Concorde2, 1 May 2010
You can’t not remember Ash. They were, like, so cool for a month or so, but not in a one hit wonder manner, more like a writer-starts-epic-trilogy-and-sort-of-forgets-to-finish-it scenario, or so it would seem. Where have they been the last ten years? To all of us non-extremist fans they seemed to just disappear off the face of the earth and we never even noticed they were gone until suddenly they were headlining a sold out gig at the Concorde 2.
The gig started uncommonly early for this city and after a notably enjoyable support act Ash came on at eight to play a two hour set. Starting off with some old classics and finishing with some less remembered numbers of late that displayed all the characteristics of those (three) Ash classics we know so well, but with a sort of refined and updated presence. The band have gone from young rockers with mild attitudes to grown men with muscles and beards.
With the obvious difference to their sound being the absence of the female vocals and guitar sounds (provided by Charlotte Hatherley who was asked to leave after nine years!) they now sound a bit like background music for a bar scene in Smallville or The OC, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The light show was pretty and they were as tight as one would expect for a band who had been together so long. You might suppose that all their massive fans and everyone here were 24 when Ash had that mainstream phase. There were lots of khaki wearing, leather jacket holding thirty-somethings swaying with their eyes shut and mouthing the lyrics whilst a few confused people who’d obviously not gotten the memo about the early start asked around for anyone who knew when they were going to play ‘Shining Light’.
It has been a struggle for them over the last eighteen years of their existence, controversy over band members and many almost-last albums released, but they’re still here. The band has actually sold 8 million albums world wide. Ash aren’t a whirlwind romance on the British music scene, they’re a long sustained marriage built on their love of music and commitment to their art. So really there is no need to be cynical about their lack of consistency, if anyone deserves a sell out gig at the Concorde 2, it’s them. Oh and they’re Irish yeah, not American, just in case you didn’t realise this.
Words by Kate Elliott
myspace.com/ash
