Ah yes, those heady lazy days in the 90’s, a carefree world where the biggest worry was when to ask Sarah Jenkins in 9B out on a date and how to avoid double maths on a Tuesday. This was when Ash blasted out of our hi-fis and everything was alright.

That’s exactly how I felt at the Concord 2 as Ash hammered through a decade or so of hits to a crowd that felt exactly the same. We were all older than we should be to listen to this kind of thing, but we didn’t care as we were treated to Ash’s first gig in eight months.

This Northern Irish trio have had a troubled few years. They ditched their fourth member, guitarist Charlotte Hatherley, released the commercial and critical flop Nu-Clear Sounds and experimented with making horror movies (featuring Chris Martin running around in his boxers, a horror only surpassed by his smug do-gooding).

It seems the band have learnt how to have fun again, a smile plastered over lead Tim Wheeler’s face through most of the gig, and all of them clearly enjoying themselves and glad to be back on the stage.

Older tracks from the band got the best response from the crowd. Girl From Mars was an early highlight, with Wheeler cheerfully exclaiming it was the first time they’d played it live since it was in the charts. Kung Fu got the crowd jumping and Wheeler sweaty, followed by similarly upbeat A Life Less Ordinary and Oh Yeah. This was followed by the more chilled Twilight of the Innocents, giving the crowd a break and beer buying time. With vocal cords lubricated everyone could happily sing along and sway to Shining Light, the climax of the evening.

The band’s new material, more electronic and slightly darker than their youthful hits was less well received, but this was probably due to simple unfamiliarity. Their new single,Return of White Rabbit, a prequel to a set of 27 singles to be released two weeks apart from this September, is a grittier affair, dirty gloopy bass chords overlaid with sparky electronic tit bits and repetitive shouty chorus. It’s a new direction for the band and it will be interesting to see how their nostalgic fans will respond to being yanked out of their nice familiar 90s safety blanket and shoved into 2009.

Photos : Matthew Hodson – www.bitbin.co.uk
Words : Lewis Merdler

Words and Photographs by Matthew Hodson (www.matthewhodson.com)