Ash, Bang, Wallop!

Muse opened up the Heineken Weekender in Galway with an emotionally charged show. Offerings included the wonderful ‘Uno’, current hit ‘New Born’ and a selection of hard-hitting tunes from 1999’s Showbiz album. The band danced around in wild hysterics as the audience began to warm to their groove, but all too soon their set was over.

Ash needed no introduction and went straight into their set with ‘Girl From Mars’. The first communal cheer of the day greeted Tim Wheeler’s declaration that, “we’ve come a long way to be here. This week we’ve been in Havana, Paris, London, Madrid – but we love Galway!”

Following early delves into their back catalogue came a batch of tracks from Free All Angels including the flirty ‘Submission’ and the ever-popular ‘Shining Light’.

Hysteria ensued when Wheeler looked to his band mates in expectation and quietly announced ‘Oh Yeah’. The teenage love anthem was by far the most popular song of the night.

Charlotte moved to centre stage at regular intervals with string bending solos to match any of her contemporaries. Later Trailer was plundered with the group giving ‘Uncle Pat’ and ‘Jack Names The Planets’ an outing.

An encore was never in doubt, with ‘Lose Control’ and ‘Numbskull’ tearing the roof of the Castlegar stands.

The west has never been so wild!

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