The Wedding Present bring ‘Seamonsters’ roaring back to fife
Words & Photos: Images by Ellis
★★★★★
Help to keep FOMO alive; letting creators create: Buy Me A Coffee
Back in July 1991, I watched The Wedding Present play ‘Seamonsters’ in its entirety in Birmingham, barely weeks after its release. Chatting before tonight’s Gloucester show, David Gedge told me he remembered that gig too, suggesting with characteristic self-deprecation that giving such a new album the full-performance treatment might have been a touch arrogant. Thirty-five years later, its stature comfortably justifies the decision.
Photo: Images by Ellis / The Wedding Present
First, though, Saint Senara warmed up the Guildhall with an entertaining set that paired a gothic appearance with a distinctly bluesy sound. Andrew Bate and Chloe Gorman’s describe their music as sitting somewhere between blues rock, dark folk and southern gothic Americana, making them an intriguing choice to open for The Wedding Present. They made a strong impression on an audience principally gathered for a very different kind of guitar music.
Photo: Images by Ellis / Saint Senara
The headliners opened with the unreleased ‘Limbo’, easing into an evening that found room for much more than the anniversary album. ‘The Queen Of Outer Space’ and ‘I’m Not Always So Stupid’ rubbed shoulders with ‘Mathematics’, another new song: welcome evidence that Gedge’s attention remains on what comes next as well as what came before.
There was plenty of life in the familiar songs, too. Rachael Wood has brought a real spark to this band, her guitar work helping to give the performance both bite and momentum. Across the evening, the playing was taut, forceful and full of energy. Having seen several versions of The Wedding Present over the years, I think this might be the best incarnation I’ve witnessed.
At the centre of it all was ‘Seamonsters’. Recorded with Steve Albini, its abrasive guitars and exposed emotions marked a shift in the band’s sound in 1991. Even its single-word song titles suggest something stripped back. For me, it remains one of those albums best experienced as a complete collection.
Tonight made that case emphatically. From ‘Dalliance’ and ‘Dare through Suck’, with its extended introduction, to the closing ‘Octopussy’, the album’s tension and release retained its power. The quieter passages drew us closer before the guitars surged again; the accumulated force was tremendous. This was a real tour de force, played with the conviction the material demands.
Photo: Images by Ellis / The Wedding Present
Between those bursts of intensity, Gedge remained an engagingly dry host. His current practice of answering one audience question each night brought a request for his favourite eighties band. Duran Duran, apparently: the ‘least worst’, on the grounds that they were a ‘proper’ band. It was, he suggested, a better question than the previous evening’s enquiry about his favourite crisps.
The music often left little room for interruption, with songs running straight into one another and keeping the pressure high. There was also space for their cover of Pavement’s ‘Box Elder’, originally released on the ‘Brassneck’ EP in 1990, before ‘My Favourite Dress’ segued into ‘Kennedy’ in a particularly exhilarating late pairing.
Regulars know The Wedding Present don’t do encores, and there was no need for any theatrical departure and return. Instead, a magnificent 90 minutes — rather longer than I remember getting in Birmingham in 1991 — concluded with ‘You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends’.
After an evening spent renewing an acquaintance with a remarkable album, that felt like exactly the right advice.