Richard Ashcroft

Richard Ashcroft hit the stage in Manchester this weekend fresh off the heels of a summer travelling all around the world with Oasis. Those shows appeared to be more like communal gatherings and family reunions than actual concerts from the outside looking in. I can only imagine what they felt like for those who were lucky enough to attend. Since then, Ashcroft has seen his music rise up the streaming charts as a result and on Saturday night, he was in the mood to celebrate and capitalise. “Who was at Heaton Park this summer? Let’s carry it on” he proclaimed midway through the set. The show gave those who missed out on the britpop revival summer a chance to get in on the action and those who were there an opportunity to relive that high all over again.

Ashcroft prides himself on bringing people together and is a firm believer in the power of music to transport people and to bring them hope. There’s no coincidence that he dropped ‘Music Is Power’ so early on in the set. In fact, nothing in the set felt coincidental at all. Ashcroft proved he is a master at putting together a great rock and roll show of his own. Aware of his standing as a legacy artist, the set was heavy on old favourites from his early solo records and The Verve. His new album ‘Lovin’ You’ has been met with mixed reviews and Ashcroft was wise to only trickle a handful of new songs into the set. Not many artists can front-load a set with songs like ‘Space and Time’ and ‘Velvet Morning’ and the show never really let up at all over the course of two hours. The set was paced perfectly and Ashcroft knew exactly which songs the crowd had come to hear. Alongside believing that music is power, Ashcroft has the valuable skill of knowing which of his songs are the most powerful.

Speaking of power, it would be pointless to have all of those great songs without having the tools to perform them at full pelt. Ashcroft’s voice, always his most potent weapon, sounds as lean, mean and emphatic as it ever has done. His band are tight and finely oiled and are topped off with an exquisite string section too. Having these strings at his disposal is really what sets Ashcroft apart from a lot of his 90’s peers. Nobody was able to add orchestration and grandeur to britpop quite like The Verve and Ashcroft and his shows would be simply incomplete without them.

In a genre that can often take itself too seriously, Ashcroft is not afraid to have fun and looked to be having an absolute blast onstage on Saturday night. Nobody in the entire city of Manchester was having more fun than the audience at Co Op Live though when ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ closed out the evening. For an artist who seems to be inescapably entwined with Oasis this year, it was a buoyant reminder that Richard Ashcroft is nobody’s sideshow. There aren’t many artists who can wield a genre and generation defining song like ‘Bittersweet Symphony’. To write it is one thing. To be able to send audiences into delirium with it night after night is another. It’s hard not to get swept up in the joy of a moment like that. Music is power indeed.