Ginger Wildheart / Ryan Hamilton & The Traitors / Massive Wagons

Ginger Wildheart is a man who wears many hats. He has always kept himself busy through various projects and this summer he has kept himself particularly busy. Already this summer he has played Download Festival with The Wildhearts, hit the likes of T In The Park and 2000trees with Hey! Hello! and serenaded Camden Rocks and others solo.

Next up for the man born David Walls is a full band main stage set at this weekend's Ramblin' Man Fair. But not content with just one show Ginger has taken his Ginger Wildheart band out for an intimate tour of the UK with tonight's sold out show the first of two nights at the Portland Arms in Cambridge.

This is my first visit to the Portland Arms and my first impressions are very positive. The venue is a 200 capacity room out the back of the main pub building and both pub and venue are well equipped with a welcoming atmosphere. My only complaint would be the doors being advertised as 7pm on most listings, 7.30pm on another, but in reality not opening until nearer 8pm. This minor irk aside and I'm very impressed by the venue.

Support tonight comes firstly from up and comers Massive Wagons who will also be appearing at Ramblin' Man Fair albeit on the Rising stage. Musically they are decent enough however the highlight of their short set is a rather large spider lowering itself from the ceiling onto the guitarists head! It soon retreats though, probably from the barrage of noise being created on the stage.

Ryan Hamilton is another musician who gets about as it were. Listing People On Vacation and Smile Smile amongst his projects. Tonight he appears under the moniker of Ryan Hamilton & The Traitors and really gets the crowd pumped up with his offerings of poppy rock numbers. Mixing songs with banter on English swear words Hamilton and co thoroughly entertain the packed room and set us up perfectly for our headliner.

At this point I should mention the heat. On the hottest day of the year the last thing you really want to do is cram yourself into an airless room with 200 like minded souls. To say it's hot in here would be a massive understatement. Ginger himself acknowledges this before even playing a note, and offers quips such as “someone's going to die tonight” and “this is lovely and intimate we could have a conversation but it would use up oxygen”. Ginger's fan base is so dedicated however that little matters such as losing gallons of sweat and not being able to breathe were never going to get in the way of a fantastic night.

It is now time to crack on with some music from Ginger and his band that for this tour consist of Toshi (bass), Denzel (drums) and Conny (guitar). They start the night with a run of songs by Ginger's Silver Ginger 5 project with 'Take It All Why Don'tcha', 'Anyway But Maybe' and 'Sonic Shake' getting the crowd moving and singing along. With the venue getting hotter and hotter Ginger continues to reference the heat asking “what crime do I need to commit to open the doors” and “I hope tomorrow's not sold out as well” receiving understanding applause from the crowd.

The band tonight are tight and play well despite Ginger remarking on the poor stage sound, something which the crowd couldn't care less about as the band plough through a selection of Ginger's solo material including a rousing performance of 'Only A Problem'.

Ginger of course is probably as famous for The Wildhearts then he is any of his other projects and he couldn't come to Cambridge without dropping some of that bands material.'Mazel Tov Cocktail' and a personal highlight 'Top Of The World' help bring the set to a close and provide the audience the platform to go a little bit crazy. With an encore of 'Geordie In Wonderland' and '29x The Pain', Ginger sends the appreciative audience home happy if very sweaty.