Ash / Panama Kings

Ash are currently on their A-Z tour, which sees them visiting 26 towns, each one starting with a letter of the alphabet. Starting out in Aldershot, tonight saw them reach the letter V and the town of Ventnor, a town on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, and the Winter Gardens, a venue perched on a windy cliff-top overlooking the English Channel.



First on were fellow Northern Irish band, the Panama Kings, who have supported Ash for this tour. After a bit of a shaky start, mostly down to sound issues, they settled into their stride and delivered a strong performance. Mixing solid rock riffs with occasional dance elements and good songwriting skills, they quickly engaged with the half-full auditorium warming up the slightly apathetic crowd for the main act.

Ash have been around for almost 20 years and this is their third visit to the Isle of Wight, having played the revived Isle of Wight Festival twice in recent years. The Winter Gardens is not the largest of venues but it seemed to fit Ash perfectly - the smaller stage suiting their raw and energetic pop punk sound. Opening with 'Lose Control', they worked their way through a set which had all their big hits, including probably their biggest hit 'Shining Light', making a welcome return having been missing from their live sets in previous tours.



As well as playing 26 dates following the alphabet, the band have eschewed the traditional album format and are releasing 26 singles (one every two weeks) over the next 12 months, and we were introduced to several of these. Some, like 'Arcadia' and 'Return of the White Rabbit' are very good indeed, however a couple of them felt more like album fillers than true singles, but the crowd didn't seem to notice and bounced and cheered their way along regardless.

Ash live is an interesting mix of excess and restraint, with Tim Wheeler standing one side of the stage hiding behind his mike, occasionally venturing out for the odd guitar solo. Fame came to this band at a young age and Tim still occasionally seems like a 15-year-old boy, slightly star struck from being thrust into the limelight. That said though, it's his vulnerability that helps add weight to the songs.

By contrast bassist Mark Hamilton, as the only non-singer on stage - freed from the constraints of the microphone - struts and poses, throwing his bass about him as if trying to prove his rock&roll credentials to the audience. It's as different an approach to Tim as you could get, and yet the two performers do gel together well with Mark never overwhelming Tim's more restrained performance.

With your attention mostly on these two, it's easy to forget that there is a third man on stage – Drummer Rick McMurray, who seems content to let the other two have the limelight and rounds out the band with solid drums and extra vocals.

Ash are a band that are at their best playing live and have a strong affection for the songs they write which comes through in the performance, and if you've never seen them live I'd urge you to go (you have four more dates to go on this tour at the time of writing this), especially if they are playing a smaller venue as this is definitely the best way to see them.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.