Ash
plus support: Snow Patrol
Manchester Academy
30/04/01

review by Ruth

After the praise for a couple of promising singles, I was expecting big things from Snow Patrol. Like a cross between Travis, the less twee side of Belle And Sebastian and the Cranberries (What? Okay, so I'm more talking about 'One Night Is Not Enough', than anything else, but...), but somehow that night they failed to impress me, sounding like a lot of bands I've heard before; indie with bits of samples thrown in. Maybe I'm being offhand with them, but it just didn't work for me I'm afraid. I'll give them another try next time.

Ash take to the stage backed by the giant angel logo of the new album, and a thousand people cheering in unison. Yet there seems to be nothing overblown and pompous about their stage set. The thing is, there's a kind of naturalness to Ash. While most of the alt rock fraternity swoon over the shapely hips of Tobey Torres or the aloof ice queen detachment of Hillary *spit* Woods, guitarist Charlotte Hatherly provides an altogether more accessible down to earth prototype rock chick; the kind of goddess you could go and talk to afterwards, but who would probably be quite handy to have around when things get vicious. A perfect complement to Tim then, during the guitar duel of their cover of 'Only In Dreams', as their guitars move as one during the ever increasing scale of melodic noise that collapses into the ending. Then there's durmmer Rick McMurray, the man who made geek chic punk, trapped at the back, and the bass complement in the form of Mark Hamilton's stage striding figure. And of course there's wonderful, gorgeous talented Tim, dreamboat and pop genius extraordinaire. Tim with the gorgeous body. Tim with the beautiful voice. Tim who write such heart rending teen love ballads as 'Girl From Mars', and yet get away with dedicating 'Submission' to "all the sexual deviants in the house". But you'll find now striking histrionics here, no giant dildoes or elevator lemons. It's simply the rotating spotlights and the packed out audience and fucking great music. The fuzzy grunge of 'Numbskull', the proto-punk of 'World Domination'... They even bring early single 'Petrol' out for an airing, leading to a fury of moshpit action which astounds even the frontman.

"You're all fucking mad," he laughs. Yeah, but can you blame us? After three albums, Ash are still only playing the Academy, but each one of the sold out audience knows that this could be the album that could make their idols Gods.

Ash have come full circle, but with the momentum to take them right into orbit.