Ash Gipsy Hill Tavern, Upper Norwood 16/11/09
4/5
By: Tom Hocknell
With the departure of Charlotte Hatherley in 2006, Ash lost some depth to their live sound. Unfazed by that, and dwindling album sales, they have stumbled upon a new plan: to release only singles, once a fortnight, while touring off-map places in the UK in order of the alphabet. Tonight, having kicked off their A-Z tour with Aldershot in October, they reach U, or Upper Norwood. It’s actually Gipsy Hill; Gloucester must never find out. To a crowd of giddy fans, and disoriented regulars, they open up with ‘Lose Control’ and ‘A Life Less Ordinary’, and barely pause for breath until the end, increasingly coming across like an Irish Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. With the departure of the girl, the boys have gone rock.
Despite the small venue, plenty of the crowd cannot see, a fact not escaping Tim Wheeler, who hopes people can see them, “but for those who can’t, we’re wearing incredible shoes”, before launching into the heavy rock of ‘Meltdown’. New song ‘Space Shot’ swaggers across treated guitar and reveals once again Ash are strangely indebted to space (travel), without which half their songs would be instrumentals, not that the lyrics are partially discernible tonight; nor does it matter. The hits shuffle well with recent singles, although the dirge of ‘Sometimes’ plods in search of a melody, words and a tune. Not that the crowd is letting that, or the fact it’s Monday night, bother them. London’s North / South divide is also clearly in the house, with not a single hand going up to Wheeler enquiring who was at the Queen’s Park gig last week. Not all the new material clicks, with the full-band debut of ‘Tracers’ being politely ignored, although the recent, keyboard hook-laden, single ‘Arcadia’ more than compensates, as does the blistering ‘Return of the White Rabbit’.
Ash have rumbled a good thing, not that they need to, but if you play places other bands don’t, you will be loved for it; it’s almost impossible to play a bad gig when the last event attracting a crowd involved the WI. And they, for a band 15 years into their career, appear to have rediscovered their muse. Most tellingly, with the anthemic precision of ‘Burn Baby Burn’ ringing in our ears, they leave the stage tonight apparently wishing there were more letters in the alphabet.
Photography copyright Josh Kletzkin 2009
Artists in this article: Ash
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