August 10, 2024: Idlewild and Ash supported by Honeyblood with DJ sets from Steve Lamacq – Fringe By The Sea, North Berwick
Sometimes work days can be good days. If you’re Steve Lamacq, that is! A walk on the beach, a stroll around a chocolate box town, spinning tunes you helped to break, and introducing bands you’ve known their whole careers. A DJ could easily go through the motions for a gig like this, but for Lamacq it clearly meant more than an easy paycheck. In the lead up to this special Idlewild and Ash gig, he posted about being “reunited with these old friends.” Even this turned out to be to be an understatement of the depth of their relationship.
In one sense, the fans crowding into Fringe By The Sea’s Big Top hadn’t waited long at all for this impressive ’90s indie line-up; it was only announced five weeks before. Yet some had waited over a quarter of a century to relieve the magic of the Idlewild and Ash tour of October 1998.
“This line-up is a pretty dream line-up” – Stina Tweeddale
The final wee wait was made much easier to bear with a sterling set by Honeyblood. Founding member Stina Tweeddale was grappling with the band’s legacy in the wake of a big anniversary: “Honeyblood’s debut album came out ten years ago. If that makes you feel old, how do you think it makes me feel?” Let’s hope a sense of perspective helps; Ash’s first release is fast approaching its 30th anniversary!
Early on, the all-female three piece impressed with a sweet new song, Hooked, and Biro from the eponymous debut. The three part harmonies for Glimmer contrasted well with Deborah Knox-Hewson’s delicious driving beat.
Next up was Super Rat, a “slow jam if you’ve had a hard week and you’ve got a bit of pent up anger.” You know, the kind of slow jam that includes a mass yell of “I will hate you forever” as turquoise light cascaded over the stage.
One of our favourite types of bassist is the effortlessly cool kind. As well as being, well, cool, you also know that any show of emotion is genuinely meaningful. So that’s how we know Anna Donigan did “actually feel so much better” after that cathartic release. Kudos too for her shoutout to the “lady behind the pillar, I see you” because that’s got to be a rough viewing spot in a tent!
The Sky From Here was a particular standout track with a militaristic drum beat from Knox-Hewson and a memorable melody.
As Fall Forever gave way to the high tempo banger Killer Bang, Tweeddale crept to the front of the stage and hyped the crowd with a simple gesture. The insistent bass and drums did the rest, and the tent resonated with cheers. Even a couple of false starts for the next song didn’t dampen the mood – let’s chalk that down to channeling this summer’s Olympic spirit!
All in all a great set and we made a mental note to explore this brand of grunge pop much closer. But there was no time for that yet. Tweeddale said “I hope you enjoy Ash and Idlewild as much as we do” and that’s exactly what we intended to do imminently.
Lamacq’s DJ sets between performances were, unsurprisingly, replete with singalong standouts of the last 40 years, taking in hits from The Cure, Radiohead, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wet Leg amongst others.
Perhaps telling of the ‘indie/alternative’ rather than ‘Britpop’ appeal of Idlewild and Ash, the Pulp and Franz Ferdinand hits generated heartier singalongs than perennial karaoke favourites Oasis did!
“It felt like at one point this band were on the show [The Evening Session] every week – and rightly so!” – Steve Lamacq
While introducing Ash, Lamacq shared a sentiment that was about to become self-evident: “Forget Abba Gold. This is one of the greatest Greatest Hits” bands ever. OK, Ash, prove it!
They did.
Taking to the stage to an appropriately modified version of Queen’s Flash – “ASH! Ah-a/Saviour of the universe” – should have told us everything we needed to know.
A Life Less Ordinary set the tone: blistering pace, relentless energy, full-throated singalong.
As Tim Wheeler’s sparkly guitar strap shimmered in the stage lights, Goldfinger was truly stellar. A real masterclass in songwriting.
We got a masterclass in performance too. Wheeler was certainly no slouch with his energy levels and charisma, but bassist Mark Hamilton was something else. He had the stamina, momentum and drive of someone half his age. In fact, more like the teenagers they were when the band started in 1992.
The only time Hamilton stopped throwing shapes was to grab a suitably local drink – a Tennent’s lager!
Kudos has to go to the lighting crew, and in case you’re wondering what they felt most thematically appropriate to accompany Shining Light, it was a bright green glow.
Wheeler and co clearly knew their worth as a singles band, and which would play particularly well in this setting, instigating a mass singalong for Oh Yeah. That start of the summer song was quickly followed by a semi-acapella intro to their end of the summer song, Walking Barefoot.
Braindead was an electric jolt, with Wheeler grinning as he aimed the guitar like a gun and pulled the trigger for yet another epic riff.
Full disclosure: Ash are probably our favourite extant band that we’ve never seen live before. As the opening notes of Girl From Mars rang out, that 28 year wait was worth it and a major oversight was finally rectified.
With so many recognisable singles already (Lamacq was right), you start to wonder what could top the glorious Girl From Mars. Surely if you have that in your arsenal, it would be an incomparable closer? Then again, they couldn’t miss out…they wouldn’t miss out …would they? No, they didn’t miss out Burn Baby Burn, and what a powerful way to end a monumental set.
With that onslaught of a performance, Ash had given “our legendary longtime pals Idlewild” something to live up to.
Lamacq certainly had faith that they could hold their own. Bear in mind, this is a professional tastemaker who saw enough promise in the band’s early output to go to America to watch them supporting Pearl Jam, roadie for them (never asked back…), and even put out their first release, Captain, out on his label Deceptive Records.
If that wasn’t testament enough, try this:
“They do something to my heart and head. They’ve got words for feelings I can’t describe. They’ve got me through some bad times.” – Steve Lamacq
Like Ash, Idlewild have more memorable singles from back in the day than you might realise. So it suggests a supreme quiet confidence to open a festival set to a mixed crowd with a relatively new (assuming everyone else also disregards the pandemic years when assessing time) track not backed by Top of The Pops and Top 40 radio support. Yet the dreaminess of Dream Variations from 2019’s Interview Music felt just right for a hazy summer evening.
Some of the more well known singles like Roseability, You Held The World In Your Arms, Little Discourage, Love Steals Us From Loneliness followed in quick succession.
Although You Held The World In Your Arms is Idlewild’s highest charting single to date, American English was received with the most fervour. The singalong bordered on communion.
Back in our London days when we used to shoot three or four gigs a week, a solo Roddy Woomble show was always a superb palate cleanser and skill test. Akin to Autumnwatch, it involved scanning the shadows and darkest corners that Woomble would retreat to between words, hoping the lighting and shutter reactions would be just right to capture the fleeting glimpses for posterity.
It’s charming – and oddly compelling – to observe him still doing it. Even with a full band set-up, even with heavier music, even in a festival setting. But this time, it was with a perma-smile. The uninitiated would be forgiven for thinking the grinning man watching from the wings was a proud brother rather than the lead singer of the headlining band.
There’s something truly delightful about the fact that it works completely. He will always make it back on stage in time to deliver the next line, one hand in his pocket, taking in the scene. Whereas Ash’s Wheeler and Hamilton have retained their youthful exuberance, Woomble’s stage presence has matured into something very different from his shoe-throwing, stage-diving days, but it’s equally captivating.
No need to worry for those who adored the chaotic nights. Guitarists Rod Jones and Allan Stewart can still throw shapes with the best of them.
Speaking of shapes, it was personally gratifying that When I Argue I See Shapes made the set. The performance was experienced in a reverie, since every second of that song runs deep enough for an autonomic response intertwined with memories that lasted longer than the friendships that forged them. Thoughts captured in letters punctuated with ‘SHAPES’ because that was our culture and the language of our youth. In modern times, it’s a happy surprise to see that the song is in the band Spotify top five with 1,469,186 plays so far.
Given that the other four tracks in the Spotify top five are all from 2002’s The Remote Part, it’s no surprise that album had a good showing. The crew earned their pay as they shrouded the band in dry ice to create silhouettes as Edwin Morgan’s spoken word part of In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction declared “it isn’t in the mist.”
When singing In Remote Part, Woomble quietly added “watch it pass with our eyes closed the way we usually choose to if we choose to” and changed the lyric “we call it confusion in the worst way possible.”
With only 13 songs to play with for a festival set, it would usually be unusual to feature something from an excellent but slightly obscure 26 year old mini-album. Playing the title track Captain was “specifically for Steve Lamacq” who loves the song and who released the record on his label. The years fell away as the guitarists leapt around the stage, but it was equally satisfying to hear a version of the song in Woomble’s own, mature voice rather than the American accent he adopted in his youth.
The final song was a sonic meditation. It reached a point where it felt like Woomble might repeat the lyric “nothing is certain” until the heat death of the universe, and that would be absolutely fine with everyone in the tent. Sadly, that was not to be, and with a final spin of Jones’ guitar A Film For The Future – and the sublime set – ended.
As the final notes rang out, Lamacq cemented his ‘great guy’ status by handing out Idlewild and Ash setlists, specifically identifying the super fans who would appreciate them most. Meanwhile, the Big Top emptied as the crew readied the site for the final day of the festival.
If this night’s stellar line-up and community friendly vibe is anything to go by, Fringe By The Sea is certainly one to watch for next year. You can sign up to their email newsletter for 2025 announcements.
In the meantime, you can keep the 2024 festival season going – and see Ash’s Tim Wheeler performing a solo set – by checking out Septembersong in Oxfordshire (September 6-8, 2024). Also playing are Danny & The Champions of The World, Our Man In The Field, and other bands not necessarily featuring Henry Senior Jr.
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