A packed house for the now traditional annual visit to the Platform of the twin guitar led rock legends. With such a huge raft of albums dating from 1970 the hour and three quarters set isn’t really doing to do more than scratch the surface on a productive career but they gave it a good go.

The audience mainly consisted of people of a certain age, those who were around in 1970 when it all kicked off, if that’s not too unkind. But there were a few younger types (and me, haha!) kicking around there to see the band solely responsible for the idea of duelling axe heroes.

With new album “Clan Destiny” to promote the band opened with a new one, always a brave idea. So the gig built from a muted beginning to end triumphantly with all manner of moods being incorporated in between.

As if to prove a point that there is more to Ash than their seminal opus from ’72 “ Argus”, the band played three tracks from it early on in the set. “Sometime World”, “The King Will Come” and “Throw Down the Sword” were all superbly executed, the fat Les Paul sound of Muddy Manninen contributing a rounded sound alongside Andy Powell’s tinkly Fying V.

Introducing an accordion and a violin player to calm things down mid set worked well, “Sorrell” making a welcome appearance. 

Muddy does slide guitar rather well and Andy Powell teases such memorable melodies from his plank that time was flying by. Things began to heat up again as old fave “Living Proof” was performed for the first time this tour to general approval. The roof was now being raised and they could have played any track they fancied but slaughtered anyone with any doubts about the validity of Ash in the 22^nd Century with barnstorming version of “Blowin’ Free” from Argus. 

The encore perfectly encapsulates the changing moods of Wishbone Ash. The driving bass and bluesy guitar riff of “Jailbait” being followed by the mellow folk tinged singalong of “Ballad of the Beacon” as fresh and relevant as the day it was conceived. 

Resisting the temptation to perform many anthemic favourites from the back catalogue that most bands would include didn’t detract from the show at all. With such a rich and varied library to choose from Ash could conceivably play two consecutive long shows and not repeat a number and still have fans leaving with a broad grin. 

They will tour again next spring, catch them and check out the quality guitar playing and pure rock heritage of still one of the hardest working bands around.

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