The Wedding Present
3/12/6 Double Door in Chicago
I have to admit that until Take Fountain, the most recent Wedding Present release, I was more of a Cinerama fan. That isn’t to say that there aren’t many fantastic songs on David Gedge’s previous albums as the lead singer for The Wedding Present. It’s just that I was never able to hear his vocals as well as I could and craved on Cinerama albums. Instead, trying to decipher lyrics buried under guitar fuzz often drives me to distraction. I guess what I’m trying to get at here is that it’s a real treat to see The Wedding Present because live his vocals are more prominent than on those earlier tracks with a great balance of guitar, bass, drums and vocals overall.
Seeing The Wedding Present is also a real joy because Gedge always seems to be spot on with lyrics like a more sincere Jarvis Cocker of Pulp fame (although, I’ve noticed that Jarvis seemed more sincere on his earlier albums like on It and also on his most recent We Love Live). He’s one of those frontmen who really lets his experiences in music not just define him but allow him to claim his songs live as well. He also seems timeless, both as a musician and a real live human being.
Gedge played less songs off of Take Fountain this time around in Chicago. Considering more time has passed since 2005 release here since his last tour, this makes more sense. He did play “I’m From Further North Than You” as well as “Ringway to Seatac.” Close to the beginning of his ~75min. set, Gedge played the first Wedding Present single, “Go Out and Get ‘Em Boy!” after proclaiming, “This song is as old as our drummer!” There were a couple of other funny moments where Gedge’s personality really came out from behind his guitar such as when someone requested, “Pleasant Valley Sunday” and Gedge looking overly concerned asked him back, “You know we aren’t The Monkeys, don’t you?” Other Wedding Present highlights were: “Don’t Talk, Just Kiss,” “Brassneck,” and “Click Click.” “2,3,Go” was also nice as Terry De Castro provided the vocals that Jayne Lockey once sang when the song appeared on their album Saturnalia. Gedge also included a really great Cinerama song, “It’s Not You, It’s me” in his set. Perhaps the best moment, though, was when he sang, “Falling” written by David Lynch for Twin Peaks.
To hear Wedding Present songs, you can go to their myspace page
To hear Cinerama songs, you can go see the myspace page for “David Gedge’s Other Band!”