There’s something perversely satisfying about a band peaking before they’re legally allowed to drink—and then spending the next three decades proving it wasn’t a fluke.
Back in 1996, Ash dropped 1977 like a sugar-rush detonation: loud, bratty, hook-stuffed, and completely uninterested in subtlety.
It went platinum, hijacked the tail end of Britpop, and turned a bunch of teenagers from Downpatrick into unlikely standard-bearers for a generation that preferred distortion pedals to introspection.
Now, 30 years later, 1977 is getting the kind of lavish reissue usually reserved for albums that wear more corduroy than Converse. The 30th Anniversary Edition doesn’t just polish the nostalgia—it leans into it hard. You’re getting the original album in full, still buzzing with the same reckless energy that made “Girl From Mars,” “Goldfinger,” “Kung Fu,” and “Oh Yeah” feel like they were written at 3am on a sugar high. Because they probably were.
But this isn’t just a museum piece. There’s new (and near-mythical) material in the mix: the long-whispered-about “Bittersweet Blue” finally surfaces, alongside a 2026 rework of “Oh Yeah” and fresh demo/acoustic takes that feel less like updates and more like time folding in on itself. Disc 2 pulls you into a 2021 live session at STABAL Studios, where the band rips through 1977 in full—less nostalgia act, more victory lap with distortion.
If you’re the kind of person who still fetishises physical media (and let’s be honest, you probably are), the 2LP “EcoRecord Green & Black ‘InkPlosion’” vinyl sounds like something dreamed up in a lab by record collectors with too much time and not enough shelf space. There’s also a 2CD digisleeve for the traditionalists, plus the inevitable digital drop for everyone else pretending they don’t care about bitrate.
And because Ash have never really figured out how to sit still, they’re taking 1977 back on the road—globally. Starting in September, they’ll hit Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and Europe before circling back home for a December run across the UK and Ireland, culminating at London’s Roundhouse. It’s less a reunion tour and more a reminder that the songs still hit like they’ve got something to prove.
Before all that, though, there’s a more intimate way in: a livestreamed acoustic set from Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre on May 6, 2026—exactly 30 years since the album first landed. Hosted by BBC Introducing’s Taylor Johnson, it promises stripped-back versions of the chaos, plus the kind of behind-the-scenes stories that usually get lost somewhere between the van and the venue.
The real question isn’t whether 1977 still holds up—it does. It’s whether you’re ready to admit that the loud, fast, ridiculously catchy music you loved as a teenager might actually have been… good.
ASH – GLOBAL TOUR DATES 2026
14th June – Download festival (UK)
19th June – Isle of Wight festival (UK)
30th July – Y Not Festival, Pikehall, Derbyshire (UK)
31st July – Kendal Calling, Hackthorpe (UK)
4th Sept – Rosemount, Perth (AUS)
5th Sept – Freo Social, Fremantle (AUS)
8th Sept – Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide (AUS)
10th Sept – The Tivoli, Brisbane (AUS)
11th Sept – Northcote Theatre, Melbourne (AUS)
12th Sept – Metro Theatre, Sydney (AUS)
14th Sept – Tuning Fork, Aukland (NZ)
15th Sept – San Fran, Wellington (NZ)
21st Sept – Hard Rock Cafe, Singapore (SG)
23rd Sept – Hong Kong Portal, Hong Kong (HK)
10th Nov – De Helling, Utrecht (NL)
11th Nov – Gebaude 9, Cologne (DE)
12th Nov – Hole44, Berlin (DE)
15th Nov – Effenaar (Small Room), Eindhoven (NL)
1st Dec – Arena, Torquay (UK)
2nd Dec – O2 Guildhall, Southampton (UK)
4th Dec – Tramshed, Cardiff (UK)
5th Dec – UEA, Norwich (UK)
6th Dec – Rock City, Nottingham (UK)
8th Dec – Albert Hall, Manchester (UK)
9th Dec – Olympia, Dublin (IE)
10th Dec – Ulster Hall, Belfast (UK)
12th Dec – Boilershop, Newcastle (UK)
13th Dec – Barrowlands, Glasgow (UK)
15th Dec – O2 Institute, Birmingham (UK)
16th Dec – O2 Academy, Leeds (UK)
17th Dec – Roundhouse, London (UK)
words Al Woods
