Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash at Boom Boom Club (Feb 2023)

According to my limited records I first saw Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash at Boom Boom Club in Sutton back in 2015 and  I have seen them eight times altogether, three of those at Boom Boom Club. So it is no surprise that I saw them play there in February 2023.

A band that tours as much as Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash do likes to find a theme for each tour to make them seem a little different even if the set list is largely the same each time, and with good reason. Some of you may have guessed that this tour revisited Live Dates, Wishbone Ash's live album from 1973; apparently that is fifty years ago!

For me, the nice thing about this set list was that it included Pilgrim which they do not always play. It also includes other classics like Warrior and Throw Down The Sword, which they do.

There is not much else to say, Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash played their usual songs to their usual very high standard and everyone had a great time. I certainly did.

Martin Turner Ex Wishbone Ash at The Eel Pie Club

My Google Calendar, which only goes so far back, informs me that I have seen a version of Wishbone Ash 9 times, Martin Turner's version of the band 7 times (at Eel Pie Club 4 times) and heard the complete Argus 4 times. These are all underestimates due to my unreliable record keeping.

So it should come as no surprise that I went to see Martin Turner Ex Wishbone Ash on their lates visit to Eel Pie Club, an event I booked many moons ago but which had been rescheduled due to covid.

The gig was sold out, proving the value of buying the tickets over a year in advance! £17 well invested.

We got in just after the doors opened but were far to late to get a seat, not that we particularly wanted one, but we did get a good standing position on the raised section where we usually stand, the only difference this time was that there were people sitting in front of us. The photo shows how good our position was.

The venue was rammed which made getting to the bar more difficult that it was worth so this was an unusually dry concert.

The music was just as good as expected, and as it always is with this band. They have great material to work with and they know how to make the most of it. Argus was a very familiar treat and they followed this with their subsequent album Wishbone Four. I did not know this as an album but they had played some of the tracks before and it sounded much the same anyway so that was fine.

Martin was in a talkative mood and gave us introductions to several of the songs explaining how they were inspired, composed and recorded. We also got a few jokes.

The good vibes started with the band and spread through the very appreciative audience. It was another excellent evening. And it's only a few months until I am due to see them again.

The Beauty of Chaos Tour with Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash at 100 Club

I am quite happy to see either of the current versions of Wishbone Ash but the way that their touring schedules have gone meant that I had not seen Andy Powell's version since April 2011 (at The Brook in Southampton) and since then I had seen Martin Turner's version three times. This made it four.

The tour advertised a full performance of Argus which seemed a little unnecessary as they had played it the last time that I saw them and at least once before then. I'd also seen Andy Powell's version play it in 2008.

Not that playing Argus again was any sort of problem. It is Wishbone Ash's classic album (from 1972) and all the tracks deserve to be played often.

The 100 Club was packed. So much so that we had to queue in the street above for several minutes before being allowed down the steps into the venue. There was only one person checking tickets and that seemed to be an unnecessarily slow process. Still, I got in before the band started playing and with enough to spare to treat myself to a decent pint of Dead Pony Club from BrewDog.

However, I was not in early enough to get to the front of the stage and so I had to find somewhere else to stand and the famous pillar in the middle made that an issue. In the end I found a reasonable spot on the centre-left about four rows back. That was close enough to see some of the band and far enough away from the constant talkers at the back (why do people do that?!) to hear the music clearly.

I took just one picture towards the end of the concert to prove that I was there and to capture something of the evening. This is it.

Of course the camera does not capture the music and that is what the evening was all about.

Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash were on excellent form playing extended versions of famous songs with skill and joy. The sound system was in fine form too and I could hear all four instruments clearly and distinctly. That mattered, as the Wishbone Ash sound is the sound of three guitars playing with, against and off each other.

I was most definitely not clock-watching but I think that Wishbone Ash started playing around 8:45pm and kept going for all but two hours, including an encore containing four songs as the calls for "one more" were heeded.

Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash did what they came to do and they did it rather smartly.

Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash at The Eel Pie Club

Somehow it had been a year since I last saw Martin Turner's version of Wishbone Ash play (at the Boom Boom Club in Sutton) and that was so good that I was clearly going to see them play at an even close venue, The Eel Pie Club in Twickenham.

I had been to The Eel Pie Club a couple of times before and found it something of a frustrating venue with its sunken stage area and restricted view for people of modest height. Knowing that I got there a little before the doors opened at 8:30pm.

Even so, all the prime seats had been taken by the time that I got in but I was not interested in seating and I was pleased to get a good standing position by the top of the stairs down to the pit. You can tell how good my view was from the photos.

With the doors not opening until quite late that gave me time to do a few things first. My evening started with a walk to the Eel Pie pub (nothing to do with the club) to meet a friend before we went to a curry house nearby for a couple of vindaloos. A good start to the evening.

I quickly came to appreciate my vantage point not just because of the uninterrupted view but also because I was well positioned to hear the band being a little way back from the stage. Normally I have to sacrifice the sound for the view but this time I had both.

The top photo shows what Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash are all about, three guitars playing off each other while the drums keep them in order. The sound they made was the one they always have, blues inspired rock, whether it was a classic song from their 1972 album Argus (which Martin wrote most of) or a song from their most recent album Written in the Stars. These were long songs with plenty of guitar solos and we all loved them.

Somewhere along the way they played the whole of Argus, as they had done on a previous tour but not the last time that I saw them.

There were few surprises, even the joke Martin told was one he had told before, and that was as it should be. We had gone to hear classic Wishbone Ash and that is what Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash delivered with panache and good humour. A happy band is a good band and they were both. I was very happy too.

Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash were magnificent at the Boom Boom Club

I like the music of Wishbone Ash and I do not mind which variant of the bands plays it.

It so happens that most of my recent encounters have been with the Martin Turner variant but that has only been because of scheduling, as a simple rule I will see either band if they play somewhere that I can get to easily. My biggest problem has been getting to see either band, not in choosing one over the other.

The Boom Boom Club in Sutton (it's part of the football club) is a place that I have been to a few times and while the travel, one short and one long bus ride with a bit of walking too, is not easy it is not that hard either so it was a no-brainer to go and see Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash there.

There was already a good crowd there when I arrived and I was pleased to see that there was no seating in front of the stage as there had been for some gigs that I had been to there. That meant that once I had claimed a pint of something reasonable from the bat at the far end I was able to ease my way to the front to claim a spot next to the stage close to the centre.

There was no support band, I prefer it that way, and I did not have long to wait for Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash to hit the stage.

Obviously most of us were there to hear some of the classics and, to their credit, Martin Turner had the courage to start with a new song from the recent album Written in the Stars which they were touring to promote. The good news was that the new songs had the same feel as the old ones. Lawyers may argue over what is and what is not Wishbone Ash in name but this was clearly Wishbone Ash in spirit.

Making it so was the three guitar sound from Martin Turner, Misha Nikolic and Danny Willson ably supported by Tim Brown  on drums.

The familiar Wishbone Ash sound was complimented by some familiar Wishbone Ash songs to the delight of all. I did not make any notes of the songs they played as I was too busy listening to them but I did manage to take a photo of the set list and, more importantly, to decode it. For example, Blowing Free was listed as BLOW 3. It is a sign of the heritage of the band that shorthand will do and that the set list was written in large capitalised text. Space Ritual do the same.

Other classic songs included The King Will Come (also from Argus), Blind Eye and Pilgrim, and these were joined by some more new ones that also sounded like old ones.

The passionate and energetic onstage antics meant that the band needed a break in the middle which I welcomed too as an opportunity to grab another pint. I did not mind the rest from my mild movement either (I'll not presume to call it dancing).

Another comparison with Space Ritual struck me, they also rely heavily on their heritage but are confident enough in themselves to take this on and to dare to be different from the "official" band that they could otherwise be (unfairly) accused of being a tribute too. Another reason why Space Ritual and Wishbone Ash are on my must-see list.

History and comparisons have their place but, in the end, the band has to be judged on their performance and Martin Turner ex Wishbone Ash performed magnificently. There was much to enjoy in the songs and the way that they were played and I particularly enjoyed the joyful interplay between  the two lead guitarists standing on opposite sides of the stage.

More evenings like that please.

Classic Legends of Rock at Fairfield Halls

It took several pub conversations for the four of us to agree to go to this. Part of the initial reluctance was mine, but I am not sure why.

I did not help that it was in Croydon's Fairfield Halls that is a lot harder to get to from Kingston than it should be.

I allowed a reasonable amount of contingency for the travel, catching a train from Norbiton (with lots of AFC Wimbledon supporters, which I could have done without) at 6:20pm for a concert starting at 8pm. I had to use all that contingency due to earlier signal failures near Waterloo. These forced me off the train at Raynes Park to catch a bus to Wimbledon and then the tram to Croydon. I got there with about ten minutes to spare.

The Strawbs were on first. This is not a band that I ever knew much about so the various line-ups and versions of the band did not matter to be. Apparently this was the acoustic version of the band.

One of our group knew the venue well and did the booking. He chose well and got us seats in the centre of row K (I was in K23) which is the second of the rows that is in the sloping section of the stalls. The view from there was perfect. Thanks Pete.

The Strawbs' folksy set was pleasant enough even though the only song that I recognised was Lay Down from 1972. They did not play Part of The Union, for which I was grateful.

The set was delivered as a story of the Strawbs with original member Dave Cousins (centre) as narrator. That story went back to the late 60s with them doing folk/gospel covers in a local club. As a device the story worked well though one of the people I was with said that he had heard it several times before. There must have been a few Strawbs fans in the audience for whom that was true.

Next on were Curved Air, a band that I also knew little about.

That little was not much more than that Darryl Way was the violinist but he left (most recently) in 2009. I also knew that the lead singer was Sonja Kristina, which was still true though her name had elongated to Sonja Kristina Linwood.

Their sound was a lot more jazzy, as the extended line-up suggested. There was still a prominent violin to go with the two guitars, keyboards and drums.

Curved Air pushed the chronological boundaries and included in their set both a song written in the late 60s before the band was first formed and a couple from their 2014 album North Star. That was something like 45 years of music in 45 minutes.

Somehow they attracted the most active fans of the evening and a small group of young people stood and danced in a corner at the front while the rest of us remained sedately in our comfortable chairs.

I only knew one of their songs, Back Street Luv (1971) and they duly played it as their final song.

Then we had a beer break.

The only band in the second half of the concert was Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash (I can call them that, they cannot for legal reasons). This was the band I had come to see and, judging by the reaction, so had most of the other people there.

This was a solid rock formation with Martin centre on bass and vocal, flanked by the two guitars of Ray Hatfield (left) and Danny Willson (right) and with Tim Brown on drums. The drummer was new but otherwise it was the same line-up that I saw perform Argus in 2009. The solid rock formation rocked solidly.

We were treated to some blistering Wishbone Ask classics like The King Will Come and Warrior from Argus (released in 1972, Marting joked that it was from 1927) and, also from the early 70s, songs like Phoenix and Persephone.

It was not a greatest hits show though and there was also a new song written by Ray Hatfield.

The band were very comfortable together and the interplay between them was good. In the second picture you can see the two lead guitarists standing together. They also did a little Glen Miller sequence for one song (moving their guitars in unison) and there were some Chuck Berry Duck Walks thrown in too.

It was all good music played with the expected skill and the required passion. They seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as we were. And we were most definitely enjoying ourselves. So much so that we forced them back on to the stage for two encores.

Having started at 8pm we finished around 11pm, which is good value in anybody's books. It also left just enough time to get back to the Willoughby for a nightcap.

Wishbone Ash at The Brook

I quite like Wishbone Ash and I quite like The Brook (in Southampton) so this gig always had its attractions.

Add to that the opportunity to spend the evening with my eldest son who is at university there and the earlier part of the day with Dad in Weymouth then the deal was done.

It must be a symptom of the average age of Wishbone Ash fans but as soon as the doors opened there was a rush for the few seats upstairs. I prefer to stand so that I can move a little (I cannot call it dancing due to the Trades Description Acts) and to be closer to the band so I ambled in to the main downstairs area.

Breaking with tradition (I seem to be doing a lot of that recently) I did not go for the very front, despite the easy opportunity to do so, but instead chose to be half-way back in the centre to get a better sound balance and to see more of the stage.

There are two Wishbone Ashes these days, this one features two original members, Andy Powell (lead guitar) and Bob Skeat (bass), and carries the original name. The other is called Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash. I've seen them both.

The two "new" members of Wishbone Ash are Muddy Manninen (guitar) who joined in 2004 and youngster Joe Crabtree (drums) who is the newest new boy having only been in the band for four years.

You know what to expect with Wishbone Ash and they know that's what you are expecting too so that's what they do.

It's the familiar and much loved bluesy rock tinged at times with touches of the progressive.

They opened with Blowing Free and for the next couple of hours we had many more songs like that. Some were equally well known, even to fair-weather fans like myself, such as Throw Down the Sword.

Others were introduced as being more recent, were completely new to me, and sounded refreshingly like the old songs.

And that is the heart of what Wishbone Ash are about, a familiar and comfortable sound that varies little. Whether that's a strength or a weakness rather depends on how you feel about that sound. I like it!

A highlight of the evening came towards the end when Andy Powell introduced another classic, Phoenix, with a story about Japan with the hope and expectation that it too would rise like a phoenix from the aftermath of its natural disasters. That got a good round of applause.

A good, solid, professional, uplifting and bouncy performance that helps to explain why Wishbone Ash has been going strong for forty years.

Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash do Argus

There are two versions of the classic 70's band Wishbone Ash gigging at the moment and they are both playing the album Argus!

Last year I went to see "Wishbone Ash", led by original lead guitarist Andy Powell, and last week I went to see "Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash", led by, er, Martin Turner, the original bassist.

The venue was the 100 Club on London's Oxford Street which is a great place to see bands as it has a fairly low stage that you can get right up next to - no crash barriers here. The bar is reasonable too.

Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash line up had Dave Wagstaffe on drums at the back and Martin Turner front-centre on bass flanked by the twin lead guitars of Ray Hatfield and Danny Willson. That tells you this is a rock band!

The stage at the 100 Club is a good size (though I am more used to seeing large bands like Space Ritual and Stackridge trying to squeeze on to it) and this gaves all three guitarists plenty of space to move around, swap places and jam together.

The set opened with a collection of old favourites, including Blind Eye, Pilgrim and Persephone.

If you are an Ash fan then this is just the sort of stuff that you want to hear, and there were a lot of serious Ash fans there judging by the impressive collection of old t-shirts and the enthusiastic singing.

There were some young people there and some women too but the defining demographic was definitely middle-aged male, myself included!

After a set of around 45 minutes the band took a break before returning to give us Argus, their classic album from 1972.

Argus was their third album and was in the middle of their early run of five excellent studio albums and one live album that they made before they moved to the USA and started to produce typical American style soft-rock.

Very quickly it was 1972 again and most of us were bouncing (rockers do not dance) and singing to a superb performance of memorable songs.

The interplay between the band was good to watch and good to hear as the two lead guitars swapped riffs, applauded each other's solos and even played the same guitar with one hand each.

The band clearly enjoyed playing and were getting into the music as much as we were and the enjoyment on and off stage was infectious.

All too soon Argus was over, and the encore only delayed the inevitable end, but it was a very happy crowd that eased its way out of the 100 Club into the cold London night.

Wishbone Ash 36 years on

Wishbone Ash are, I am very pleased to say, one of the many 70s bands that are still touring. And, as with the other bands, the line up has changed many times but their front man is original member Andy Powell and some of the other members while not originals have been with Ash for some years.

Wishbone Ash are still writing new songs and their concerts include material from their whole career though there is an emphasis on the earlier songs from when the band were more productive and innovative. Their eponymous first album from 1970 includes the 10 minute jam Phoenix which became an anthem for the band and remains a fixture at all gigs.

I did not see Wishbone Ash at their zenith (living in darkest Dorset made gig going difficult) but I had seen them before, in a warehouse in Chichester (!) a couple of years ago. That was a good gig so when the opportunity came to see them again I jumped at the chance.

The London set was a little different from the rest of their current tour as instead of just including the highlights of their classic album from 1972, Argus, (such as Warrior and Throw Down the Sword), they played all of it. Needless to say this was very well received and the audience was a mass of people singing along and shaking their heads in time to the music in ageing rocker style - no mosh pit here!

The band clearly enjoyed the night as much as we did and Andy Powell told us that his love of the music kept him playing so we can hopefully look forward to many more Wishbone Ash gigs to come.