One of the undoubted stars of the weekend was Kassi Ashton, who from the moment she stepped out, made an immediate impression before even singing a single note
"There are a lot of you!" she observed on seeing two packed levels of the Indigo before going on to note in a self depricating way that the two guitarists flanking her either side were the talent and that she was "the comedy". With her dark hair hanging down and dresed in black leather trousers and a white tshirt she was simply magnetic in drawing the attention towards her, her supporting guitarists could have committed murder but no-one would have been able to identify them!.
Her opening tune "Crazy" came with a hilarious introduction that memoraby closing with the line
"Put it on my tombstone - put it on my booty cheek
Any man who has ever called me "Crazy" has called me again"
The tune had a true Americana feel to it, Kassi a photographers dream, never still on her stool, dispaying a myriad of expressions with her hands as she sang. Her voice laced with a sultry country twang was impossible to not llike.
Explaning to the audience that "I can't cuss" due to the venue and being on Radio 2, she did however tease the audince to fill in the missing wor don the next song "Son Of A Gun" which they were only too willing to do. Relating to her unusual raising in California Missour, it gave us the outstaning line
"I'ma son of a bitch and a son of a gun"
A stirring pair of almost Stones like acoustic riffs, set the scene for Kassi' to lay down har vocals shoulting "I heard it" and smiling each time the crowd played their part.
Her debut album "Made In The Dirt" comes out in an extended format in April, the title track here went down an absolute storm , with Kassi's vocal powering out the chorus to great effect on this absorbing performance.
Things would slow with "The Straw" - "I don't need to be saved", her vocal given additonal reverb that echoed around the Indigo - the words of the title barely tumbling from her lips after the preseeding lines. This was powerful drama playing out before our very eyes and it sent the Indigo into a pin drop silent hush. The pace would again pick up with "Till The Lights Go Out" with Kassi's vocals allowed full reign. From there it was into a steaming, stormy version of "Rhiannon" with Kassi summoning her inner Stevie Nicks, at times she would deliver her vocals draped over the guitarist to her left at an angle of thirty degrees - while at other times her hands would descriptively rise above her head causing her tshirt to ride up.
One final burst of Kassi came with "Drive You Out Of My Mind", fast paced, snappily delivered, building in intensity each time the chorus came round, this had star quality etched all over it, endowed with multiple hooks this was simply irresistible. Faultless from beginning to end undoubtedly one of the performances of the weekend.
If her Indigo performance set pulses racing and tongues wagging, then temperatures must have soared once Kassi Ashton hit the Spotlight Stage in the Main Arena. She was free to roam the albeit tiny stage, with no stool to tie her down and her hands were even more expressive. The songs *Crazy" "The Straw" and "Drive You Out Of My Mind", may have been a subset of those played earlier yet somehow how they seemed even more provacative this time round.
Undoubtedly a star of the future yet one that will only want to do it on her terms or not at all - Kassi Ashton - Remember the name!
Pictures by kind permission of Chris Cooper