The Wedding Present
Live at Holmfirth Picturedrome on Saturday, 31st March 2007
Part one of a two-off pair of gigs to celebrate the release of the bands ample 6 CD box set of all things Peel and BBC, sees the Weddoes gracing Holmfirth for the first time ever.
"Who's here from Holmfirth?" asks Gedge to a muted response,
"Who's here from Leeds?",
"Hurray" go half the crowd.
"What about Manchester",
"Yeah" go the other half of the crowd.
Tonight the band have the tough task of airing new material for the first time and so to offset this there is a more than heavy dose of classics to appease the sold out 35+ something crowd. Indeed opening with "My Favourite Dress" warms things straight up. There is pretty much a couple of tracks to represent every part of the band's history. "Daliance" sounds as vitriolic and as fresh as day one and the droning guitars of "Flying Saucer" and "Interstate 5" whip the crowd into a moshpit that has just remembered how they used to do it when they were young. But who cares about the ravages of time? Certainly the songs don't as they each ring out to be followed by a rapturous response. Gedge seems to be enjoying himself and cheekily lobs in a couple of rare B-sides for the true Weddoe nerds... which pretty much consist of the entire audience. "Gone" is thunderous and "Niagara" is immense. The new material also shows definite promise even if the band can't remember which one is which, Gedge having to stop his new young guitarist from launching into the wrong song. "Well it is Saturday night in Yorkshire," he smiles to the crowd.
