GiggingNI.com

Ash

With Panama Kings;

A frostily freezing Thursday evening set the backdrop for the homecoming gig of local rockers Ash, who had chosen to conclude their Alphabetical UK tour in native Northern Ireland, and more specifically Belfast's Spring and Airbrake.

Ash, led out by Tim Wheeler, entered amidst smoke to a venue where every square inch had been utilised, primarily by countless pairs of grubby Chucks that adorned the feet of an unsurprisingly mature audience. And the sound of excitement certainly reflected the vast numbers, though it was significantly difficult to decipher which party was most pleased to see the other, as Tim's bright blue eyes sparkled with pride at the glorious reception of his loyal locals.

'Lose Control' kicked off what promised to be an incredible evening. And despite a slight hiccup just moments into the playlist, where Mr Wheeler halted proceedings to reprimand a security guard unnecessarily punishing his fans, the concert ran smoothly, as would be expected. I must say, it was somewhat refreshing to be in the company of a group who have a mutual loyalty for their supporters.

Following on from the opening track, it seemed that the wildly successful '1977' would be the order of the evening, as 'Kung Fu,' 'Oh Yeah,' 'Girl From Mars,' and 'Goldfinger,' all followed, arguably receiving the uppermost decibels of the gig. Though the new tracks were not forgotten either, with recent releases 'Arcadia' and 'Tracers' receiving an electric and word perfect crowd response, providing the proof that Ash haven't lost their musical touch in their innovative concepts of 2009, which hopefully don't include the groovy moves of a certain bassist. He's flexible though, I'll give him that!

Even though the band didn't quite manage to outplay the two and a half hour mark which they had previously reached in the Spring and Airbrake, they did come extremely close. And, much to the delight of the "one more tune" brigade, Tim, Mark and Rick returned onstage with a five song encore, punctuated with the giant inflatable member of Niall Kennedy, and sealed with the fire of 'Burn Baby Burn'.