You know you’re starting to get on a bit when a band you remember breaking through as carefree teenagers are now pushing into their fifties. Whether Ash truly were part of the Britpop scene or merely coasting along on the waves that it created will depend on your point of view, but there’s no denying that thirty years ago they wrote some of the great indie-rock anthems of the era. Unlike many of their contemporaries they’ve soldiered on manfully since their commercial heyday, never doing anything as cliched as split up only to reform years later to renewed hype and payday… according to setlist.fm the last year they didn’t play a live show was 1992 (which coincidentally was the year they formed).
With studio album number nine, Ad Astra, recently released it was of course time for the boys from Downpatrick to hit the road yet again. Supporting its release with a two legged tour, a Sunday evening at Sheffield’s Foundry was my pick for catching up with the trio. Following the demise of the Leadmill, The Foundry has taken over as Sheffield’s premier small-medium sized venue, which has seen it attract a wide range of bigger names than one might expect for its size. Alongside this it is the one live music venue that I’ve found that sells Thatcher’s absolutely delicious blood orange cider, making it a place I’m always there well before support acts appear to make sure I have time to visit the bar.
On the subject of support acts, opening up for the evening was Isle of Wight’s Coach Party, sharing a stage once more with Ash same bill earlier in the year at Docksfest – with the between songs chat indicating a strong link had been formed between the two bands. With a set list focussed on recent somophore album Caramel the band’s indie-grunge sound felt crisper than on the previous occasions I’d witnessed them live, a positive sign ahead of next February’s headline tour, tickets for which can be found here.
When Ash emerge it’s to the strains of the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tim Wheeler plugging in and liberally applying power chords over the top of it to convert it to album opener Zarathustra. Whilst lead single Fun People may have slightly divided the fanbase on release, live it came to pass as a more cheery version of Ash classic Numbskull, although sadly Graham Coxon didn’t make it up to Sheffield to reprise his guest guitar and vocal duties.
From there on in the band embarked on a journey through their back catalogue alongside the occasional smattering of newer material, the likes of Kung Fu and A Life Less Ordinary still thrilling like they did thirty years ago – although disappointingly stand out track Angel Interceptor didn’t make the set. Whilst Tim may not be the most vocal of frontmen, his quip of “Sheffield Sex City – is that a real thing or just Jarvis being a perv?” elicited murmurs of laughter from those in attendance with a deep knowledge of Pulp‘s back catalogue.
Into the encore and fan favourite Lose Control saw a welcome return, introduced with a tantalisingly dropped reminder that 2026 will be thirty years since debut album 1977 was released… which sounds like an anniversary tour is very much on the cards. A blast through Burn Baby Burn then brought the evening to a thrilling conclusion, serving as a reminder that once upon a time the near fifty year olds were indeed top of the class when in comes to being able to produce blistering three minute radio friendly rock pop gems.
Ash performed:
Zarathustra
Fun People
Keep Dreaming
A Life Less Ordinary
Goldfinger
Wildsurf
Which One Do You Want?
Ad Astra
Shining Light
Oh Yeah
Deadly Love
Crashed Out Wasted
Jump in the Line
Buzzkill
Hallion
Orpheus
Kung Fu
Girl From Mars
***
My Favourite Ghost
Lose Control
Burn Baby Burn
Alex Reviews Gigs 
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