My November Concert Parade: Ash at 280 Fest

So, Ash was my 1st November Concert. I found out the news on their official Twitter that they would be performing in a fest called 280 Fest.

Ash's first MV I watched was Candy. I remember MTV aired it when I was chillin' at home. I liked the MV and the song also. So, Free All Angels was my first Ash's album. The album was a hit. Like seriously the whole songs........ coolness! I didn't attend their 2001's concert in Jakarta. In fact, the only concert I attended was L'Arc~en~Ciel (last year) since I lived in Jogjakarta. Then I began to find out about their previous albums and singles. I was into them that easy, no surprise, this Irish teenage punk slash pop band really pulled me in.

When I arrived at the venue (Lapangan D Senayan Jakarta), I was quite shocked. First and foremost, there were no such thing like banners, flags, or any promotion related to the fest. Plus, the taxi driver admitted that he had no clue about where Lapangan D Senayan was (like seriously?). Pretty frustrating.

The second shocking thing was the audience. Man, for a fest and for a band like Ash, too too too few people there. I was worried and kept mumbling together with my friend about the band members' feelings when they finally saw them from the stage. I was thinking about their feelings a lot. Frankly, I was sad for a few moments.

But Ash were professional (of course they were). I thought they knew about the amount of people there but they performed like thousands people were watching them. Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton, and Rick McMurray were stunning. They aged like rock stars. Wait, they ARE rock stars! X)

Tim with his favorite guitar amazed me as I didn't realise that he was no longer young as he was before. His voice didn't change much, Tim got his mojo :)
Mark also enjoyed the stage. Too much. He did some moves up there. He did make me a teenager again hahaha. Rick at the back didn't lose the beat. They didn't age! :D

A day before their show, there was this setlist I found on Twitter. Actually there were 2. One of them was signed by the whole members. Idk, some kinda souvenir?

And yes, the setlist was right. Ash opened the show with Meltdown (Meltdown, 2004). Then, a single which also a movie soundtrack from a movie with the same title, A Life Less Ordinary played. 

The next song made us audience cheered and shouted. Yes, it's Girl From Mars (1977, 1996), one of Ash's best songs. Mark was so energetic during this song. They brought the good ol' times on the stage. We sang along with Tim, not to mention the jumps also. We were all young!
Hehe.

Ash played 6 songs from 1977; Girl From Mars, Oh Yeah, Goldfinger, Kung Fu. They played Lose Control and Angel Interceptor for the encore. I must say that the setlist was pretty OK. They knew how to play with our expectation, hahaha. I was disappointed that my fave songs Candy and Carnal Love were not on the list.

sobs, sobs.

This concert was more like reminiscing the good times with Ash. It's kinda a time machine where I could see myself back then, young, so careless and free! Or I may use the Indonesian words "Konser Tembang Kenangan Ash" hahahaha...

I guess most of the audience would agree with me. :)

19 songs in total, 5 albums (if I'm not mistaken): 1977, Free All Angels, Meltdown, Twilight of the Innocents, and A-Z (Singles Collection).

4 songs as encore were pretty interesting. As I thought they'd only play one song only, once the setlist leaked I was like, "4? encore? really?" and yep, 4 songs that night.

I already knew that Burn Baby Burn (Free All Angels, 2001) would be the last encore so I wasn't surprised. Too bad I found the setlist earlier :(

I must highlight these songs: Walking Barefoot, Shining Light, and Return of White Rabbit. Most importantly, the last song. The longest one and the most attractive performance. I LOVE IT!

See the picture on the left, this was Return of White Rabbit. There was this break in the middle of the song and Tim suddenly appeared so so stunning. I didn't know how or why but it happened just like that.

We did sing along with him as he led us by giving hands gestures.

Pleasure was all mine, Tim.

Despite the number of audience that night, I was satisfied with Ash. Happy that I could see them live (like finally! it's better late than never, right?) The sound system was good, esp. when Return of White Rabbit played, (hehehe, Idk after that night, I began to like it more. Mark made it even cooler! bass! bass!) I cheered so loud at Mark. It was worth more than the price I paid. Thank you, Tim, Mark, and Rick. Hope I'd see you again! Rock on, Ash!