Live Music - Wishbone Ash - Oxford Polytechnic - UK

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Artist:	Wishbone Ash
Venue:	Oxford Polytechnic
City:	Oxford, England, UK
Date:	Monday, 7 Feb 1972
Collection:	Attended Wishlist
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	Lineup	Rating
1	Wishbone Ash	Rate

Comments and Reviews


S?tackri9 9th Aug 2018		My first trip to see a real band, not just schoolkids mucking about - Wishbone Ash, Oxford Polytechnic, February 1972. I think the ticket cost 10/6 (52 1/2 pence). Up Headington Hill on a red double decker with my mates, hair newly combed down the middle like the Beatles in their White Album photos. I already had their first two albums, "Wishbone Ash" and "Pilgrimage", and to me they were guitar heroes whose twin lead sound was wonderfully musical and original. We sat down on the main hall wooden floor and listened to the DJ warming up the show through the PA - I remember Pink Floyd's "One Of These Days" featuring. Then Glencoe (support band) started up to lukewarm applause - an hour of electric piano noodling and aimless tunes that left us cold. We wanted the real stuff! Finally the house lights dimmed and those wonderful stacks of Orange amplifiers glowed their red lights into the darkness. We glimpsed the band walk on, unannounced - Andy Powell on the left with his Flying V, Martin Turner centre stage with his bass and Ted Turner on the right, sitting on a stool with an acoustic guitar strapped round his neck, Steve Upton on his drum riser behind. We weren't to know it, but the band was about to preview new songs from their still to be recorded new album, the legendary "Argus" that really broke them as a major act. Ted began to play wistful arpeggios on the acoustic, while Andy did something I didn't understand - his right hand brushed across the strings on his Flying V, but no sound came out of the PA at first. Perhaps his guitar lead was disconnected? Moments later, a wonderful washed chord flowed out of the speakers to enhance the sound of Ted's acoustic and Martin's singing - he was controlling the volume pot of his guitar with his little finger, creating an ethereal, almost Hawaiian sound. I later saw several other guitarists using this difficult skill, notably Roy Buchanan and Jan Akkerman of Focus. So this was the intro to "Time Was" - when the time came for the band to kick in to the main verse at full throttle, a roadie moved smartly onstage from the wings with Ted's Fender Stratocaster, Ted slipped off the acoustic and promptly hooked the Fender round his neck while Steve Upton filled the couple of bars gap with steady pounding. Slick! And also they were very loud - my ears were ringing after just a couple of minutes. Terrific! The band featured most of "Argus" that night, I think - I remember "Warrior/Throw Down The Sword" as an obvious standout tune for the future. The rest was a set of favourites from the first two albums, not least the already legendary "Phoenix". Back home to Bicester, getting ready for A-levels, my rock virginity deliriously lost!

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See Also

Wishbone Ash - Town Hall - UK (1972)

Wishbone Ash - The Greyhound, Croydon - UK (1972)

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