Ginger Wildheart is an unstoppable force. Faced with his recent cancer diagnosis, he has taken the decision to say ‘f*ck that!’ and has vowed to rock for as long as he can physically stand on a stage. Music has always been the driving force in Ginger’s life, and he isn’t about to become his diagnosis as the song goes…

Tonight’s show was a home gig for me, which is a rare beast, and the Tolbooth proved to be the ideal venue, if a tad warm! Support for the evening was Liverpudlian trio Damsens who have in their ranks Taylor Graley on bass and vocals, who just happens to be Ginger’s son. However, the band were definitely here on merit, and not just because of the family connection, as they played up a storm.

Coming across as a heavier Nirvana, the guys blasted the Tolbooth into submission with a mix of original songs and the odd cover, including a great version of the Placebo song ‘Nancy Boy’. The sound mix was a bit messy at the start of the set, but that was quickly sorted out, and the band went down well as the temperature rose. Ginger took in the whole set from the side of the stage and, quite rightly, looked like a proud father watching his offspring blossom.

A quick run to the bar to secure much needed drinks filled in the short changeover between bands, and as the lights went down anticipation was high for The Wildhearts. On this tour Ginger has gone for a fairly eclectic setlist that was heavy and challenging in equal measure, no ‘greatest hits’ set here!

Opening with ‘Failure Is The Mother Of Success’ from the band’s latest album ‘Satanic Rites Of The Wildhearts’, the band are on great form with Ginger giving his all centre stage. The more familiar strains of ‘Nothing Ever Changes But The Shoes’ follows with the crowd singing along with every word.

‘Sleepaway’ and ‘Mazel Tov Cocktail’ were up next with the crowd enthusiastically joining in on the latter. ‘Vernix’ was up next with Ginger joking that it was a bugger to play and if they got it right it would be a miracle. It sounded excellent to me.

The band on this tour are top notch with Ben Marsden proving to be the perfect foil for Ginger on guitar, Random Jon Poole on bass, Charles Evans beating his drumkit into submission and Carol on keyboards and backing vocals. Regardless of the technical nature of some of tonight’s set, they never missed a beat.

We then had another couple of newer tracks from the latest album, ‘Kunce’ and the challenging ‘Maintain Radio Silence’. Things did lighten up a bit with a blast through of the ‘Cheers’ theme song, before turning heavy again with ‘Spider Beach’, a song from the band’s upcoming album, Ginger really doesn’t slow down!

‘Everlone’ allowed the crowd to raise their voices once more before we plunged down a very hard and heavy rabbit hole starting with ‘The Riffs Melody’ which then sieged into ‘Slaughtered Authors’ which had more twists and turns than a Christmas episode of Eastenders.

By this time the heat in the Tolbooth was somewhere close to the surface of the sun and Random Jon Poole was clearly struggling. He ploughed on through ‘Chutzpah’, before the band left the stage for a quick, and much needed, breather. They returned for a crowd pleasing encore of ‘My Baby Is a Headfuck’, complete with more audience participation, before taking in the cheers of the crowd, a job well done.

Regardless of if you have seen The Wildhearts live before or not, I urge you to get out and see the band on their upcoming dates. It’s clear that Ginger is a man on a mission and on this form there is no stopping him, long may it last.

Review and pictures by Dave Wilson

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 25 May 2026

BABY JANE Midnight Highway (Sped Up) (indie)
ASTRAL ROCKS The Flame In Me (Astral Rocks Prodns.)
INDIGO SYNDICATE dwn4smr (indie)
THE SKBS The Prying Eye (indie)
AGAINST THE CURRENT Dead Man Walking (indie)
ICONIC Tears Keep On Falling (Frontiers)

Featured Albums w/c 25 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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