"Yeah," confirms Rick McMurray in between mouthfulls of peanuts, "It was the beginning of the way up. Maybe now it'll be the beginning of the way down." A nervous silence decends upon the table, broken by a snort from the drummer. "Book-end gigs," he deadpans.

"We played at this festival in a bull ring in Portugal," says Tim Wheeler, recalling another significant venue. "The dressing room had two bulls' heads and the names of all the matadors who'd died there sincs1888."

"I bet Rick £50 to kiss one of the bulls on the lips." laughs Mark as Charlotte Hatherly shudders. "They were so old bits were crumbling of their faces. He would'nt do it."

"It wasn't that!" Says Rick defensively. "It was because they were dead. If they could've kissed back it would've been another matter.

Twenty-four hours away fromtheir comeback gig proper,live and direct from Shepard's Bush Empire to the good people of satelliteland, Ash- replete with newest member Charlotte on guitar-are rehearsing for MTV with this secret gig. But as indie station Xfm, in their finite wisdom announced it on air yesterday, it's not much of a secret anymore. "It's supposed to be a warm-up," shrugs Rick. "Well it'll certainly be warm."

That, unfortunately, is something of an understatement. Three songs into the set, the Falcon looks like Rock Circus in a microwave: audience members who haven't moved a muscle except to applaud are drenched, as are the band themselves. Mark has to resort to dousing himself with pints of water in between songs simply to remain conscious.

In Spite of such intolerable conditions, Ash's performance is nothing short of astonishing. With a ferocity hinted at last year Glastonbury shows (they played both the Main and Other Stages, remember?), they tear through the set demonstrating their confidence by dropping in 'Girl From Mars' second with a euphoric ' ALife Less Ordinary' not far behind. Charlotte's understated coo l- a reminder why Justine Frishmann once meant so much - adds a previosly absent panache to ,the bands stage presense, while her unsure harmonies fill a gap we never knew existed.

Tim positively roars at the audience, aeons away from the apologetic warble that characterised 'Trailer' and most of '1977'. Rick and Mark just thoroughly enjoy themselves, smiling bemusedly at the relentless crowd surfer and taking shouts from the floor in their stride. If ever a band has crawled from the chrysalisis and unfurled a pair of great big fuck-off wings to the world, it's Ash.

That this should come as any kind of surprise - and oddly it does - is testament to the fact that the band have grown up in public at a time when their comtempories were privately finding their feet. While this by no means disminishes the accolades Gomez, Embrace et al have recieved for their debuts, we should remember that Ash are still their juniors by years. And while Radiohead continue to reap the spoils of 'Ok Computer' bear in mind that they were considerably older when they recorded 'Pablo Honey' an album which they've always said they'd hate to be judged by. Ash's forthcoming album will be released when the avarage age is 21 and a bit - and if tonights form is indicative, it'll be fantastic.

Having hurled an ecstatically recieved 'Oh Yeah' into the vacuum created by exausted oxygen supplies, a batch of new material is aired. Appropriately moving the Ash sound on from punk rock to new wave, the songs - 'Pickefoo', 'Wild Surf' and 'Knumbskull' amongst them - are both harder and poppier than ever before, simultaneously rocking like a bastard and charming your pants off. The new stand out tune, 'Low Ebb', moves into yet more virgin territory - a slow burning, atmospheric track that in more appropriate circumstances could quite easily be a tearjerker. And while 'Goldfinger' and ' Kung Fu' close the set triumphantly, it's the memory of tose untrained tracks that lingers into the very fresh air beyond.

So when are we going to hear the new album? "October," Tim replies proudly in the perspiration-flooded dressing room. And how do you feel about it now you've played most of it live? Coming over all Mark Owen, he shrugs his shoulders and smiles, shyly confident. " we're looking forward to it." They're not the only ones.

Emma Morgan