Out tonight for The Wedding Present, at Rock City. The gig was centered around a full rendition of George Best, which is 20 years old this year, making me feel very old indeed.
However I was in good company, the audience comprised 75% similarly aging ex-indie boys (some of whom had bribed their wives / partners to accompany them), hoping for a glimpse of the old Gedge guitar shredding magic. Some of these late thirties / early forties gentlemen actually had a stab at crowd surfing, to the obvious alarm of the Rock City security staff, who had to grab and land them. I almost felt sorry for them, although sympathising with Rock City bouncers is a bit like feeling sorry for the Tonton Macoute.
The band were great, I think Gedge is the only original member, but the guitars sounded as manic as the old days, and they whizzed through George Best in what seemed like half an hour. I'm sure Getting Nowhere Fast was on the original vinyl version of the album? DG claimed this wasn't the case and hence it wasn't played, which would be my only gripe with the gig. I suppose he should know...
My Favourite Dress was terrific, and Kennedy and Flying Saucer also stood out...
It's been a long long time since I played any of the old stuff, but it surprised me how I instantly knew all the words to many of the songs... clearly they are stashed away in the part of my brain reserved for guitar-based indie pop songs about breaking up with girls.
How long Mr Gedge can get away with this kind of stuff remains to be seen - his subject material is very adolescent, and he must be well into his 40's by now, but tonight it was great hear those songs and those guitars, despite the shameless nostalgia.
1 comment:
Ahhh; all gets me in a good mood for an evening of Poguetry with a similarly middle aged crowd. Good to hear that Mr Cook will be joining us.
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