Ash @ The Liquid Room, 11 Nov

Ash’s Tim Wheeler points out that it’s been six years since their last Edinburgh gig, and it’s been almost double that since The Skinny last saw them. Yet all that instantly dissolves as the quartet (Bloc Party’s Russell Lissack is on hand for some extra axe work) launch into Girl From Mars. Judicious placing of their big singles allows the boys some experimentation though, and we’re forewarned about a ten-minute, instrumental b-side from their recent A-Z Series of singles.

Yet it’s warming to see them stretch like this, meaning the pay-off of Oh Yeah and Kung Fu is an added bonus rather than a punitive reward. In fact, much of the new material outshines some of the obligatory numbers, particularly Summer Snow, such is Ash’s knack for immediacy. The pile of 1977 t-shirts on the merch stand may remain largely untouched tonight, but the crowd certainly leave with a little piece of Ash in their hearts. [Darren Carle]