The Wedding Present, Concorde 2, Brighton, 23 & 24 August 2014

At Glastonbury Michael Eavis has to worry about whether the cows have been milked.  Down in Brighton at the sixth At The Edge Of The Sea festival David Gedge has to deal with punters' gripes about the lack of food ('there's a cafe literally just across the road') and make sure drummer Charlie Layton's Wedding Present Bingo ('like ordinary bingo but with Wedding Present songs instead of numbers') doesn't eat into valuable sound check time.  The musician turned festival organiser also finds time to raffle off test pressings of George Best and Kennedy, aided by his Dad and by partner Jessica.  And on top of all that he has to perform four times, twice each with Cinerama and The Wedding Present, who open and close each day.

The annual gathering of Wedding Present connected performers (formed from musicians Gedge has worked with or admires) now spreads over two days and this year drew acts from France, Turkey, Germany and - Yorkshire.  With appearances by Art Brut, The Membranes, Black Light Ray and Emma Pollock, who accompanies Gedge on vocals on two songs on Sunday's This Is Cinerama performance, there was a wide variety of acts to choose from.

But the aficionados were here to see the two 60 minute sets by The Wedding Present (most of the crowd had bought a two day ticket) and by the time the headliners were due to come on to close proceedings both evenings the atmosphere was heavy with anticipation.  Saturday night saw a performance of the 'lost' Wedding Present album Watusi plus Nobody's Twisting Your Arm, Brassneck and Flying Saucer while Sunday featured a reprise of the 1996 EP Mini, with a thunderous Go Man Go and a delightful Sports Car, followed by a fiery Kennedy and the rare delight of a new song (Secretary).  Backed by Charlie Layton (threatened with the sack for garnering too much applause), guitarist Samuel Beer-Pearce, bass player Katharine Wallinger and keyboard player Danielle Wadey, this brace of performances left the crowd calling for more.

The Wedding Present will be touring Watusi in the autumn.  At The Edge Of The Sea will be back in 2015, replete with Wedding Present bingo.  So will the faithful.

2013 with the Wedding Present

I saw quite a few bands in 2013.  And I saw one particular band quite a few times.  The Wedding Present.

It started with Brighton. We'd been twice before to David Gedge's At The Edge Of The Sea festival, but I wasn't convinced we should go again.  'They're playing two nights,' I said, 'but on the first night they're playing George Best all the way through, which isn't my favourite Pressies' album, and then they're doing Hit Parade, and you know I don't like bands playing an album all the way through as a format.  It takes away any element of surprise.'

I had been to see Bruce Springsteen at Wembley Stadium in June on the night he decided to play Darkness On The Edge Of Town - an album I'm not familiar with - in its entirety.  I found the gig correspondingly dull as a result.  (I recognise that of the 60,000 people at that gig, 59,999 probably wouldn't agree with my description of the gig as 'dull', and I hasten to add that I'd seen Bruce play the Etihad the previous year and enjoyed it immensely).

However, come the end of August Kate and I were in Brighton for the annual (and now two day) celebration of all things Wedding Present.

The band played on Saturday and Sunday, running through George Best on the first night and the twelve consecutive chart placed singles from 1992 that made up the Hit Parade album on the following night, and were on fine form as always.

The venue, Concorde 2, has very few places to sit down which makes the festival nature of the event - running for seven hours each day - something of an endurance test for someone of my advancing years.  So between the opening act (Cinerama on both days, playing sides one and two of their album Va Va Voom) and the Pressies we availed ourselves of Brighton beach, where we went and laid on the pebbles to watch the sun start to go down before the main event of the evening.

When we got home, the idea of going to see the Pressies on their November UK tour seemed like a good idea. Dusting off The Hit Parade for the first time in ages to listen to it anew had persuaded me that seeing the band again a couple of times more would be a good thing.

'And,' I said, 'they're playing Paris and then two gigs in Lille. Do you fancy going to see them three times in 36 hours?'

Kate, despite firmly rebutting any labelling of her as a Wedding Present obsessive, did.

So the flight to Paris and the trains and hotels were booked.  'But it's your job to sort the tickets for the gigs,' she said.  Which was easier said than done. My schoolboy French was not sufficient to enable me to navitage the two venues' websites, and with no English language website available, I emailed the band's record label Scopitones for help.  Acknowledging the difficulty in getting tickets for European gigs Jessica, David's girlfriend, kindly arranged to put us on the guest list for Paris and Lille. 'And you do know the band are playing a matinee in Lille?'

The Paris gig was at La Maroquinerie, a small club which online reviews of other bands suggested had great views and a great sound.  We watched from the first floor balcony as the band, coming to the end of the continental leg of their tour, played a not dissimilar set to what we'd witnessed in Brighton.  The gig, aided by a great venue, was a good one.

Afterwards, we spoke to Jessica who said that the band would be playing a toned down set for the matinee in Lille the next day and that they'd be on stage at 4pm.

From Paris next morning we went by train, arriving in a very wet Lille around lunchtime.  After a quick bite to eat, and having scouted out the location of the venue on arrival, we headed down to L'Aeronef for the first of two planned gigs that day.

On arrival at the venue the signs were not promising.  Two separate adults were leading their young children up the metal staircase to what we thought was the venue, which looked shut.  Arriving at the rear entrance we could see several more adults with assorted children ranging from toddlers to kids up to perhaps eight years of age.  We seemed to be in the wrong place.

The woman at the door was not encouraging.

'We've come for the Wedding Present gig,' I said.

'Come back this evening,' she replied. 'At 8 o'clock.'

'We've come for the matinee,' I said.

'The Wedding Present are this evening,' she said firmly. 'There is a matinee, but you cannot come in.'

'But we're on the guest list,' I protested.  At this, she relented and led us to the box office where she issued us with two tickets.

Waiting in the lobby, where I managed to spend a couple of Euros on a handily placed Rollng Stones pinball machine, we weree still not sure we were in the right place.  We'd come to see a rock band but everyone else had small children with them and looked as though they were going to a kids' birthday party.

But the venue duly opened the doors to the main arena and we trooped in along with the parents and their many offspring to be greeted by the sight of Tilly on the Pressies' merchandise stall, the first familiar face and the first clear indication that we were definitely in the right place.

What followed was one of the most bizarre gigs I've been to - the Wedding Present coming onstage, plugging in their instruments and launching into a 25 minute set in front of an audience of adults and small children sat cross legged as though they were all back at school.  Which in the case of some of the audience members would have been less than 48 hours before.

The evening performance - for grown ups - was also low key, with no mosh pit and the restrained audience standing well back from the band.  This was no fault of the band, but the French crowd were quite stand offish.  Needless to say, we took advantage of the crowd's diffidence to stand on the front row, and being able to watch the Pressies from close quarters without being sent flying by an overweight fiftysomething (and I write this as an overweight fiftysomething myself) was a rare delight.

We arrived back in the UK and immediately began planning our trips around the UK.  By the time Wolverhampton rolled around, the enormity of what we'd signed up to began to hit me.  Wolverhampton on a Tuesday night would be followed by Leeds, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Liverpool. Five gigs in eight days.  Okay, the band were following the same schedule but we were fitting the gigs in around our day jobs, with a half day's leave taken on Friday to allow us time to get up to Glasgow the only concession to the itinerary we had set ourselves.

Wolverhampton was wet, with the rain sheeting down.  The venue, it has to be said, wasn't great, and we were at the back of the crowd where the chattering classes gather and where the sound wasn't as crisp as you might expect.  Never a great spot to be.

Leeds two days later was much better.  The venue was bigger and a larger crowd made for a cracking atmosphere.  The Pressies almost always sell out what is their home town gig and the O2 Academy, with its large dance floor and clear sight lines, is a great place to witness a rock band in full flight.

The following evening we were in Glasgow.  Another O2 Academy and another great venue.  The band were extremely loud and the crowd raucous.  Talking to guitarist Patrick Alexander, drummer Charles Layton and bassist Katharine Wallinger afterwards we were probably less than coherent as we babbled enthusiastically to them about how much we'd enjoyed the performance.

We would have gone to see the band in Aberdeen (indeed, we had tickets and I had booked a hotel in Aberdeen) but a chance conversation with Tilly on the merchandise stall brought home to me the fact that the Aberdeen gig was on Sunday. (I had booked the hotel for Saturday) and that I had screwed up.  Since I had to be at work on Monday afternoon, we were going to have to give The Lemon Tree a miss. Fortunately, I found someone on Twitter who could make use of the tickets so they didn't go to waste.

The following Tuesday saw us, and the band, in Liverpool.  Another O2 Academy gig, with the Pressies playing upstairs while The Cult took up occupation of the larger downstairs space.

Epic Studios in Norwich was the venue for our penultimate gig of the year.  The former home of Anglia TV and where Sale of the Century, hosted by Nicholas Parsons, was filmed, the cameras were also on for this gig and streamed on t'Internet for anyone who cared to part with £5 for the privilege.  The set was more of a greatest hits, with nothing from the Hit Parade, and the band were once again excellent, although David fluffed the intro to closing number End Credits by forgetting the lyrics, forcing the band to restart the song.

And, finally for us and the band, Leeds again at the Brudenell Social Club with a raucous crowd, a couple of enthusiastic bouncers and Gedgey getting banged in the mouth by a stray microphone. 'I'll bring a gum shield next time,' he said.

So that's it for 2013.  Kate and I saw 11 performances by The Wedding Present, and two by Cinerama.  Quite a haul given that we had no firm plans to go and see the band come the end of July.

Seeing the band play their matinee gig in Lille and witnessing the obvious delight of the band at the enthusiasm of some of the younger members of the audience was a highlight.  As was the whole adventure of seeing the band several times over.

And will we be going to see The Wedding Present in 2014?  Well Athens is already pencilled in the diary....

The Wedding Present, O2 Academy, Liverpool, 29 October 2013

The Wedding Present's Hit Parade Tour ends on Friday in London, so you've got just three more opportunities to catch the band replaying their Elvis Presley-matching cascade of a hit single every month during 1992. From the opening chords of Blue Eyes through to the haunting chorus of No Christmas, the audience in Liverpool were reminded of why the charts back then were so much more interesting than they are now. Well perhaps that's nostalgia, but if you're going to get all nostalgic why not do so in the company of a great band playing loud in a small venue? The Hit Parade songs were bookended by 9 or 10 others from the band's 'extensive repertoire', as main man David Gedge introduced them. Whether it's the industrial thunder of Interstate 5 with which the band start the show, the spirit lifting 524 Fidelio with bassist Katharine Wallinger on backing vocals or the squalling guitar of Patrick Alexander on new single Two Bridges there are a range of newer songs for fans to nod along to. But it is Brassneck and set closer My Favourite Dress that get the mosh pit of 50 somethings bouncing around. The band are held together by the energetic Charles Layton on drums, and David Gedge has a line in patter that other front men would do well to study. The only sombre note (aside from the fact that most Wedding Present songs are bitter sweet lyrically) is when Gedge says a few words in tribute to Lou Reed and then plays Reed's She's My Best Friend. By the end of the pulsating 90 minute show the crowd have had their fill, which is just as well since the Wedding Present don't do encores.

My top five gigs of 2013

A bit previous, as Arfur Daley would say, since we're only in October but here we go:

5.  The Wedding Present, Lille, 13 October 2013

This was a small club gig and there was no mosh pit (it would never happen back home in Blighty) but the Pressies knocked out a tidy 90 minute set with David Gedge throwing the shapes and dragging from his guitar the feedback that seasoned followers of the band have come to expect.  The reputation of the band as jingly jangly indie heroes doesn't pay heed to the monstrous amounts of distortion that they've been producing for 20 odd years, the kind of noise you'd expect to hear at a ....

4.  Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Newcastle, 10 June 2013

concert.  Apparently people were walking out of this and other gigs on Young's 2013 European tour.  More fool them, I say.  Old Neil was on top form, and if you came expecting peace, love, incense sticks and an acoustic ramble through Neil's gentler back catalogue then you really should have listened to his last album, Psychedelic Pill, before buying your tickets.  Or listened to any Crazy Horse album from the last 40 plus years, really.

3.  Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Manchester, 14 June 2013

My ears could still have been ringing from the Neil Young & Crazy Horse concert of four days before, but the sonic assault with which Elvis targeted his audience towards the end of his set was like a short circuit on a human juke box with seven (count 'em) of his early gems fired off one after the other. Throw in Elvis as the Master of Ceremonies wisecracking and gladhanding his audience and you had the Royal Variety Show, thankfully without the Royals.  The audience were slightly less engaged at....

2.   The Wedding Present, Lille, 13 October 2013 (matinee)

but what this gig lacked in atmosphere it made up for in sheer charm with the band playing a seven song 25 minute set with turned down amplifiers and toned down lyrics for an audience of pre school kids and their parents.  I've seen the Pressies over 20 times now, but this gig will live in the memory a long time.  And talking of kids with their parents....

1. The Rolling Stones, Hyde Park, 6 July 2013

The sun was beating down, the son was with me and happy to melt in the heat for a few hours so that we had a good spot when the band came on, and the Stones showed how they earned their reputation as the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world by dipping into their treasure chest of hits and putting on the kind of event that few (ok, no one) can match when it comes to entertaining a big, inter-generational crowd.  My gig of the year (so far!).

The Wedding Present, L'Aeronef, Lille

I'm not very tall. Five eight is what I claim, although some of my nearest and dearest dispute this.  Still, it's not often I get to go to a gig and can see over the heads of most of the audience.  But I managed it at this Wedding Present gig, which was put on at L'Aeronef in Lille at a time when some musicians would only just be getting out of bed. It must be every rock star's dream. Get your audience while they're young and they'll grow up with you, buying your records throughout your career. The Wedding Present went one further, playing an afternoon matinee of seven songs to an audience of children ranging in age from 2 to 10, plus their mums and dads.  The guitars weren't turned up to 11, the lyrics were altered ('sex was all you needed' in set opener Interstate 5 became 'fun was all you needed') and there was no mosh pit, but this was still a gig, albeit with pint sized patrons. Mainman David Gedge still threw his rock star poses, a seven year old stood up and filmed a whole song on his mum's iPhone and Freres Jacques didn't make it into the set. Even better, no one tried to impress their girlfriend by talking all the way or managed to start a fight by spilling their pint over their neighbour. Instead the audience of school age children was treated to California, Ringway to Seatac and Montreal, with a gorgeously understated My Favourite Dress to finish.  The band appeared to be having fun, with Gedge exchanging grins with drummer Charlie Layton, and there were no tantrums on or off stage, although one young audience member did have to be carried out to use the toilet halfway through the second number.  'Hope to see you again one day,' said David to his new young fans, a clutch of whom were gathered around the monitors at the front of the stage.  If this is the future of rock and roll, it has a long life ahead.

The Wedding Present, The Ritz, Manchester, 9 November 2012

The Wedding Present were once termed an indie band.  But whilst they might be 'semi legendary', as self effacing main man David Gedge introduced them, the 'indie' label hardly seems appropriate for an act whose three guitarists are at one point all facing their amps and trying to extract maximum feedback from their instruments.  And I was reminded, as Gedge closed their 90 minute set by wringing one last riff out of his guitar with two broken strings flapping in the breeze, of no less a comparator than Neil Young.  The hair may be shorter but the aural barrage is pure grunge.  Maybe the Godfather of Indie and the Godfather of Grunge should talk.

The gig was showcasing the band's Seamonsters album, which is twenty years old.  Personally, I don't think playing an album in its entirety and in the order the tracks originally appeared works as a device.  Heather would make it into my all time fave Wedding Present tunes.  Some of the other things on the album frankly wouldn't, and even if I was a big fan of Seamonsters I'd prefer the tracks to be sprinkled around the set.  Surely part of the fun is not knowing which songs that a band with a back catalogue stretching back more than 25 years is going to spring on an audience?

That criticism apart, it was a great gig and the large audience (large describes the kind of middle aged man who was a skinny indie kid 25 years ago) had a good time.  Before reaching the main course of Seamonsters, the band served up a series of starters , with Girl From The DDR off their last album Valentina and various other delights including Mars Sparkles Down On Me, the delectable Sports Car and the ever dependable My Favourite Dress.

The show was over too quick and, as always with Mr Gedge, there was no encore.  One day perhaps he will surprise the audience at the end of a concert by popping up back before the microphone instead of at the merchandise stall.  I went home clutching my newly purchased Live 1991 CD, which features tracks from Seamonsters played out of sequence to how they appear on the original studio album, and listened to Heather all over again.  Loud!