This was my first trip to the Hard Rock Café in Glasgow, which is fair enough given that it’s only been open since 2013. After a quick drink downstairs we headed up to the intimate music area (capacity 200). Shortly after I hit two highlights before the show had even begun. I bumped into Carol Hodge who was on her way to her dressing room (the ladies’ loo…), and got a huge snog off the leading lady. Oh, to clarify, that wasn’t Carol. It was the lovely fluffy Maggie, the owner of one Ginger Wildheart who she would permit to play a set of music later on. I will never wash my face again after all the doggy licks!

Opening the show tonight was Baz Francis, who had been promises a hug by my companion which he duly collected early into his set. Baz performs like one of those annoying buskers who can actually sing and play. A stripped-down set (as the show was all about), it was just him and a guitar and some cracking rock and roll tracks.
He’s not just a great musician, he’s got a wonderful personality as well and had the crowd smiling as well as clapping along to his tunes. I’m not going to fake and say that I knew any of his songs, but I will say I’ll be checking them out again later. Some of his tracks were “his”, while several were from his old band Magic Eight Ball. I’m curious to find out what they sound like with more than just the one instrument!
It takes something to get a Wildhearts crowd clapping and stomping their feet, especially when you’re only armed with a guitar and some tunes, but Baz did a great job.
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After a short break, the double act of Carol Hodge and Ben Marsden took to the stage. This was a clever partnership where they split the set between Carol’s songs and Ben’s. I’m slightly more familiar with Carol’s music, but what I heard of Ben’s dodgy early Green Day ripoff material was pretty good. The two played off each other well and are obviously more than just two musicians backing each other up. Their rehearsed moves and off-the-cuff remarks bracketed the music perfectly and made this a better half hour or so than it had any right to be.
The sound was spot on, with Ben being front and centre for his songs, but his guitar and vocals being dropped back somewhat when Carol and her keyboard took the lead for her own songs. I really enjoyed her most recent release Vertiginous Drops and recognised the song “Clean The Slate” from this very release. The heavy parts were… different when played with clean guitar and no other instruments!
After Baz Francis opening salvo, this was the perfect double act to move onto. The same light hearted take on things, two talented musicians playing each other’s material, and some cracking songs to get the crowd warmed up and laughing. This was shaping up to be a very good night indeed.
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Ginger Wildheart has taken the Jizzy Love / Blazy Bayley route of making up his backing band from his support acts, thus reducing the number of buses needed to get them around the country. This is great for the environment and should be applauded. It also means that he gets to play on stage with people he knows and obviously gets on with. This shows in the huge smile he had as he walked on stage, accompanied by Ben Marsden.
Filled with humour, jokes, appreciation for the audience and with Maggie wandering around very much a part of the show, the main man kicked off with “Geordie in Wonderland” and, in honesty, I thought he’d peaked too soon. I mean, it’s one of the best songs the Wildhearts ever did. How do you follow that? By ensuring it’s not your fault. The bulk of the remaining tracks were chosen by a “who shouts the loudest” competition (or in one case, someone essentially miming). So if the setlist was shit, that’s on us not Ginger.
Huge credit to Ben, by the way. While you’d expect Ginger to know the songs he wrote, is Ben really going to know every obscure track that the sad Wildhearts nerds could dig out of their memory banks? I’ll tell you something, he did a bloody good job. If he was winging it, it didn’t show. Partly helped by the fact that every song picked was a classic, but still.
A little over halfway through and the band increased in size. Baz joined in for a couple of songs and then stayed on stage along with Carol, for the last half dozen or so numbers this time with a predetermined setlist. I was really pleased that they kicked off with not a Wildhearts track, but one of Carol’s. Ginger featured on the recorded version of “The Price” and it’s probably the best song on Vertiginous Drops. It’s every bit as good live, if not even better than the recorded version.
The whole set from beginning to end was an exercise in crowd participation. Ginger had to ask for the monitors to be turned up and made “really shitty” so he could hear them above the singing. There wasn’t a song that wasn’t belted out by 200 voices, plus the handful on stage, plus the howls and barks of tonight’s real star – Maggie. I’ve not had a sore voice from singing along at a gig for longer than I can remember, and I’ve not smiled so much in weeks.
This was my first gig of 2024 and already I know that any others that follow will find that the bar has been set very high indeed. It may have been a small capacity show, but was in every other respect a massive event with a hugely talented and entertaining set of musicians.
Also, every gig should finish with a dog barking. From now on I will be marking down any concert where this doesn’t happen.