There’s a very definite end-of-tour feel about Bag Of Cans tonight. A looseness, a slightly frayed edge — although, to be fair, it feels like that’s probably how they go about their business on a daily basis anyway.
They kick off with “Favourite Shirt”, complete with that trumpet line cutting through the chaos, which quite frankly has the sort of swagger that makes you think Blur need their song back. From there it rolls straight into “Spin Cycle”, which absolutely sounds like it’s fuelled by hair-of-the-dog energy — and fittingly, “Hair of the Dog” follows, sounding exactly like a band who’ve been living in venues for days and leaning into it.
“Milk and More” comes with the context that matters here: it’s a song about a cocaine-addled milkman. No joke. If you’re going to write a song like that, you might as well play it — and they do, with the sort of commitment that suggests they know exactly how ridiculous it is.
The little dance happens during “Man in the Shed”, a song that feels oddly joyous for something that sounds like it’s about carbon monoxide equipment and bad decisions. There’s a sort of punkish, chaotic joy to all of this — messy, zany, and deliberately off-kilter.
And like they say themselves: not what you thought at an Ash gig.
From our vantage point above the crowd at the Institute this evening, we can see the whole room — including the bar staff on the right-hand side, clearly enjoying themselves, dancing away to songs that strike you as… well… they wouldn’t have been born when “1977” came out. And that’s the thing straight away: these songs don’t feel old, they feel alive.
Ash are a classic rock band who have been around for 30 years, and what they’ve produced in those 30 years is remarkable. There’s a new attitude here, and a sense that this material matters just as much to them as anything that’s come before.
The first four songs come from the new album — they are evidently keen on the new album Ad Astra — and they earn their place completely. The title track sets the tone, and after it comes “A Life Less Ordinary”, which is a bold bit of sequencing because when that song hits, it changes everything. The room shifts.
From there it moves into “Orpheus” and “Goldfinger”, two songs that underline just how deep the catalogue runs. There’s a real contrast when the darker, heavier “Deadly Love” follows — and then “Which One Do You Want?”, also from the new record. It’s around here that Tim Wheeler does his chat about choices — Birmingham City or Aston Villa, Noddy Holder or Ozzy Osbourne — and for the latter I will choose Noddy, but I probably should keep that quiet, shall we think? Probably best to remember the middle of this.
Then there are the two huge anthems. First “Shining Light”, then “Oh Yeah” — both absolutely enormous. Before things tip fully into party mode, there’s “Hallion”, the standout from the last record, which lands perfectly in this set and reminds you just how sharp the more recent material still is.
That gives way to the calypso cover before “Jump In The Line”, which somehow makes complete sense in this moment.” The main set ends with “Kung Fu” and “Girl From Mars” — because why not. Particularly “Girl From Mars”, an absolute fizzbomb full of E-numbers and sugar, and it’s as fresh as ever.
The encore begins with Tim Wheeler playing acoustic on his own for “My Favourite Ghost”, before the band return for “Braindead”, and finally the one they’re always going to play: “Burn Baby Burn.”
You can reach for the cliché if you want, but it fits: Ash are magnificent. Not just one of the best bands of their generation — one of the best bands this country has produced. There’s a world where these anthems were ringing out in stadiums last summer instead of Oasis.
Instead, Ash are doing something they would probably consider better: being a brilliant rock band on their own terms, night after night — and proving it all over again.
