Live Review: Ash - Norwich
17th February 2025
Support: Bag of Cans
Words & Photos: Tom Atkin
It's a lovely return to Epic Studios tonight for the much anticipated return of some local greats and world famous rock legends. With it being a mid-week show, plus very cold and drizzly, the sold out venue seems to have a pretty sparse queue. That soon changed though, with said queue pretty quickly extending along the side of the building, along with the pre show VIP bar filling up nicely. That’s a nice touch from the venue, whilst it is a decent sized VIP area, it doesn’t take too long for said attendees to get through security before General Attendance can enter.
Following suit of several other gigs of late, a live DJ is the first “support” act. Generally it seems as though this is a great method of getting crowds in the mood early on with the crowd filling out very quickly to the sounds of some nostalgic hits from around the time that Ash really made it big. There are punters from all ages singing along and already creating a brilliant atmosphere for the night.
First band tonight is local legends Bag of Cans who enter the stage dressed as Henry Hoovers. This starts their performance incredibly well with people already happy to see them. By now Epic Studios is filled front to back, with a large amount of people here to see them specifically as well.
They bring a very raw indie feel but with a lot of humour thrown in too. 'Hair Of The Dog' brings an initial vocal track that feels like it would be right at home on a record from The Streets. Listening to the lyrics, they feel very relatable with a bit of a mental breakdown in towards the end. This gets the crowd laughing, but at the same time seems like it would hit home for some.
Whilst they do like a bit of banter, this does not effect their performance one bit, if anything it makes them more relatable to the crowd. Everyone seems to be enjoying every single song, even 'Spin Cycle' a song about a washing machine…
Whilst they did seem to bring a lot of their own crowd of fans tonight, I am pretty certain, gauging by the reactions of people in the audience, that they have gained a fair few more, all smiling and a large percentage dancing as well.
Main event tonight are a band that has been going now for thirty years, a band that appeals to a vast collective of people juding by this evenings crowd.
Ash's tenure on the circuit has featured the same core members, and only an additional musicians here and there over their timeline. Recently Tim Wheeler has said that during the COVID times, the band got together to practice and it felt like they had got their love for it back. For many, tonight’s performance will be able to prove that.
This tour is in support of their latest release 'Ad Astra', So naturally the set opened with the albums instrumental intro 'Zarathustra' with guest trumpet from George Baker of Bag of Cans. Hitting straight in to the extremely catchy 'Fun People'. Straight away the atmosphere that had already been created during the night, is hitting a new peak, with their fans already singing along before Tim Wheeler takes control of the vocals.
Tim, Mark Hamilton and Rick McMurray look to be having the time of their life, they genuinely look like a band that are fresh in to the live music scene with how much enjoyment they are getting from performing to these 900-odd adoring fans. They make quips, engage with the crowd and just in general put on an absolutely flawless rock show.
It is not very often that you go to a show and the feel of it stays consistent throughout the whole night, there is no shift in mood between the different era’s of Ash which they touch on through the set. Their most popular hit 'Burn Baby Burn' with its legendary synthy intro combined with iconic riff, gets just as much of a reaction as the acoustic song from their latest album, 'My Favourite Ghost', which definitely brings the tempo down a fair amount.
With it being a two band bill, Ash have time for a mammoth nineteen songs, stretching all the way back to their first album with 'Angel Interceptor' and 'Oh Yeah', even throwing in their curveball cover of Harry Belafonte’s 'Jump In The Line', whilst changing the genre of the song and making it fit their sound so unbelievably well that you would be forgiven for thinking it is one their own.
This new era of Ash, is very much welcomed by both the fans and the band alike. Seeing a band that has been going for so long still looking as though they are loving every moment is refreshing. With their touring cycle including a stop off at Download in early June they are definitely doing something right!
Photo Credit: Tom Atkin
