On July 18, Ashton Irwin made his frontman debut for the first time at his first ever solo show at The Belasco in Los Angeles. Having never played live since his first solo album came out during covid, fans have been patiently waiting for him to finally hit the stage to perform his solo tracks. According to Ashton, the show was somewhat of an album release party for his second album, Blood on The Drums, and the energy was truly electric from the minute he stepped on stage until the final bow.
Starting the show off, Irwin entered the stage to perform the first single off of his sophomore album, “Straight To Your Heart.” You wouldn’t expect anything less from him, but somehow the song was even better live than it was on the album. Seeing Ashton as a front man and not behind the drum kit for the first time was incredible. He was smiling ear to ear as fans excitedly sang along. A special moment during this song was when Ashton noticed his fellow 5SOS bandmates, Luke Hemmings and Calum Hood, on the balcony and pointed at them while they danced along to the song.
He went behind the drum kit during the second song, “Breakup” and the crowd went wild. This song was definitely one of the crowd favorites of the night. You could see the entire crowd jumping and screaming the lyrics back to him. Not only was it so special to hear him play his new songs, but he also performed songs from his first album for the very first time live including “Greyhound” and “Drive.” It was a perfect mix of old and new.
A highlight of the night was Ashton performing “California Holds Her Breath,” with fans taking over and singing the chorus. It was a beautiful moment as he watched them sing along, especially since the song had only been released a day earlier..
Closing out the show, he wrapped up with a personal favorite, “Glory Days,” which had the crowd going wild. He followed this with “Have You Found What You’re Looking For?” from his debut album Superbloom as his final song of the night. A dedicated fan at the barricade organized a special project via Twitter, where fans could send in notes for Ashton from around the world, so they could be apart of the night even if they couldn’t attend the show. She hand-wrote these notes and attached them to roses for the audience to throw on stage during the last song. Ashton looked thrilled as he gathered the roses at the end of the night and proudly waved goodbye to the fans thanking them for coming out and saying he would see them next time.
Ashton has already hinted that this was most likely not a one off performance with a post on Instagram following the show saying “Maybe we should do it again!!!” So maybe fans can look forward to a small solo tour from him in the future.
Photos and words by: Mikaila Storrs
Keep up with Ashton on social media: Youtube // Instagram // Website // X
