This one’s been a long time coming. The last time I saw The Wildhearts headline a Glasgow show was in 2016 at the ABC, though they have played a few other times. Ross covered their 2018 performance at SWG3, and they played a blinder supporting Gun in the sunshine in Kelvingrove Park in 2019. More recently, Ginger headlined the Hard Rock Café last year. Tonight looked like a sell-out, or close to it, at The Garage which they apparently first played at thirty years ago.
Warming us up before them, though, were Dirt Box Disco. Coincidence, or maybe not, this bunch of low-brow punk miscreants who sing about bums, willies, farts and second hand sex toys were also on the bill for that 2016 show. I even bought one of their t-shirts, emblazoned with the name “Spunk Volcano”, the balaclava-clad lead singer’s nom-de-frontman. They are silly. They are childish. They absolutely don’t give a flying toss, and they are hugely, hugely entertaining.
If Viz C*mic did punk bands, this would be it. Slightly less offensive than The Macc Lads, more along the lines of Kunt and the Gang, and surprisingly good musically. They could easily get away with being a bit more shit, but they are actually pretty decent considering they’re essentially a comedy act. Importantly for a comedy act they’re actually funny, and it’s the between-song banter that seals the deal.
They will apparently be back sometime later this year as headliners, playing much longer sets, and I absolutely will be keeping an eye out for them and will be “Standing In A Queue” to get in to see them.
After a short set change, Jim Jones All Stars somehow managed to cram nine band members onto the small Garage stage and made a wonderful bluesy rock and roll noise for half an hour or so. Catchy as all hell, great to watch and absolutely begging to be jigged and bounced along to they nailed the “warm up band” job description to a tee.
With all the showmanship, and the sound, of a band that could have featured in The Blues Brothers they razzled, dazzled and entertained to a now-full Garage. Twin saxes joined the guitars and drums, and the bass plunks led the way due to a great sound mix. Perfect for this style of music. If I had a complaint it was that one or two songs seemed to drag a bit, almost like they were freestyling a little, but I’ll let that slide on the basis that the rest of the show was so damn good.
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And finally, a little after 9pm, the new-look Wildhearts arrived on stage. Except for Carol Hodge who was already up there, hidden at the back behind one of the banners on keys and backing vocals. I wanted to make sure I got her name up front as I’m sure a lot of people in the venue didn’t even realise she was there! Fortunately we could see her from where we were standing and she looked like she was enjoying the show as much as we were.
There was no sign of Maggie tonight, unlike at last year’s Ginger headliner, but this was a much louder affair so probably not dog-safe. I’m sure she was well looked after backstage while her doggy daddy looked as happy and in the zone as I’ve ever seen him. With so many albums out it’s not surprise that Ginger admitted he couldn’t really remember which ones played host to which of the songs they played, but for the record they covered eight out of eleven studio albums with the 15-track set. Interestingly, and I feel poetically, it was their newest release and debut release which made up the bulk of the songs, book-ending the other material.
Opening with “Sucker Punch” and “I Wanna Go…” is a brave move as those are two of the most well-known tracks in their arsenal, and they followed this with “Eventually” from Satanic Rites. The new material went down well, and continued to do so which isn’t a surprise as it’s a damn good album.
Ginger was in fine form, something Ross confirmed last night (as I write this) as he saw the band play at KK’s in Wolverhampton. Laughing, joking and reacting to the wall of sound coming from the audience, this was the Ginger we’ve been wanting to see for so long. After so long worrying about one of the UK’s most prolific and talented songwriters it’s as much a relief as a joy to see him on stage with a big grin, taking the piss out of Norwich.
Watching the audience go nuts to the likes of “Vanilla Radio” and “Diagnosis” reinforces that The Wildhearts have maintained their level of quality over an impressive length of time. As Ginger said, the first time they played the Garage was in 1995 and I confess I wasn’t there… but I was at the Bradford Rios gig on the same tour!
For the encore, I thought “Inglorious” wasn’t the best choice to almost-finish the gig on as it’s a bit of a lengthy number (if a decent one) and I’d have preferred a double-hit of “Sick of Drugs” and “Geordie in Wonderland” instead, but with so many songs in their collection there will always be a “Why didn’t they play…?” moment.
Ending the gig as they started, with a track from Earth Vs. (“My Baby is a Headfuck”), Ginger wasn’t the only one smiling as he and his cohort left the stage for the second time. The whole band was grinning, and the audience likewise, as we spilled out into a chilly night warmed up by a great evening’s entertainment.
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Photos by Beyond Punk Photography
