The band celebrate 10 years of their smash hit album Free All Angels.
It’s been five years since Charlotte Hatherley was last seen sharing the stage with Ash, and here she was again teaming up with the Northern Irish trio once more on the band’s Free All Angels tour, which kicked off with six dates in Dublin last week. Celebrating a decade since the release of this fine album, the band are embarking on live shows across the UK and Ireland by playing the album in its entirety.
Due to an early curfew of 10PM at Bristol Academy (for reasons I can’t quite comprehend), the foursome enter on stage at 8:20PM to rapturous applause from a packed out venue, whose crowd blatantly include fans who have been with Ash from the very beginning (and one of the first gigs I have ever been to where the rest of the concert goers have either been the same age as me or older; though frustratingly, Wheeler does not appear to have aged!) Wheeler welcomes the crowd and almost immediately comments on how a person in the crowd has already proposed marriage to Hatherley. Asking if this is Hatherley’s first on stage proposal, she simply states “no” before the band kick things off with the brilliant effortless harmonious album opener Walking Barefoot. The band do as promised and play the whole album front to back. Arguably one of the best tracks of the band’s history, Shining Light shortly follows which sees Hatherley take over lead guitar duties, which continues throughout the gig, and has the crowd in full sing-a-long mode (and this is only the second song.)
Wheeler stands on stage singing his heart out to a very impressed and appreciative crowd, and takes the time out on more than one occasion to thank the crowd and have a little chat. Halfway through the album set, Wheeler comments on how most of the songs they would continue to play haven’t actually been played in ten years. With this, the band prove they can provide the most rockiest of songs and thought provoking ballads by engulfing into further album tracks Candy, Cherry Bomb, Submission and the beautiful string fest that is Someday. So far, this live performance of the album has been sound perfect to the point where you could almost close your eyes and think without doubt that you are listening to the CD. The band can do no wrong. More album belters ensue with the likes of Sometimes and the gorgeous There’s A Star. It’s not long before the album performance is due to come to an end, and as the band finish off with album closer World Domination, Wheeler informs us that they will be back with some more classics. True to his word, the band return to the stage with deafening effects from the crowd. Ash do what they do best and deliver some more hits, including old favourites such as Oh Yeah, Goldfinger and of course, what the band are undoubtedly most well-known for, Girl from Mars. The second set also includes more singles that has the crowd fully pumped and excited to the max, including tracks performed during Hatherley’s stint in the band, such as A Life Less Ordinary and Orpheus.
After telling the crowd they’ve had a really good night (Wheeler looked genuinely pleased to be up on stage throughout the show), the band say their ‘goodbyes’, before obviously coming back onto stage with their encore. Wheeler tells us that they really have to quick, what with their 10PM curfew looming (it is somewhere around 9:50PM at this stage). A couple more tunes are belted out for us, with the band ending their full set on the corker that is Kung Fu, much to the crowd’s excitement. It is now that the foursome, with around one minute to spare, take their final bows. Beaming from ear to ear, you can see that they have all had the best time, and probably wondered ‘what took you so long, Charlotte?’ I’m by no means saying that she made the performance any better, but she definitely did seem to complete the three lads. Ash – it was a pleasure. Plus walking off to The Trammps Disco Inferno (Burn Baby Burn) was a cracker.
My-Yen Butler
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spot on review – they were awesome!!