An evening out at one of my favourite venues, The Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh, for one of those all time classic bands, Wishbone Ash. In keeping with the format of whole album plays from last year’s excellent Argus album tour, the band are playing the whole of the excellent Live Dates album this time around.
We have the support band first in the form of excellent local act the Jeanice Lee Band. This is the biggest stage I have seen them on! They start of with “Overhaul”, the first of three from last year’s Urban Legends album with its big guitar intro suitably backed up with some almost operatic vocals from Jeanice. You get immersed in the soaring guitars from Marco and the equally soaring vocals from Jeanice alongside the rhythm section of Tony on drums. Tony has his full set for a change due to the larger stage! Not forgetting, of course, the bass master himself – Jamie Hunter strolling around the stage with space to spare.
The opening track went down well with the crowd and it was nice to see the venue pretty full for them early on. One of my favourites next, the Within Temptation styled “Walk Away From Me” featuring some tremendous vocals from Jeanice, along with some truly sublime guitar work from Marco. The heavier “From the Ashes” next opening with heavier guitar work, the vocals having a more classic edge to them. It’s a perfect heavy progressive song, the solo guitar work in particular on this track is just fabulous.
A change of pace now as we enter the “World of Fallacy” from their 2019 album Beyond Never. Its slower paced rhythm and vocals with some intense drums and bass before the guitar opens up for “Our City” with its haunting vocals and guitar work, along with some fabulous drumming from Tony. We see “The City We Used To Know”, the vocals with sadness just dripping from them. The heavy guitar kicks in as the band go into “Freefall” with some fabulous vocals from Jeanice. There is an old school groove to this song that has the feet and heads going in the crowd who are thoroughly enjoying this band tonight and rightly so.
The big slab of rock that is “Liquid Gold” kicks in and Tony lets loose on the drums on this pounder of a track, before we enter the UFO infused ballad that is “Never Was” with its epic James Bond theme tune feel. With its vocals and matching guitar work, the song’s ending guitar solo are just a joy to hear – I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck lifting! A very powerful track indeed. The band end a truly fabulous set with their 2020 single “My Heart Is Complicated” which features some of the finest vocals from Jeanice on any of their songs.
This is a band on fine form at the moment and one that definitely deserves to be on the bigger stages. Jeanice Lee and friends went down a storm tonight, and we end with a very touching moment. Jeanice mentioned how special the show was and it being her birthday the following day earlier in the show… and the crowd sang Happy Birthday to her at the end which had her crying with joy! A band well worth catching live when you can. You may not catch them on the smaller stages for much longer so look them up and have a great time. I know we all did tonight.
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The main event now as Andy Powell & Co., aka Wishbone Ash, hit the stage. They treat us to the instrumental “Real Guitars Have Wings” from Nouveau Calls before launching into the whole of the Live Dates album. That familiar guitar riff and the drums kick in heralding the seminal “The King Will Come”, just one of those tracks that never gets old.
We meet the “Warrior” with its more rocky intro before it settles down to a smooth vibe as the vocals come in. The guitar work is just sublime from Andy and Mark, with Mike keeping things tight at the rear, and the ever smiling Bob just strolling about on bass.
The twin guitar build up starts as the band “Throw Down the Sword”, a slow lingering burner of a song with some superb bass play from Bob. We catch up with the “Rock ‘N Roll Widow”, featuring some tasty slide guitar from Mark. The song has a great singalong title chorus.
“Ballad Of The Beacon” next, and you can almost feel the crowd swaying in time such is the melody of this song. It has such an olde feel about it with some fantastic guitar as always. A cover next, of “Baby What You Want Me To Do” – a real old school blues tune, and a real tasty version indeed. “The Pilgrim” follows with its build up intro that just grows into a fantastic guitar jam-like session. A tremendous instrumental track.
There is not much I can say about the next song, “Blowin’ Free”. A hypnotic guitar opener and the vocals that just take you along for a bouncy rocky ride, just wonderful. The band are on fire tonight and very obviously enjoying themselves which is just great to see. We get some rocking “Jail Bait” with an early Status Quo blues feel about it, before we meet “Lady Whiskey” and its classic Ash-style twin guitar vibe.
The band end the set with the epic “Phoenix”. Stellar yet subtle guitar all the way through, with just enough drum and bass to keep the tempo flowing smoothly. It’s all about the guitar here though, and Andy never fails to deliver an absolutely sterling performance. Mark is the perfect foil for him to play against. This was an epic ending to the main set as the guitars rise and fall with Bob and Mike keeping pace with a stunning rhythm section in the rear.
The band bow and wander off stage to rousing applause – and rightly so as that is one of the best shows I have seen them play live. A few minutes later and they reappear to open the encore with “Living Proof” from 1980’s Just Testing with its classic guitar intro. This foot-tapping, head-nodding rocker of a track has some stunning guitar work, then we move on a few years for “Why Don’t We” from 1989’s Here To Hear. Another bouncy rocker to end the show.
As I mentioned, this was one of the very best performances I have seen them give, and this opinion was echoed by many in the audience that I spoke to tonight. I look forward to many more Wishbone Ash gigs to come! See you all down the front again next time…
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Photos by Gary Cooper
