Ash // Ad Astra Tour 2025 // The Marra // Live Review // The Ulster Hall // Belfast
So here we are, Santa is but 12 days away, and I am excited!
Not for Santa but Christmas has indeed come early this year with another killer gig at one of my favourite N.Ireland venues, The glorious Ulster Hall! We were here recently for The Sweet and, of course, another one of Northern Ireland’s finest, The Answer, as they took part in the “Legacy Series – A Celebration Of Led Zeppelin 71′ and it was a thing of beauty! One of my favourite gigs of 2025 for sure. Tonight is a totally different affair with local rockers Ash back in Belfast for the second time this year after supporting The Darkness at CHSQ back in the summer.
Tonight, the lads wrap up their current run of shows across the UK and Ireland of their AD Astra Tour, closing it off in style for 2025 at this magnificent venue. A packed room tells me this one will be a trip down memory lane for so many here, filling every space possible in the gargantuan hall. As I looked around the bar upstairs, awaiting the start of proceedings, I couldn’t help but notice the audience: middle-aged, mostly middle-class by the look of them, and no doubt more than a few grew up with Ash as their soundtrack to their youth. I would also say that many were there when Ash played City Hall on New Year’s Eve 1999, while we all awaited “The Millennium Bug,” if ya know, ya know!
Up first, though, we have Derry band The Marra, an indie rock-pop band with a melodic vibe all their own. I say that, but actually there does tend to be a sound that we have here on the island of Ireland that has its own vibe and The Marra, as a nod to that, the guys work their way across a very easy on the ear set that whets the appetite for the Northern Irish crowd as they await their fave local rock trio! The Marra go down a Treat though and no doubt have awake Ken an army of fans from tonight’s gig, it even surprises me catching bands like this as I go from gig to gig as I forget that it’s not all rock and metal on the local scene but a vast variety of talented bands that cross multiple genres appealing to the masses and well worthy of better and bigger exposure.
https://www.facebook.com/TheMarraBand
Photography: Mark McGrogan
@flashartmark #flashartmark
A short interlude, and the room packs out for the arrival of Ash. The setlist the guys have curated for the show is a big one, packed with tracks from their latest release, Ad Astra, and of course, a collection of older tracks from over the years that have become staples in the live performances, but everyone has their favourites. They will, of course, be there dappled amongst the list to make sure The Ikster Hall is rocking Christmas 2025.
The guys kick off with ‘Zarathustra’ and ‘Keep Dreaming’ as the room goes mad. You can tell the trio is up for it, a firmly tuned machine at this stage of their tour; they have themselves in tip-top physical shape for Belfast and wrapping up this current run of dates before the end of the year. When ‘A Life Less Ordinary’ kicks in, the Ulster Hall erupts, the first of those fan faves lands with a bang! You can see the smiles far and wide as they rip though a tasty set, the band feeding off the energy of the crowd and the crowd and giving it their all, arms aloft, air drumming, air solos and people singing along at the top of their voices in adoration of their trip down memory lane, reliving every moment they can when those magical tracks resonate across the room. You’ll be transported right back like a Hot Tub Time Machine to that exact moment in time when Britney Shania rejected you on The Limelight floor with “Oh Yeah” playing in the background!
It’s okay, man, you survived, and Britney’s got 13 kids and sells Avon for a living! I jest, but this is precisely what gigs like these are, memory factories that keep that spark alive in you, fuel that passion for music and even more so Live music. We’re all on different journeys, but that one thing binds us: the soundtrack that makes us more than a crowd, a community of brothers and sisters.
One of my personal favourite tracks of the night was ‘Crashed Out Wasted’, as they built the song into a crescendo, with Tim finger-tapping a solo out at the end on his tasty metallic Blue SG. They then play two fan faves in ‘Shining Light’ and their gargantuan hit ‘Oh Yeah’ as the Ulster Hall once again goes nuts. This one has the hall in fine voice, matching the band word-for-word. This one is for sure a Northern Irish favourite, along with ‘Girl From Mars’, the room was electric at this point! Now, as I have mentioned, we’re only 12 sleeps away from the big man, so it would be rude not to throw in a Christmas tune, and we get treated to ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’
With confetti canons tossing out SNER!!!!!!
Well, if you weren’t in the Christmas Spirit, you surely are now! I myself am ready to hug a reindeer!
After a short interlude, Tim comes back on to perform an acoustic solo track ‘My Favourite Ghost’ before the lads are joking onstage by the one and only, Graham Coxon and rock their way through ‘Goldfinger’, ‘Fun People’, ‘Freaking Out’ and ‘Ad Astra’ with a tasty duelling guitar solo! But there is only one way to tie up an evening like this …. ‘Burn Baby Burn 🔥’
As Ash wraps up their fierce set, those faithful fans who came out in their droves are forced to leave the hallowed ground that is The Ulster Hall one last time. The band were absolutely on fire tonight, feeling fresh and ready for a night in great company, back on home soil, where else would you want to be to close off 2025? As Tim said himself, it was an excellent year for the band and tonight, an unforgettable finale. Well played, lads. Take a bow!
Photography: Mark McGrogan
@flashartmark #flashartmark
