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Reviewing a band who you grew up listening to can be difficult. Groups like Ash provided the soundtrack to my early teens and their albums from this time hold a special place in my heart. The problem is that your memories of Ash are so intrinsically linked to a time and a place that your views on everything they have done since are clouded by subjectivity. I feared that our intra performance conversation would go something like,
"What's this noise? I don't recognise it. Who's that poseur on the bass? Why don't they play Girl from Mars?" etc... And sadly it did.
Firstly though, the positives, of which there were many. Tim Wheeler is an amiable chap with a great voice. He really did the tunes justice in the live arena, which anyone whose ever had the displeasure of witnessing a James Dean Bradfield solo gig will tell you is disturbingly rare. The production was impressive (kudos to the lights man, a master of strobe) and for a three piece, they made one hell of a racket - meaning that you didn't have to push right through to the front in order to feel truly apart of proceedings. And then there were the tunes, many of which feel as fresh today as they did ten years ago. The old favourites like Girl from Mars, Walking Barefoot and Burn Baby Burn are still rollicking live numbers and the anthemic ballads which made Free All Angels such a success have real emotional clout.
However, one can't help but feel that when Charlotte Hatherley left, she took the big bag of tunes with her. The newer songs, while perfectly passable, just don't resonate. They are steady, middle lane hoggers that aren't melodic enough to sing along to and not rocking enough to dance to. Also, considering they've been around since 1992, you'd think they'd be masters of reading the crowd, knowing what to play and when to play it, gradually bringing the audience to boil. Sadly not. Whenever an up tempo crowd pleaser was in order, they seemed to serve up the exact opposite, a highly frustrating trait which lead to a mass spectator exodus during the second song of the encore, a turgid indie ballad which sounded a bit too much like Embrace for this reviewer's liking.
Despite these criticisms, it was an enjoyable and polished performance by a band who on their day, are capable of great things. The Union is a handily located venue with excellent acoustics and a certain sheen to its interior which makes it more sophisticated than most other university venues. In fact, you wouldn't think it was university run until you look down at the floor and realise that it is the same delightful, nineteen seventies brown that gives Goodricke dining hall its retro character. he beer isn't cheap and they don't serve Guinness but there is no on the door search policy so smuggling in a can or two is easily possible!
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