Nostalgia and The Wedding Present

Live Review

Written By Michael Wood Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Cinerama and The Wedding Present at Picturedrome, Holmfirth

The Wedding Present

The Wedding Present

Holmfirth's Picturedrome - a fine venue let it be said - seems to fit The Wedding Present as much as any venue can. Like singer David Gedge the location is stuck between Yorkshire and Lancashire and while it has ideas of modernity with Tapas and a refined bar it is still the place of Sid's Cafe and the last of The Last of the Summer Wine.

If not a man out of time Gedge is something of a throwback to an age of guitar music before the genre enjoyed popularity. He is acerbic - rather than miserable - but make no mistake that the band described by Steve Lamacq as sounding "like a Maths teacher moaning about his girlfriend leaving" would not be headlining the opening Leeds Festival were they twenty years younger. Music - even this music - has changed.

Cinerama

Cinerama

Not that Gedge and his entourage have not changed too most notably in the transformation into opening act Cinerama who were basically The Wedding Present in the late 1990s. Gedge fronts both bands and the revival of the more sweeping, less jangly band first on the bill tonight presents a curious dissection of the main bands work. Starry Eyed is lashed through and seems to provide a pivot point to the 2005 reformed Present and the bedsit janglers who came before and dominate proceedings on this evening.

For tonight - and as preparation to a larger tour in the Autumn - the entirety of the 1990 album Bizzaro is played in order. Brassneck, Kennedy, Take Me and all.

It is too much for some. The crowd - of which I am happy to affiliate myself - are showing age and a mosh pit of balding heads is kind to no one. They bounce and jump in a way that belays their and my advancing years and as Gedge rips through a guitar string or two there is an air of unmistakable release. It did used to be like this - before mortgages and children - and it was as raucously enjoyable as anything post-punk pre-Brit Pop ever got.

The sight of the Weddeos Widows - women dragged by other halves and abandoned at the sides while Sir goes to join the throng at the front could be saddening but there is an easy joy about proceedings. It is reminisce.

Reminisce which is not to be mistake for nostalgia. The Greek word nostalgia literally refers to the pain from an old wound and as Gedge - who starts off with Corduroy and goes into Dare - starts to play three of five new tracks which will be a part of next year's next album the pain is illustrated vividly.

You're Dead is as much about infidelity as anything from any Wedding Present album of the last twenty five years but it talks about iPhones and the relationship rent asunder are more serious, more sombre, more important things.

Enjoy this trip back to your youth - it seems to say - because the pains of then are still the trails of life now. Nothing thing changes but the bodies get older and the aches more heavy.

The pains form old wounds still hurt.

Permanent link to Nostalgia and The Wedding Present

This post is about ,

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

    • Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens
    • Born To Die by Lana Del Rey
    • It's a Shame About Ray by The Lemonheads
    • With Strings: Live at Town Hall by Eels
    • (I Can't Get No) by Stevie Jackson
    • Down the River of Golden Dreams by Okkervil River
    • The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
    • Talking With The Taxman About Poetry by Billy Bragg
    • Black Sheep Boy by Okkervil River
    • Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant by Belle and Sebastian
    • If You're Feeling Sinister by Belle and Sebastian
    • I Was the King, I Really Was the King by Animals That Swim
    • Live City Sounds by Mary Lou Lord
    • Wolves and Thieves by Goldheart Assembly
    • Flight of the Conchords by Flight of the Conchords
    • A Certain Trigger by Maxïmo Park
    • The Futureheads by The Futureheads
    • Little Death by Pete and the Pirates
    • Forty Licks Disc 1 by The Rolling Stones
    • Nests by She Keeps Bees
    • A Creature I Don't Know by Laura Marling
    • La Roux by La Roux
    • Torches by Foster The People
    • Lanzafame by Tap Tap
    • News And Tributes by The Futureheads
    • It's Blitz! by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
    • On My Way by Tap Tap
    • Write About Love by Belle and Sebastian
    • The Holy Bible by Manic Street Preachers
    • America Give Up by Howler
    • Paranoid by Black Sabbath
    • Old Ideas by Leonard Cohen
    • Journal For Plague Lovers by Manic Street Preachers
    • The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
    • GENERATION TERRORISTS by Manic Street Preachers
    • This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours by Manic Street Preachers
    • The Clash by The Clash
    • Bluffer's guide to the flight deck by Flotation Toy Warning
    • Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
    • Funeral by Arcade Fire
    • National Treasures - The Complete Singles by Manic Street Preachers
    • Chairs Missing by Wire
    • Broken Social Scene by Broken Social Scene
    • All Things Must Pass (30th Anniversary Edition) by George Harrison
    • Tapestry by Carole King
    • Drive (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Cliff Martinez
    • Valerie and friends by Various Artists
    • Bringing It All Back Home by Bob Dylan
    • Low by David Bowie
    • American V by Johnny Cash
    • American III: Solitary Man by Johnny Cash
    • Let's Dance by David Bowie
    • Hunky Dory by David Bowie
    • Exile On Main Street by The Rolling Stones
    • King Of The Delta Blues by Robert Johnson
    • Slow Dazzle by John Cale
    • 936 by Peaking Lights
    • Plume by Loscil