HEARING Ash play live fills you with a sense of nostalgia.

Monday evening’s songs sent me back to a simpler time when my only worry was who was going to buy me two litres of cider before I went to the local rock night.

Whether it was the sing-along tune of Girl From Mars, or the lesser known classic Goldfinger, the smiles in the crowd tell me the fans feel the same way too.

It’s a shame Ash never got bigger; they’ve always been left out of the spotlight despite their many years in the game. But, if they were any bigger, they wouldn’t be able to play such intimate gigs as this.

Lead singer Tim Wheeler describes the Duchess as: “The hottest and sweatiest place they have ever played.”.

With a career spanning 18 years, including 18 top-40 hits, it is evident that Ash are a hard-working band.

They created their own studio and label called Atomic Heart Records and with the new-found freedom created the A-Z Series, where they wrote 26 songs and released one every two weeks for a year, which they showcased at the Duchess last July.

They played some of these tracks on Monday with the added company of Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack.

Here Ash feel like your band – where the experience and impact of the music is amplified. Let’s hope they return next July and make it a hat-trick.

- Jamie Carson