Ash – They’ve Still Got It
Published
Ash roll back the years on the south coast, with storming Reading Festival warm-up
June 1997. Britpop is still going strong and my favourite band Ash are playing their Glastonbury warm-up in my home town of Portsmouth – but I can’t get a ticket.
Fast forward 18 years and I’ve got a second chance to see them at the city’s Wedgewood Rooms. But this isn’t just a nostalgic reunion tour – Ash have got a new album out, 'Kablammo', and are getting ready for Reading and Leeds festivals.
The new songs stand up well against the old classics, with the highlights being 'Cocoon', an instantly hummable summer anthem, and the stomping 'Go! Fight! Win!' But none of the fresh tracks sound out of place on a setlist crammed with hits.
Predictably, it’s the hits that everyone is here to see, and the band happily obliges, broad grins on their faces. If Ash are fed up of playing tunes that are 20 years old, it doesn’t show. At one point in the set, someone in the crowd shouts: “You’ve still got it!” and Tim Wheeler just laughs and launches into the next song with his trademark enthusiasm.
Ash alternate the old numbers with the new, and the only problem seems to be what to leave out. So while 'Jack Names the Planets' makes a welcome appearance, personal favourites 'Petrol' and 'Angel Interceptor' don’t make the cut. But no matter – 'Kung Fu' gets everyone bouncing, and the audience sings every word to 'Oh Yeah' and 'Shining Light'.
'Walking Barefoot' has me doing what I haven’t done in years – head to the front to the (rather polite) moshpit. And then Tim sings the opening lines to 'Girl From Mars' and all hell breaks loose. Well, a room full of thirty-somethings start jumping around quite a lot.
Ash don’t need much urging to come back for their encore, first playing 'Return of White Rabbit', the only weak link in the set when the crowd’s attention starts to wander.
But they’ve saved the best for last with closer 'Burn Baby Burn', which sounds as potent as ever. While bigger Britpop behemoths have fallen by the wayside, Ash have carried on doing what they have always done, writing great tunes and catchy melodies, without any pretension. It’s no wonder Tim Wheeler has been called the indie Brian Wilson.
I start dancing with a random woman in the moshpit, and at the end of the gig we high-five each other. “I feel 20 years younger,” she shouts.
Me too. Thanks Ash for taking me back in time, if only for one evening.
To find out more about Ash click here.
To visit the Ash Facebook page click here.
Words by Madeleine Armstrong, pictures by Ila Desai
COMMENTS
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Sounds amazing!
