Martin Turner transports the Corn Hall back to the Seventies

Posted on 5th December 2022

Still sporting the classic rock star look despite his seventy something years, Martin Turner proved a commanding and avuncular presence at the Corn Hall, introducing the songs and sharing wistful anecdotes about his time with Wishbone Ash with good humour and considerable style.

The evening opened with the classic Argus album, Misha Nikolic’s acoustic guitar and newcomer Sonny Flint’s cymbals and hi-hat work on ‘Time Was’, epitomising Argus’s light and shade.  Danny Willson’s solos on both ‘Sometime World’ and ‘The King Will Come’ did justice to the original album, while ‘Warrior’, seguing into ‘Throw Down The Sword’, delivered that classic twin guitar climax brilliantly. We had to wait until the end of the first set to hear ‘Blowin Free’, but it was a delightful conclusion to the first half that showcased Turner’s vocals at their strongest.

Wishbone Four is something of a curiosity featuring a mix of musical styles – essentially less progressive noodling and more hard rock and country – but it was a refreshing gear change after the seriousness of Argus. Turner chewed up and spat out the lyrics to ‘So Many Things to Say’, while the twin guitars excelled on ‘Ballad of the Beacon’. Wisely, Turner once again tweeted the album’s running order, so that the evening was brought to a close with the bluesy ‘No Easy Road’, some fabulous slide guitar on ‘Rock And Roll Widow’ and, best of all,  Turner’s bass lines intertwined with the two harmony guitars on ‘Doctor’.

I recently saw the “official” Wishbone Ash, headed up by Andy Powell, performing much the same set and I have to say, I felt Martin Turner’s outfit had the edge. They showcased an undeniable classic album and an unfairly neglected successor with an energy and spirit I felt was closer to the original in an evening that was both nostalgic and entertaining.