|
Ash Setlist
10/06/15 Portland, OR McMenamins Lola's
Read More10/08/15 San Francisco, CA Rickshaw Stop 10/09/15 Filter Magazine's Culture Collide 10/10/15 San Diego, CA Music Box 11/16/15 Amsterdam, Netherlands Melkweg 11/17/15 Cologne, Germany Bürgerhaus Stollwerck 11/19/15 Stockholm, Sweden Debaser Strand 11/20/15 Oslo, Norway John Dee 11/21/15 Copenhagen Pumpehuset Club 11/23/15 Hamburg, Germany Grunspan 11/24/15 Berlin, Germany Columbiaclub 11/26/15 Munich, Germany Backstage 11/27/15 Bologna, Italy Covo Club 11/28/15 Vienna, Austria FLEX 11/29/15 Zurich, Switzerland Plaza 12/01/15 Paris, France Petit Bain 12/02/15 Bristol Bristol Bierkeller 12/03/15 London O2 Shepherds Bush 12/04/15 Newcastle Riverside 12/05/15 Newcastle Riverside 12/06/15 Glasgow ABC1 12/08/15 Manchester The Ritz 12/09/15 Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall 12/10/15 Sheffield The Leadmill 12/12/15 Norwich Waterfront 12/13/15 Brighton Concorde 2 12/14/15 Cardiff Plas Nightclub 12/15/15 Dublin Olympia Theatre 12/17/15 Galway Roisin Dubh 12/18/15 Cork Cyprus Avenue 12/19/15 Limerick Dolans Warehouse 12/20/15 Belfast Belfast Empire Music
|
Veteran Northern Irish band Ash did something they said they wouldn’t do again—
… and we’re all the better for it.
With their last major project, The A- Z Series, the band released 26 singles at the rate of one every two weeks, and at the same time said they would not release any more full albums. Flash forward a couple years and Kablammo! a new album has surfaced.
Not just a sound effect, that’s the title of the album that was first crowdfunded on PledgeMusic, then released physically on earMusic. Ash bassist Mark Hamilton seemed happy to be back to doing albums, saying the resurgence of vinyl and people streaming more than just a song, has helped return their faith to the long-playing format. As a result, the band has embarked on another US/UK tour, reclaiming old fans and gaining new ones along the way.
Local trio Maudlin opened the evening, in what was a sort of re-emergence for them as well. The band has been around for the better part of a decade, with husband/wife team David and Priscilla Priebe taking a little time away to expand the family, and now joined by drummer Whelan Keen on a Donovan tribute single and new release of their own, scheduled for 2016.
The band play a familiar yet ear-worthy blend of guitar-fronted indie rock, with vocals traded between both Priebes on songs like ‘Block by Block’, ‘Six/Eight’, and set closer, ‘Stacy Dahl’.
Ash took to the stage for their 65 min set in true kablammo style, opening big and loud with ‘Evel Knievel’ and ‘Cocoon’, both being songs from the new album with singer Tim Wheeler’s Flying V guitar turned to 11. The wayback machine then dialed back to 1994 for ‘Jack Names the Planets’ and 1997’s title track to the film ‘A Life Less Ordinary’- hard to believe it’s been over two decades since the band (Tim Wheeler – lead vocals, guitar, ; Mark Hamilton – bass; Rick McMurray- drums) first started.
“The next one is from an album in 1996… confusing called 1977” Wheeler said, intro-ing ‘Goldfinger’, one of 18 of their singles that went Top 40 in the UK charts. Their “incredible light show” was debuted during 1996’s ‘Kung Fu’, a cheeky comment on the low budget effects that the intimate venue could best provide.
In terms of a live show, the band still has the energy shown those two decades ago, and the new album helps capture that live element, on record. A guitar change later, the new ‘Machinery’ brought soaring riffs and licks then set closer, ‘Girl from Mars’ had most in the crowd pogo-ing in place.
Encore ‘Burn Baby Burn’ effectively drowned out the three-band hard rock show going on elsewhere in the club and the band was generous enough to stick around after, to meet and greet the loyal fan base. So, a toast and welcome back to Ash- to their return of making albums again, to their noisy-good live shows, and for being the good guys to get to know, that they are.
… and we’re all the better for it.
With their last major project, The A- Z Series, the band released 26 singles at the rate of one every two weeks, and at the same time said they would not release any more full albums. Flash forward a couple years and Kablammo! a new album has surfaced.
Not just a sound effect, that’s the title of the album that was first crowdfunded on PledgeMusic, then released physically on earMusic. Ash bassist Mark Hamilton seemed happy to be back to doing albums, saying the resurgence of vinyl and people streaming more than just a song, has helped return their faith to the long-playing format. As a result, the band has embarked on another US/UK tour, reclaiming old fans and gaining new ones along the way.
|
Maudlin Setlist |
Maudlin
|
|
Tim Wheeler |
“The next one is from an album in 1996… confusing called 1977” Wheeler said, intro-ing ‘Goldfinger’, one of 18 of their singles that went Top 40 in the UK charts. Their “incredible light show” was debuted during 1996’s ‘Kung Fu’, a cheeky comment on the low budget effects that the intimate venue could best provide.
Ash Setlist
|
Encore ‘Burn Baby Burn’ effectively drowned out the three-band hard rock show going on elsewhere in the club and the band was generous enough to stick around after, to meet and greet the loyal fan base. So, a toast and welcome back to Ash- to their return of making albums again, to their noisy-good live shows, and for being the good guys to get to know, that they are.
|
Ash at Nether Bar, Minneapolis (30 Sept 2015) |
Comments