Adam Green, Hornstull Strand, Stockholm

‘Hey guys. Anyone fancy seeing Adam Green tonight?’

‘Oh you know. He had that song a few years back called Dance With Me?’

‘No, no, not Dizzee Rascal! He also did that acoustic version of What A Waster?’

‘He’s the guy out of The Moldy Peaches?!’

‘You know, they did the song out of Juno that goes Du du-du-du du-du-du du-du-du du?’

‘Bingo!’

Adam Green must have one of those faces, though when he hits the stage tonight at Stockholm’s Strand club in a tight leather jacket minus shirt and sporting mid-riff he’s unmistakable as the guy who once brought us ‘Who’s Got The Crack?’. Kicking off in Vaudeville-style with ‘Drugs’, a tale of the trials and tribulations of when his lady threw his drugs away (‘hey!’). He’s similarly snarky when introducing new song ‘Give Them A Token’ as ‘When Your Dick’s Only Five Inches Long’, tongue firmly in butt-cheek.

From this point onwards, Adam Green the anti-folk troubadour starts to sound more like Adam Green the rock ‘n’ roller, as the fuzzy and clashing guitar of his touring band at points verges on New York Dolls tribute band territory, fronted by a vocalist who’s coughing up the remnants of Jules et Jim (Casablancas and Morrison).

The more upbeat songs like ‘Emily’ and ‘Buddy Bradley’ go down well, but by the middle of the set the ADHD performance by a dude who is clearly under the influence of blue Smarties reaches a new level of intimacy; complete with an acoustic version of ‘We’re Not Supposed To Be Lovers’. His best is saved for last with a climax of ‘Dance With Me’, The Divine Comedy-esque ‘Morning After Midnight’ and the ‘harrowing’ ode to the fake death of Jessica Simpson, where he hands vocal duties to a crowd member to bludgeon in the style of a bad X Factor audition.

Green’s knack for working an audience, if it wasn’t already clear from his penchant for crowd surfing almost every other song, is particularly brilliant on the follow up ‘Computer Show’ - he gets the crowd to sing echoes and closes the song with a robotic-sounding regurgitation of the coda, which leaves the floor in stitches. Skits like this, and his attempts to ‘air limbo’, ballet dance and even kiss one of the front-row female trendies are touches that keep everyone’s beer goggles peeled for his next move in what can only be described as a rock n roll show, with a twist of anti-folk and irreverence for good measure.

Based on this evening’s proceedings then, it’s a wonder why more music lovers don’t know about Adam Green, but maybe it’s not so bad that they don’t. This is a man who, after all, is not built to compromise and is the epitome of what ‘anti’ should be, even if he sounds less ‘folk’ these days. He sums it up best himself with one off the cuff line - ‘I’ll be playing songs that I want to play because I want to play them’. Make no mistake, Adam Green is a complete and utter fruitcake when it comes to a live show, but every now and again, everybody needs to try a Moldy Peach.