Ash and The Subways take over Rock City on their co-headline tour...
The gig begins with a what might be considered a surprise. Most support acts are young bands, learning their trade. But tonight we get a band made up of seasoned professionals in the guise of Jealous Nostril. Yes, that is Johnny Borrell of Razorlight fame on guitar and vocals. He’s still frontman to the Brit Award nominated band, but this is his side project with Jack Flanagan (bass) of Mystery Jets and Ellis D (drums) of Strange Cages.
They’ve gelled quickly as a band and they look and sound good together. They play Lovebomb, Paper Scissor Needle, Kink in the King, Stop & Stop, California is Their Kryptonite, Everyday NDA and Cry Cry. They’re well received by the knowledgeable, enthusiastic and appreciative Rock City audience.
The Subways are a force of nature. They don’t see to have aged since I saw them back in 2005 when they were riding a wave of success on the release of their debut album Young for Eternity, which is now of course almost twenty years old! Their music is loud, aggressive and full of punk rock angst. It’s great! They open with Oh Yeah and Young for Eternity.
Billy Lunn has a huge smile on his face throughout. He’s loving gigging with his band and alongside Ash. Likewise, Charlotte Cooper is clearly really happy to be on stage.
They’ve toured and made music consistently since they formed and it’s obvious that they love what they do. And that they have a good fan base. The pair are extremely energetic and Lunn even crowd-surfs at the end of their set. Which is something you don’t see very often these days!
They play a range of tracks from their three albums plus a couple of more recently released songs Black Wax and Influencer Killed the Rockstar which Lunn says he wrote about an ex-friend who has given up on the music business to become a YouTube influencer which rightly prompts groans of dismay from the audience.
The Subways wow the crowd with We Don’t Need Money to Have a Good Time, I Want to Hear What You’ve Got to Say, At 1 AM, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and finish with Rock and Roll Queen.
Ash burst onto the stage and launch into two new songs Like a God and Race the Night. This is Ash like you’ve never heard them before, heavier, with great rock instincts. Frontman and guitarist Tim Wheeler says that they were once banned from Rock City years ago, for an incident that it appears involved the improper use of fire extinguishers. He doesn’t tell the entire story, bassist Mark Hamilton fills in a few more details, but it’s still a bit of a mystery what actually happened. Thankfully everything is now forgiven and Ash are back playing live in Nottingham.
Goldfinger and A Life Less Ordinary are well received by the audience as are Orpheus and Confessions in the Pool that are regular set list songs. Likewise Shining Light, Kung Fu and Girl from Mars are all played to the joy of the crowd, songs that couldn’t be bumped off any Ash set list regardless of how many new tracks they play.
But the setlist is heavily influenced by the new album and in all they play eight new tracks including Usual Places, Reward in Mind, Olso, Peanut Brain Braindead, which I really enjoyed as I’d been listening to the new album quite a lot in the run up to the gig.
In what has been almost thirty years, guitar solos on Ash tracks are pretty rare, but the ferocious two minute long outro to Crashed Out Wasted is magnificent as Wheeler makes the guitar scream using each and every of the 24 frets available. It’s a joy to listen to on the CD, but to experience it live is heart pounding.
The encore begins with Oh Yeah and at this point the Subways are invited back to the stage to join Ash. It’s fitting to see both bands on stage, as this is a gig that could easily have been headlined by either outfit. Lunn, Cooper and Phillips are clearly having so much fun playing alongside Ash who they describe as their heroes. Wheeler thanks The Subways and Jealous Nostril for joining them on tour as The Subways depart the stage to allow Ash the final moments of the gig. Angel Interceptor and a blistering rendition of Burn Baby Burn which sees the crowd go wild bring the gig to a close.
Ash and The Subways performed at Rock City on 3 October 2023.
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