MUSIC

Fleece, Bristol (Tue 13 Dec)

Ginger's guitar is out of tune and the drum monitor isn't working. But that doesn't matter because he's full of pre-Christmas cheer, sending out his love to each and every one of us. If we're not exactly the best audience ever, we're certainly better than Norwich or bloody Swansea. But wait! It seems that now we're suddenly a bunch of cunts. The mood-swinging dreadlocked Geordie has noticed a small pocket of punters who are clapping with insufficient enthusiasm. An "I don't know why some fucking people go to gigs" tirade ensues, during which he threatens to stop touring altogether and offers the offenders a tenner each to fuck off. By the end of the evening, Ginger will have headbutted his microphone after delivering a not unmerited dressing-down to a stage-invading dickhead (who leaves a roadie bleeding profusely) and stormed offstage never to return.

Local Ginger-watchers will be quite familiar with his volatility. Who could forget the Wildhearts' Anson Rooms gig where, in the presence of record company reps, he told the audience not to buy the band's new album because it was a piece of shit of which he disapproved (they were dropped shortly afterwards)? Or the disastrous acoustic show at the Bierkeller, which he now describes as one of the worst nights of his life? But if the phrase "his own worst enemy" might have been coined to describe Our Ginge, he's still one of the nation's great – and most prolific – songwriters, maintaining a remarkable quality standard through myriad side-projects. Despite being a tad shambolic and boasting at least one guitarist surplus to requirements (do you really need three lead guitars to play Wildhearts songs?), Ginger and his five Friends promised a treat for a Fleece packed to the rafters with hardcore fans, delving into that vast back catalogue to dig out some rarely played golden nuggets. In this they succeeded, opening with the full eight minutes of 'Inglorious' (originally on a fans-only mail order release) and taking in the very early 'Splattermania', actionably Motorhead-esque 'Suckerpunch' and several songs from the Wildhearts' overlooked eponymous album from 2007. Cardiacs bassist 'Random' Jon Poole certainly seemed to be enjoying himself, posing like a buffoon and blowing kisses to the crowd. But Ginger's usual amusing and sarcastic banter seemed to develop an increasingly bitter edge even before it all kicked off with the Idiot Stage Invasion. Mercifully, this took place during the final encore, leaving the rest of the band flummoxed by their leader's abrupt departure. By the following morning, the dread name Axl Rose was being invoked on the Wildhearts forum. Just an off night, or was he trying to tell us something by disinterring 'Something Weird (Going On in My Head)'? (Robin Askew)

Copyright Robin Askew 2011