Live Review : Ginger Wildheart + Ben Marsden & Carol Hodge + Baz Francis @ The Ferret, Preston on January 27th 2024

It’s a rare hometown gig tonight as Ginger hits Preston’s The Ferret.  Only the second gig reviewed by ROCKFLESH in the town in the last twelve months, with gigs on the horizon in the coming months from Fury, Spike and Acid Reign to name but a few, hopefully that trend is set to be reversed in 2024. And with a capacity of only a couple of hundred in The Ferret, the first Preston gig of the year promises to be an opportunity to witness one of the mainstays of the scene for over three decades, up close and personal. 

But first up is Baz Francis who has the unenviable task of opening the show and getting a reaction out of the (initially at least) somewhat reserved crowd.  Clad in white dungarees, the Magic Eight Ball vocalist cuts a striking figure; it’s a minimal stage set up tonight with just a couple of small amps and a keyboard, but Baz manages to fill that space with his energetic performance, dancing round the mic stand, precariously leaning over the edge of the stage and demanding the crowd’s attention.  He works tirelessly to win over the audience and with a fine line in repartee and banter, coupled with an acerbic wit, achieves that by the end of his set.  Songs are culled from both his main band Magic Eight Ball and his solo material and by the time he finishes with ‘Russian Ballet’, the crowd are firmly on-side and he leaves the stage to a deservedly enthusiastic response. 

Ben Marsden and Carol Hodge are an inspired pairing; Ben will be familiar to many through his stints lending his guitar prowess to such luminaries as Warner Hodges, The Main Grains and The Spangles, whilst Carol is an equally seasoned performer (having collaborated with everyone from Ryan Hamilton and Crass’ Steve Ignorant to Ginger himself), as becomes immediately obvious by the seemingly effortless and sparkling sounds she coaxes from her flower-bedecked keyboard. Combine the two and you get something really quite special indeed.   

As well as being fabulous exponents of their particular instruments, both are also possessed of great voices, enabling them to share vocal duties and cover songs from across their respective canon.  There is a loose, easy chemistry between the two that can only be achieved by fine musicians at the top of their game, and it is that confidence, that ability to be able to choose what song to play on the fly that makes this such an entertaining set.  And whilst it may be loose in presentation that never seeps into the musical performances which are uniformly excellent.  Whether it’s on Carol’s ‘Clean The Slate’ or Ben’s ‘Get Over Yourself’ this is rock n’ roll at it’s stripped back best, full of devil horns, laughter, and an irreverent joie de vivre of sharing their music with an enthusiastic, receptive and engaged crowd of like-minded individuals.  It’s the sort of set that makes you want to go back and check out their back catalogues and that’s exactly what I intend to do! 

And so to the main man himself; quite simply, Ginger is an icon (although I’m sure he’d probably hate to be referred to as such), a constant in many of our shared musical histories through the course of our lives.  The warmth, affection and esteem in which The Ferret crowd hold him is immediately obvious, genuine and heartfelt.  Equally if there was ever any doubt of the strength of his legacy with The Wildhearts then tonight would surely disabuse any dissenters of this notion. 

Accompanied by just Ben Marsden to his right, Ginger announces from the get-go that there’s no set-list tonight, he’ll play most anything that the crowd requests. And with spontaneity sometimes in short supply in live music these days, this approach pretty much guarantees it; freed from the constraints of a set-list, this becomes a glorious free-wheeling audience participation of a gig.  As such it has a wonderfully familial, inclusive vibe, drawing us metaphorically closer to the band.   Ginger has always been a performer for the people first and foremost, he’s one of us (if of course, we too were hugely talented singer/songwriter/guitarists), his lyrics relatable and real whilst still retaining that ineffable rock n roll magic.  That on stage with him, is Maggie, his beautiful Border Collie, who chases her tennis ball across the stage and through the crowd, stealing hearts and occasionally the limelight as she goes, is no surprise.  If reading this, you think having a dog on stage is unusual, it is completely in keeping with that down-to-earth ethos and tonight seems a completely natural thing. 

We get an early ‘Caffeine Bomb’ and ‘Red Light, Green Light’ every track announced with a story and that trademark charm and wit.   A relaxed Ginger looks like he’s having just as good a time as we are, whether delivering a storming ‘My Baby is a Headfuck’, asking us to actually sing the solos (to those songs where on the recording there are more guitars than there are on stage) or replying to the guy next to me desperately bellowing for ‘29x The Pain’, with Ginger happily obliging with a stunning rendition.

As the set progress, Baz and Carol rejoin the shenanigans on the stage; a sublime ‘Sick of Drugs’ somehow segues into an unexpected burst of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and a snippet of ‘Freebird’,  before roadie/tech Dougie steps up and takes the mic for a riotous ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’.  It’s another left turn, as delightful as it is surprising and the crowd are by this stage in a state of rapturous anticipation as to what’s going to come next. 

’I Wanna Go Where The People Go’ leaves the crowd baying for more having had the privilege of witnessing something so unquestionably unique, beguiling and authentic, by a true rock n’ roll original.  This was a gig like few others and one that will be remembered for a long time by those at The Ferret tonight…. 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Ginger WIldheart, Ben marsden & Carol Hodge, Baz Francis