Wishbone Ash

17th September 2025

The Flowerpot, Derby

This gig was the opening night of the Wishbone Ash 2025 UK Tour, performed almost 56 years after the band's debut concert in November 1969.  Of course, as is generally the way of things these days, only one original member remains: guitarist Andy Powell.

Of the other three founding members, drummer Steve Upton retired from the music business altogether in 1990, with Ted Turner quitting the band a couple of years later.  Bass player Martin Turner can still, much to the chagrin of Andy Powell, be found out and about touring his own version of Wishbone Ash.

I has seen Powell's iteration (the "real" Wishbone Ash) back in 2008 and, I have to say, the guitarist does not look to have aged a day since.  Mind you, I always feel the shaven head, shades and goatee look is sorta timeless.

The band had lost and replaced a guitarist and the drummer since that last occasion, but sounded just as crisp and tight as I remembered them.

My only real criticism was also the same as I had previously noted:  Powell is still a fine singer, but his bandmates clearly are not.  So those Wishbone Ash classics which rely upon three part harmonies for much of their magic (Blowin' Free, The King Will Come and the like) just come across a touch flat.

I would have thought getting in a guitarist who could also harmonise would have been a priority after the previous postholder left.

That being said, it was still a fun evening.  One highlight was the remarkably poppy Standing in the Rain; a new one to me.

  

   

Set list

Outward Bound

Living Proof

(In All My Dreams) You Rescue Me

Runaway

The King Will Come

Warrior

Throw Down the Sword

Reason To Believe

FUBB

Deep Blues

Standing in the Rain

Jailbait

Phoenix

Encore

Blowin' Free

Peace

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