Last year Ash turned 30, which is quite the milestone considering frontman Tim Wheeler is still just 46.
Over those years, the Northern Ireland pop-rockers have made many trips to Australia, and it's no surprise they've enjoyed it as much as their loyal fans have.Tonight (24 March), it may not have been an absolutely packed Croxton, but it was certainly one that knew all the words, and when the trio hit the stage and launched into 'Goldfinger', the unofficial Ash choir sounded ready to make themselves hoarse by the end of the show.
The set was packed with hits across their catalogue, with all the favourites from their 1996 debut '1977' – the aforementioned 'Goldfinger', plus 'Oh Yeah', 'Angel Interceptor' and saving two biggies till last before the encore, 'Kung Fu' and 'Girl From Mars'.
They've always had an incredible amount of energy and charming enthusiasm on stage, and age has not wearied them in this department. Wheeler was as animated as ever, waving his famous Flying V around, bassist Mark Hamilton was all across the stage, and drummer Rick McMurray was furious and faultless behind the kit.
All albums got a good representation in this hits set, as well as the 1997 single 'A Life Less Ordinary' – a biased call but arguably their best song – from the movie of the same name.
The heavier 1998 set 'Nu-clear Sounds' got a run with 'Wild Surf', 'Aphrodite' and two in the encore – 'Jesus Says' and 'Numbskull'. At the time the album received mixed reviews, resulting in Wheeler enduring a lengthy bout of depression before he bounced back and returned to catchy pop.
That return, 2001's 'Free All Angels', has some of the band's biggest tunes, too: 'Shining Light', 'Sometimes' and 'Burn Baby Burn', which they closed the night with.
Enjoyably, the crowd's enthusiasm was spread across the albums fairly evenly, some preferring the more recent tunes from their 'A-Z' singles 2009-2010 project, others the heavier songs from the second album.
It shows their enduring appeal and makes for a much nicer 'nostalgia' set when everyone isn't holding out for that one hit. (That said, 'Girl From Mars' was probably the biggest of the night.)
Winding up with a bang, Wheeler jumped into the crowd with his V, more 19 years old than 46. Some acts lose that spring in their step as time passes, but you get the feeling Ash might be doing this – and doing it this good – for many years to come.
