A show like no other
With a packed out show at the Roundhouse on September 5th, Ash added a second London date in their recent tour, and as it turns out, this was a record-breaking performance. Ash has officially played the Astoria more than any other band. With a show that was 15 minutes short of two hours, it’s likely to be two of the most well spent hours of my life. I never paid much awareness to Ash in the past, but after witnessing this performance, I’m going to be paying more attention to the Northern Ireland threesome.
The band made this performance a ‘1977’ bonanza with each of the twelve song from the 1996 release being performed, along with a few b-sides including ‘Cantina Band’, covers such as ‘Teenage Kicks’ and ‘A Life Less Ordinary’ originally recorded by Tim Simenon as well as a few memorable numbers ‘Shining Light’ and ‘Burn Baby Burn’ with each getting loud crowd responses. Possibly the most exciting and memorable element for me was the bands amazing rendition of the Dusty Springfield classic ‘I Only Wanna Be With You’.
As well as singing extremely powerful numbers such as the electric ‘Innocent Smile’ there were the slower ‘Gone The Dream’ and touching ‘Lost In You’, which supposedly got people a little teary the night before. The crowd favourites from ‘1977’ had to be the ‘Girl From Mars’ and ‘Oh Yeah’ as they really got screams and the audiences clapping and singing along.
This special ‘1977’ show gave the guy the opportunity to perform tracks that they haven’t had the chance to sing live in a while. What made them that much more magnificent was the lighting surrounding the songs. The flashing multicoloured lights got the crowd shook up; they even had the band name sweeping across the stage in pure white. The mirror ball lights however made it a magical experience, especially on performances of ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Dark side Light side’.
This is an album highly referencing a big year for the band, mainly being the fact Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was released, which was evident in their stage performance with four or five very large Stormtroopers bringing the band on for an encore.
Tim Wheeler stated the Astoria is the “best venue to play in the world” and by their performance and the reception they received last night I have no doubt in this statement. I may even go as far as saying this is possibly the most alive gig I have attended since I joined room Thirteen.