Ash are a good-time band for a lot of people, and yet they remain to be this constantly underrated, power pop rock for the masses.

To this day have a bursting repertoire of still-underrated, electro-fused pop rock. Oh well, That just leaves the good stuff for the rest of us. Ash are a generation-defining band who have an album and a hit song – usually quite summery in its nature – for every batch of school-leavers.

There are the ones who genuinely remember the 90s punktastic Kung Fu, the ones who’ll always love that flickering indie-rock twinge in Girl From Mars; for me, the crux was a blinding set-finisher during the encore for the highly-jumpable ‘Burn Baby Burn’ - my high school anthem – and all us oldies (even though we’re only in our twenties!) were joined by the new fans who best know Orpheus; the Transformers song from Meltdown; and Arcadia – a new song released on limited vinyl.

Yet, to only credit their greatest hits would be a misnomer to their genuinely brilliant, pop-genius repertoire. Still, tonight was a greatest hits list for fans and newbies alike. And even if you were only here for the discount on a new pair of boots – my oh my, were you treated to a set that was filled with a real love for doing it all live.

“This is our last gig of the year!” said Tim Wheeler, lead vocalist of Ash, making it very clear to very, very happy fans that Manchester was the perfect place to close up after coming home form touring the US.

Support Act - The Minx

The full-throttle setlist was the proof every music lover needed to prove you don’t need autotune and a repeat-march beat to make an all out, fun set of records.

A girl got chatting to me about how this was her first live gig, and “was a bit of a chav before I learned about music.” After a heavy 2 hours, I turned around to see what what she thought at the end – She nodded. Just a massive, massive smile on her face and a bouncy YES! nod.

Nice one Dr Martens. I sort of forgot the gig was about shoes and things.