening only simmered during Ant's covers of Get It On and 20th Century Boy by T-Rex, however the audience still paid attention to his anecdote of Marc Bolan, appreciating their hero referencing one of his own. Any other chatting between songs was kept to a minimum, with only a few digs at the media whose recent review said Ant had lost his way which caused his daughter to cry, he sniped "he'd rather be making the news than writing the news."

Dirk Wears White Sox was a lesson in artful rebellion, and the Peter Pan of punk casts maturity aside to revel in banned singles The Day I Met God and Catholic Day. "Every word of this song is true," Ant says of Cleopatra. "If you find it prurient or sexist, I don't care." Resplendent in Napoleonic hat and Seditionaries' shirt, he slaps a black leather-clad thigh and jolts, spins and jumps to the twisted pop of Nine Plan Failed and fractured funk of The Idea. Although there's a hint of Norman Wisdom in his pantomime moves, Ant recreates his past studiously, and it only takes a hip thrust and a coy look to recall what a peerless pop star he is.

Tonight there was no chance of past or recent troubles affecting the music, as the band charged through the set and Ant's own stage moves shifted between pop performance and rockstar which kept the cult of adoring fans happy for two hours. The gig ended with a bow after the final song Physical, which would be the best way to describe the intensity Adam Ant had displayed. He may have his demons, but for his audience tonight and his attending mum, he seemed to at least put them at bay for now.