That was quite possibly the oddest “acoustic” gig I’ve been to, though having said that, I think I’ve only been to one before anyway…
So yes, Ginger, frontman for The Wildhearts, Silver Ginger 5 and a few others, was in town at The New Roscoe, a place I’d only heard of because my mum’s been there a couple of times. It’s a lovely pub; one of those proper ones that don’t play ridiculously loud music, in fact, when I went in there was no music and they had Corrie on the big TV. They don’t seem to know how to stick to a schedule though - doors were allegedly at eight but they didn’t open for another 20 mins after that.
It’s here that I’d like to point out how much I love the audiences at Wildhearts/Ginger gigs. Whilst I do feel totally out of place at times, seeing how the main demographic seems to be middle-aged men, I have no qualms with this because you’re not going to get your annoying teenage types pushing to the front to scream ridiculously loudly to ginger saying how much they love him. Oh, and then there’s for the most part a lack of a mosh pit so therefore no crowd surfers, though this isn’t always true at Wildies gigs bit at least people are sensible in these matters there. I couldn’t ask for more at a gig.
The first band up were local, but that’s not why they on, rather they had been chosen by Ginger to do the job of warming up the crowd. Seeing as they were doing it acoustically there were only half of the Eureka Machines and I’m still not entirely sure what to make of them. They did have some good songs but I’m a bit dubious as to what they’d sound like complete with drums and a bass, though having said that, their vocal performance was fantastic. Frontman Chris certainly knows how to work a room, and this he did with his banter between songs though his partner remained silent, but I think I’ll let him off cos he’s called Davros. They ended their set with “the second best song ever,” which is apparently Take On Me complete with audience participation. Brilliant.
It seemed barely ten minutes after Eureka Machines finished that Ginger came on, flanked by Chris from Eureka Machines and his mate Scott from New York. It also seems that Ginger misinterpreted the word “acoustic” this tour and simply took it to mean “without drums” as he sauntered on with his electric guitar. This added with the unusual percussion section, which consisted of the stage and a wooden platform attached to a tambourine or two, is what made it rather odd. Strangely enough though, it all worked.
I think the thing I admire Ginger for most is his musicianship. I mean he’s a proper musician, which is completely evident when you see him live on his own (as he said, he can’t muck about when he’s with The Wildies cos there are three other people there) because his improvisational skills just amazed me - the other two were pretty awesome too, meandering to whatever Ginger was playing - especially when Scott’s guitar decided to break towards the end of ‘How Hard Can You Make It?’. Ginger decided to continue with the song improvising the lyrics based on the the other two’s actions in regards to fixing the guitar. It really tickled me, though that’s probably down to his sense of humour more than anything I reckon. Oh, and I can’t fail to mention the guitar duels that were had between him and Scott, because they were just incredible, and the way that ‘Geordie In Wonderland’ ended up becoming a Willie Nelson song. It makes me wonder if that’s how ‘Can’t Drink You Pretty’ was written…
His improv skills led to a women’s section of the show where he played ‘When She Comes’ and followed it up with possibly my favourite Silver Ginger 5 song, ‘Girls Are Better Than Boys’, which made me happy because it’s not only my favourite song but because I probably won’t get to see it performed live again. He also pleased my by playing ‘Mother City’, which is one of my favourite, and one of the catchier, solo songs he’s written.
Another thing with these acoustic gigs is the informality of them. After one of the songs Ginger stopped to mention that he was excited to be playing a festival with Twisted Sister, which then led to him seeing if there were any other Twisted Sister fan in the place. Upon learning that there weren’t he challenged us to name a better frontman than Dee Snider, which quickly turned to five once one had been called out. With the comedy answer “Peter Andre” being called out the topic soon changed to Jordan and how ugly she is (”That’s why she has photoshoots with a baby. You’re all thinking it”). The soundman soon got pissed off and fiddled with the desk to produce some feedback as a signal for him to get on with the music. Mind you, if he does decide to give up music he’d make a great stand-up, or maybe that’s just me falling for his Geordie accent.
I mean, all in all, it wasn’t anything fancy, and neither was I expecting it to be, but there’s something about Ginger that just makes his gigs magical. I guess it’s the same kinda thing that makes his albums a pleasure to listen to.
So, with this gig review in mind, I suggest if you haven’t already, that you go and listen to some of his stuff. As long as it’s not Wildhearts stuff from the Endless, Nameless album you’ll be fine because that’s definitely not an album for first time listeners. Actually, [have a starter] [or two].Oh, and [a couple of pictures] from tonight’s gig too. I wasn’t overly impressed with the light. It was perfect on Scott but Ginger was very red, hence why they’re black and white.