One Night Only at Brooklyn Bowl: Bo Staloch and ASHE

The iconic Brooklyn Bowl is the host of an endless variety of events in the Nashville community. Yet, September 20th showed one of the most electric Brooklyn Bowl events to date. A sold out one night only engagement celebrating the release of Wilson brought to you by none other than Ashe, with the support of Bo Staloch. Starting the night with dynamic, all-encompassing emotion was Bo Staloch. Immediately drawing the audience in, Staloch’s music had the audience attentive for each lyric and note he sang. Whether it was the new track debuted about a future child, or the embracing “Springtime Red Tulips”, Staloch had the audience at the tip of his fingers. As he played through his set, the reactive crowd were capturing their own videos of a moment where they are able to state they saw such an artist early on in their career. Closing out his set with the electric anthem “Santa Fe”, which had just dropped the night prior, kept the audience on their feet and captured the essence of his set perfectly. 

After taking a step back from the spotlight to focus on herself and her mental health, Ashe made her grand return with Wilson, a personal twelve-track record detailing her discoveries amongst her healing process, leading to her grand return to the stage after twenty-two months. Kicking her arrival off with her comeback single “Running Out Of Time”, Ashe ran onto the stage as if she was coming home. In the chilling moment, the room was alive with love, energy, and exhilaration. After returning as if she never left, she shared a moment with the crowd stating, “I am obviously feeling all kinds of overwhelmed, but mostly I’m feeling just so grateful for each of you to be in this room with me sharing this moment.” While highlighting Wilson, Ashe included a number of tracks from previous releases. “Save Myself” saw the crowd singing the song as loud as could be, while understanding the assignment when chanting the spoken bridge during “Another Man’s Jeans”. Despite Wilson only being out for two weeks, the crowd came dedicated and ready to scream the new tracks like “Hornet’s Nest” and “Dear Stranger,” back to Ashe. 

Songs like “Please don’t fall in love with me” and “Cherry Trees” felt as if they were made to serve as classics that are sung alongside a crowd. Alongside this, Ashe’s bravery and commitment when it came to the deeply honest and raw music was clear as day as she sang “I Wanna Love You (But I Don’t)” and “Helter Skelter”. After saving the hits “Till Forever Falls Apart” and “Moral of the Story” for the end of her set only, allowing for the crowd to roar even louder as they were played, Ashe addressed the crowd with a full-circle recollection. “If you know me at all, you know I journal a lot and I wrote letters to myself when I first was in the process of healing after quitting the tour and taking time off. I wrote these letters from Ashlyn to Ashe, and Ashe to Ashlyn. These letters were scathing reports. Just cruel. So, after a lot of time off and healing and making this album, this morning before the show I wrote another letter. The first time I’ve done it since then…I was gonna bring it on stage and of course I forgot it…but the letter was just like I’m so proud of you and you did it.”

 As the crowd erupted, nothing else could’ve confirmed that Ashe had indeed done it. As Ashe closed out the night with the self-titled track “Ashe”, singing the line “I’m learning to like myself for the first time”, it was as if you could feel the healing and self-love she had sought twenty-two months ago radiate from her throughout Brooklyn Bowl. Making it a night that felt like an honor for each concertgoer to attend, Ashe made it clear that she’s not ready to be counted out. In fact, she is back, and stronger than ever.

- Logan Bandi

Photos Courtesy of Patrick Phongsa (For Bell Music Magazine)