Ash - Live at Carlisle Brickyard 21st October 2009

This gig had been sold out for quite a while now and after headlining Kendal Calling in the summer Ash's a to z tour stopped off in Carlisle last week.

Opening band Panama Kings started off at around 9pm with a solid set of dance infused rock in the vein of The Rapture and Franz Ferdinand. Unfortunatly the majority of the crowd did not get in to them, perhaps a more up tempo band would have been a more suitable support. Still, a good performance and they had some really great tracks.

After a long change over and even more people coming in the venue, space was hard to find, Ash took to the stage at 10:15 and did not end until nearly midnight. Kicking off with Arcadia, A Life Less Ordinary and Meltdown coupled with a fantastic lighting rig and smoke effects the gig suprisingly didn't explode in to life. Luckily Shining Light was next and the crowd were enjoying it. I think most people in attendance just wanted to hear their old hits. New single True Love 1980 followed and like most of their newer material it showcased a slower, more electronic direction. Similar to Depeche Mode and New Order. What followed was a mix of old and new material with the biggest reactions going to Kung Fu, Oh Yeah, Goldfinger and Girl From Mars. Finishing with an extended dance version of Return of White Rabbit before returning for three encores of Lose Control, Twilight of the Innocents and Burn Baby Burn which the crowd went mad for!

This was a great gig and whilst the new material was good in its own right you can't help almost feeling sorry for Ash because the majority of people in attendance just wanted the hits and weren't too bothered with the new material. Visually it was the most impressive gig I have seen at The Brickyard, video screen, smoke effects and a large lighting rig made the venue seem bigger than it actually is.