Market Forces
The ever prolific Ginger is in town again, this time plying his solo acoustic sideline (down at Manchester’s Music Box) that for some years now has run alongside The Wildhearts & more recently the Sonic Circus. The Music Box is a deceptively large venue (narrow but long!) and it’s far from sold out but there are a few hundred in and more than enough to make a good atmosphere.
Ginger’s solo affairs are a mixed bunch on record but in the live show he mixes it all up with a smattering of Wildhearts songs, which makes for a varied and entertaining couple of hours. It should be pointed out that ‘solo’ doesn’t mean he’s up there on his own, tonight he is ably assisted by Chris Catalyst and Scott (who’s surname I forget), all on guitars but interestingly none of them (Ginger included) play acoustics and this doesn’t really do much for the quality of the sound, which is somewhat dull throughout.
Tonight is a really relaxed and laid back affair with plenty of idle chit chat between Ginger and the crowd and plenty of laughs. Unsurprisingly it’s the Wildhearts material that gets the biggest reaction from the crowd but there are a couple of solo tracks that have similar effect, most notably ‘Mother City’ and ‘This is Only A Problem’. Scott really shines on lead guitar and despite the only percussion coming from stamping their feet on the stage they stay remarkably in time and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. No Ginger gig would really be complete without ‘Geordie in Wonderland’ and coming early in the set it serves a purpose in getting the crowd singing along. There’s a good mix from the back catalogue from the more recent ‘One Life, One Love, One Girl’ and ‘There’s Only One Hell’ to the much older ‘Love Shit’ and there’s even time for a cover of ‘You Don’t Know What it’s Like’.
So the sound wasn’t the best and without the energy or fullness of sound that percussion brings it lacked a little something but it was enjoyable all the same, due in no small part to the fact that Ginger is a genuinely likeable guy and just a shit hot songwriter. It filled the gap nicely enough between Wildhearts tours and when they rounded off the set with the excellent ‘29 X The Pain’ it ensured nobody went home disappointed.