Ash at Cambridge Junction, Saturday February 8 with support from Bag of Cans
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Bag of Cans
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The last time yer girl saw a band of boys on stage wearing jumpsuits was in the year 2000, when a certain masked nonet of nu metal madmen tore up the stage at Leeds Festival. Back then it was all new and totally terrifying. Twenty five or so years later, and while Bag of Cans have also chosen to dress like they’ve escaped from prison, unlike Slipknot they don’t choose to act like they have. Their interaction with each other is brotherly and with the crowd is friendly and genuinely funny. With a set of songs like ‘Favourite Shirt’, ‘Spin Cycle’ and ‘Pub Money’ they file down the sharpness of Half Man Half Biscuit’s humour, Dirt Box Disco’s banter and Soft Play’s acerbic social observations with their sheer will to give the Junction a good time. With their subject matter (‘Milk and More’ – about being stalked by a cocaine-addled milkman) and dance moves (hands in the air like you just don’t care??? Like you’re checking the carbon monoxide alarm’s working more like ‘Man in the Shed’), Bag of Cans are laugh out loud escapism and entertainment. A curious choice of support band for Ash? Well, yeah. But no one seems more surprised to be opening for arguably one of the 90s’ best known musical exports than Bag the Cans themselves. And that just adds to the whole gloriously endearing vibe. Well played lads.
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Ash
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Power trio, indie guitar rock heroes Ash smash into their set in front of the sold out Junction with new album ‘Ad Astra’ numbers (including ‘Zarathustra’ ‘Fun People’ ‘Keep Dreaming’). Tonight’s song choices hit the sweet spot between appreciative head-nodding and all out head-banging. The big full-on fire power tunes, that you’ll know even if your only experience of the boys is from radio playlists, are served in between the more subtle tracks and true fan faves. So by dropping ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘A Life Less Ordinary’ early on and in quick succession, Ash have already seen to the needs of everyone in the room in the first half of tonight’s solid set. And they keep on giving. Seemingly untouched by time, the band who brought us ‘Kung Fu’ all those years ago don’t appear to have aged. This is the song which, arguably started it all for Ash, and while you can’t help thinking ‘please play ‘Kung Fu’… purleeeeeaaase play ‘Kung Fu’….’ sparks do indeed fly when the song kicks off (couldn’t resist – soz), but it in no way feels like the set has been leading up to this moment. The crowd are loving every single song tonight. Lead singer Tim doesn’t need to say much, because the songs speak for themselves. Mark prowls around the stage with his bass slung so low it’s a trip hazard, death stare and wide stance making more of a statement than his backing vocals ever could (one scream, I believe). Cover ‘Jump in the Line’, which features on the new album and IS the song you’re thinking of is, utter calypso chaos with a punk undercurrent (and a fair bit of WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK????? to be fair). It causes a party in the pit. As the song finishes Tim looks pretty pleased with himself and Mark is now sweating so much he looks like he’s been left out in the rain for the past week. The crowd don’t just compete with Tim’s vocals on ‘Oh Yeah’ – they are way louder. Mark has been rattling the floor all night with his four-stringed fury, but beyond bass heavy ‘Return of White Rabbit’ hits so deep it could bring the dead up from six feet under. ‘Girl From Mars’ closes the set and is greeted with the loudest cheer of the night. No one is standing still for this one. Returning to the stage armed with an acoustic guitar, Tim sings touching ‘My Favourite Ghost’ to an almost silent Junction. Mark and drummer Rick return to join their frontman for ‘Orpheus’ and closer ‘Burn Baby Burn’. Goddamn, they really are everything you want in a rock song aren’t they? And they really do the trick tonight – giving the fans the chance to lose their minds for the two final songs, before being sent out on our merry way back to the real world where bills need paying and responsibilities need, erm, responsible adulting. Which it’s pretty safe to say most of the crowd tonight never had to do back in Ash’s nineties glory days. And it’s super nice and shows the power of music that seeing them for the night can take us back to those carefree days.
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