Ash at The Mod Club - Concert Pictures

Irish alternative rock / power pop band Ash came through Toronto for a performance at The Mod Club in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of their incredible album 1977. They played the album from front-to-back and then kept it going with more amazing music from across their discography.

The band sounded great and played perfectly, with energy and enthusiasm to spare. Several tunes from 1977 are personal favourites, like "Lose Control", "Goldfinger", "Girl From Mars", "Kung Fu", "Oh Yeah" and "Angel Interceptor".

The set continued with a very early Ash tune, their first single, "Jack Names the Planets". The encore is where some of my ultimate favourite Ash tunes appeared, including "Orpheus", "Shining Light", and the final, closing tune, "Burn Baby Burn".

This was my second time seeing Ash live and it cemented my opinion that they are a fantastic live band who I will see every time I get the chance.

Here are some of my favourites from their set:

"Lose Control"

"Goldfinger"

"Girl From Mars"

"Kung Fu"

"Oh Yeah"

"Angel Interceptor"

"Jack Names the Planets"

"Orpheus"

"Let's Ride"

"Shining Light"

"Burn Baby Burn"

Twenty years ago: Ash 1977

It was twenty years ago that Irish alt-rockers / power poppers Ash put out their "first official album" 1977. And we just celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of Free All Angels' release. It's apparently a cool time in power pop history.

1977 contains so many great songs. They're the kind of songs that have the energy to get you moving, while containing addictive melodies and hooks, all with the kind of attitude that makes you glad to be alive.

Check out my favourite tunes from this remarkable album:

"Lose Control"

"Goldfinger"

"Girl From Mars"

"Kung Fu"

"Oh Yeah"

"Angel Interceptor"

Pic from Wikipedia.

Fifteen years ago: Ash Free All Angels

Ash released their third studio album, Free All Angels, fifteen years ago. This is a great album of solid power pop music that I love to this very day. I was lucky enough to catch the band live at Lee's Palace back in 2012. The band shines in the studio and on the stage.

Check out my favourite tunes from this classic album:

"Walking Barefoot"

"Shining Light"

"Burn Baby Burn"

"Candy"

"Cherry Bomb"

"Pacific Palisades"

"Sometimes"

"There's A Star"

"World Domination"

Pic from lyrics.wikia.

Best of: My favourite songs of 2015

I feel like 2015 has flown by and I have missed a lot of the music it had to offer. I've seen a lot of shows by a lot of great bands. Not as many as in 2014 mind you, and I've purposely slowed down in the past month or so, but still a lot. There's so much great music that was produced this year, and there's so much that I've yet to discover. Every year, I bookmark the best of lists from other sites and I don't look at any of them until after my own list is up. Most years, I don't get through reading all the others, either.

Follow the links in the song titles below to listen to the tunes, and click the links in the artist name to get to my posts of concert coverage and pictures of the artists. In some cases, where I've seen a band multiple times and they've got multiple songs in the list, the links are distributed. In cases where I've seen a band more than once but they only have one song below, you'll see a second link. Please click away and have fun!

All the best to everyone for 2016. May there continue to be more great music that brings smiles to our faces, joy to our hearts and gets our bodies moving. And more great artists that indulge my desire to photograph them delivering that music. Happy 2016 everyone!

50. "I Want To Feel Alive" The Lighthouse and The Whaler

49. "Let It Burn" by Magic Giant

48. "Sprinter" by Torres and more

47. "Cataract" by Dirty Ghosts

46. "Pony" by Wavves

45. "Saturday Night" by Yukon Blonde

44. "So Down Low" by The Elwins

43. "Begin Again" by Purity Ring

42. "Young Blood" by The Districts

41. "Gold" by Clavvs

40. "Ripe" by Screaming Females

39. "Bury our Friends" Sleater-Kinney

38. "Marks to Prove It" by Maccabees

37. "Freazy" by Wolf Alice

36. "The Graduates" by Speedy Ortiz

35. "Poison" by Waxahatchee

34. "Moaning Lisa Smile" by Wolf Alice

33. "My Backyard" by Taylor Knox

32. "Swell Content" by Speedy Ortiz

31. "Dreaming" by Smallpools

30. "When You Were Mine" by Night Terrors of 1927 featuring Tegan & Sara

29. "Heard Good Things" by Julian Taylor Band and more

28. "Peaches" by The Districts

27. "Way Too Much" by Wavves

26. ​"Hope Is Made of Steel" by Northcote

25. "Fluffy" by Wolf Alice

24. "Stained Glass Heart" by Public Animal and more

23. "The Kids Are All Wrong" by Lowest of the Low

22. "Josephine" by Frank Turner

21. "Return to the Moon" by El Vy

20. "4th and Roebling" by The Districts

19. "Under a Rock" by Waxahatchee

18. "City on the Hill" by Desaparecidos

17. "Royal Jelly" by Deap Vally

16. "Raising the Skate" by Speedy Ortiz

15. "Heaven Sent" by Best Coast

14. "Cocoon" by Ash

13. "In the Blink of an Eye" by Lowest of the Low

12. "I Feel Love (Every Million Miles)" by The Dead Weather

11. "Never Ending Circles" by Chvrches

10. "Dangerous" by Big Data featuring Joywave

9. "You're A Germ" by Wolf Alice

8. "24 Frames" by Jason Isbell

7. "Things Happen" by Dawes

6. "Warrior" by Sate and more

5. "Giant Peach" by Wolf Alice

4. "Leave a Trace" by Chvrches

3. "Flesh without Blood" by Grimes

2. "Get Better" by Frank Turner

1. "Bros" by Wolf Alice

New Ash Cocoon from Kablammo!

I've liked Ash's brand of power pop for many years. I got to see them deliver that powerful music live back in 2012. Check out my pictures from my pre-real camera days!

Ash have a new album called Kablammo! - awesome title by the way - coming out soon. They've just let us in on the most amazing two-and-a-half minutes of power pop joy since the new Bob Mould album in the form of "Cocoon". Check it out.

I'm definitely looking forward to this album and will be watching out for them on tour.

Pic from Ash's website.

Ash and Kestrels at Lee's Palace

After a 7 year absence, Ash returned to Toronto for an fantastic 20th anniversary show at Lee's Palace. They stormed through highlights from across their history - from their very first single "Jack Names the Planets" all the way to their recent song-a-fortnight project The A-Z Series, which has just been released on vinyl.

Tim Wheeler cranked the guitars with the awesome-sounding combination of Gibson guitars - Flying V and Les Paul - through his Mesa half-stack. Bassist Mark Hamilton filled the stage with rawk poses and drummer Rick McMurray kept it all tight.

It was a great show with plenty of enthusiasm from both the band and the crowd.

 I put up a ton of Ash tunes prior to the show, so I'll limit myself here.

"Arcadia"

"Jack Names the Planets"

"Burn Baby Burn"

"Joy Kicks Darkness"

"Binary"

"Kung Fu"

"Oh Yeah"

Check out their Best of album that was recently released if you're new to this great band.

Kestrels, from Halifax, opened the show. It looked like a dream come true for them since singer/guitarist Chad Peck told us he's a long-time Ash fanatic and Ash singer/guitarist Tim Wheeler even played on their album. Although the mix was not always in their favour, their Dinosaur Jr. / 90s influenced energy came across well.

Here's "The Past Rests" and "There All The Time Without You" from A Ghost History.

The photos in this post are original pics by me, not the usual professional pics stolen from some other web site. You can tell the difference original art makes. Meanwhile, Chromewaves has some great pics from the gig.

Ash are comin' to town

Ash are an Irish rock alternative band who have been putting out great songs since 1996. They're coming through Toronto, playing at Lee's Palace on November 17 and I'm looking forward to the show.

Just to keep me hyped, here are a whole bunch of great tunes from the band.

"Girl From Mars" and "Goldfinger" from their 1996 album 1977.




"Shining Light", "Sometimes", "Burn Baby Burn", and "Candy" from 2001's Free All Angels.








"Orpheus", which I first heard in a driving video game, "Clones", "Starcrossed" and "Renegade Cavalcade" from 2005's Meltdown.








"You Can't Have It All" and "I Started A Fire" from 2007's Twilight of the Innocents.




If you like their tunes, they have a Best of...album out. And I'm going to have to catch up on their song-a-fortnight project A-Z Series from 2009 which is being released on vinyl on November 6.

And stay tuned here for my usual craptacular pictures from the live show.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well, it's St. Patrick's Day.  And Ash are from Ireland.  So enjoy the awesome tune "Orpheus" from their 2005 album Meltdown.