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This has been Antony’s big year. The release of ‘I am a Bird Now’ really set something off, and he’s become something of a sensation, to which the Mercury Music Prize was a kinda crowning glory. But he was gaining fans well before then. This gig and the previous night’s gig sold out before he won the prize! On the night it was all perfect. The sound was perfectly balanced and was as crisp as a bag of Kettle Chips. Antony’s quavering voice was just right, and didn’t hit a bum note all evening. The assorted Johnsons on stage are a fine band of highly proficient musicians, working in perfect harmony, bringing new life to Antony’s already wonderful songs. Speaking of which, Antony knows what’s made him. He played ‘I am a Bird Now’ in its entirety. He even sung a version of the odd little ‘skit’ Free at Last, before launching into a beautiful version of Hope There’s Someone. That was just before the encore, which was demanded with unusual (for a London gig) vigour by the rapturous crowd. He’s an affable stage presence too, standing up for the benefit of some short people downstairs who couldn’t see him well, making us chuckle with his affected, self-deprecating humour, and using us as a 2000-strong set of backing vocalists for his first encore – a new ‘pagan’ song called ‘trust your mother’. I love it in a gig where beyond the songs you expect to hear, you hear something new that stops you dead and sends a shiver down your spine. Not being that familiar with Antony’s older recordings, this happened several times, and no more so than on his goosebump-inducing rendition of Fell in Love With a Dead Boy. Wow. And he gave us a couple of amazing covers – there was Leonard Cohen’s ‘The Guest’, and the Velvet Underground’s ‘Candy Says’ which rounded off a wonderful gig.
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