In the wake of the Seamonsters album, however, my attitude towards them had softened, but that didn鈥檛 make the idea of this gig any more appealing. What a fool I鈥檇 been. This was a show that blew me away with its power, dynamism and passion - and why had no-one ever said what an antithesis to the dour Yorkshireman Dave Gedge was? Camp, humorous, with his trademark super-fast percussive guitar style, he marshalled his band with a precision that was totally awe-inspiring. As an example of the loud/quiet, hard/soft aesthetic, this was a masterclass that many bands could learn from and provided many hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck moments. Playing plenty of tracks from the new album, crowd favourites like Brassneck, Suck and Kennedy appeared at regular intervals and were received rapturously received. They even managed to play a cunning cover version of Julee (Twin Peaks) Cruse鈥檚 Falling, which was interesting to say the least! A gig that left my preconceptions in tatters, age has not weathered Gedge as this was The Wedding Present still on the very top of their game. |