GIG REVIEW: Ferocious Dog, Boiler Shop, Newcastle,
Friday 4 November 2022
Ferocious Dog are a six-piece Celtic folk-infused punk band who’ve made quite a name for themselves on the live circuit in the UK and beyond over the last 10 years or so.
Hailing from Warsop, near Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, they’ve toured with the likes of The Levellers, New Model Army and Flogging Molly, and have clearly learned their craft well.
After being told for years that they were a must-see live band, I finally managed to catch them at Kubix Festival in Sunderland in June (reviewed here).
I enjoyed them very much, and made a note to see them as headliners in their own right at the first opportunity; that came tonight on their Never Too Late For Hope tour, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Despite being one of the best-loved bands you’ve perhaps never heard of, Ferocious Dog inspire fanatic levels of devotion from their hardcore fans, affectionately known as Hell Hounds (after one of their songs).
They were here in their numbers, and the boys put on a show which demonstrated exactly why once you’ve seen them, you’ll want to do so again and again.
Ken Bonsall is a hugely engaging frontman, and the band are all accomplished players, but the thing that makes them stand out from the folk-punk crowd is fiddle player Dan Booth.
As well as being a founder member of the band with Ken, he’s their manager, as well as being an incredible musician whose astonishing playing elevates them to a different level.
Ken and Dan are joined by a new line-up, consisting of returning guitarist Kyle Peters, multi-instrumentalist Sam Wood, and a new rhythm section of Nick Wragg (bass) and Luke Grainger (drums).
Ferocious Dog have five albums to their name, and the latest, 2021’s The Hope, saw them chart for the first time, so it’s no surprise it provides the backbone of tonight’s set.
After the taped Port Isaac intro they launch right into the first of the ‘new’ material, their version of the traditional sea shanty Haul Away Joe, and it gets the crowd moving from the off.
Pentrich Rising, from the same album, sees multi-instrumentalist Sam Wood catch the eye with some impressive banjo playing, while other standouts from the same record include Broken Soldier and Slayed The Traveller.
It’s not all new material though; the Hell Hounds are kept happy by older cuts like Black Gold and their take on the traditional Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya, from the 2017 album Red, and Poor, Angry and Young from 2015’s From Without.
Ferocious Dog are big supporters of marine conservation charity Sea Shepherd, and there are plenty of its T-shirts on display, so the song of that name goes down a storm, as does The Punk Police from The Hope, which is already an FD classic.
A four-song encore includes The Hope, which sees Ken encourage everyone to take the hand of the person next to them and dance, before a wonderful evening is brought to a close with fan favourites Gallows Justice and Slow Motion Suicide – the latter probably being my highlight of the night.
You’re left with a feeling that Ferocious Dog are a very special band, whose music breeds a real feeling of community and togetherness, and even a glimmer of hope for the fucked-up human race.
As we head for the exits, Ken leads the crowd in a huge singalong of the taped outro, The Toy Dolls’ Nellie The Elephant, complete with massive ‘whoooooooooooooooooooh’ build-ups to the chorus. A surreal but perfect ending to a cracking night out.
