Ahead of Wishbone Ash’s world tour that will kick off in September, Andy Powell talked to Guitar World about some of his old live shows. When asked about an embarrassing moment on stage, he recalled:
“We weren’t averse to being a bit high on stage sometimes. I remember this one time in Zurich where I walked out in front of the monitor speakers to take a solo. And as I stepped back and leaned back, the monitor wedge was right behind me, and it got right behind my knees, and I went flat on my back, but I continued playing, so I kind of made it part of the show.”
During the chat, the guitarist went further back by mentioning his first-ever stage performance. He said:
“I was around 12. We used to have something called Saturday morning pictures in the U.K. at a cinema that was in the town I lived in at the time. Movies were big back then, so I was playing a matinee show between movies, like ‘Bambi’ or some other Disney thing.”
Talking about how the show went, Powell added:
“I got on stage with my friends, and we stood on what was really a shelf because the screen was behind us. We had about six feet to stand on and to put our little amps on. We performed for kids because it was in the summer holidays, and I was absolutely crapping myself, but it was my first taste of performing.”
Andy marked his 50th year with Wishbone Ash a few months ago. The band released a deluxe box set of their debut album ‘Argus’ to celebrate their anniversary. Currently, they have two festival dates in Germany and France before their upcoming fall tour.