Straight Gedge

This week I've bought Ben and I tickets for The Wedding Present supporting The Wonder Stuff in March and headlining in September. This piece, which I've submitted to a book asking for memories of The Wedding Present, tries to explain why -:

Were this piece to make it into print, it would surely provoke a response dripping in contempt from all those professional Gedgeophiles who have dedicated the thick end of 30 years following The Wedding Present. There is no other way of putting this; since TWP started gigging in 1986, I have seen them live on 13 separate occasions (with at least 2 and possibly 3 concerts to attend in 2016), though I have, to my great and eternal shame, also failed to see them on another 13 potential instances (including 3 visits by Cinerama), 11 of them in my home city of Newcastle and 2 others in neighbouring Sunderland.  In my defence, there are some reasonable excuses and unfortunate circumstances among those missed opportunities, though I’m sure David, as a Maths graduate, would say that numbers don’t lie.

In 1986, I graduated from Ulster University with a 2:1 in English Literature and zero prospects of paid employment. Returning to Newcastle to sign on, money was tight and boredom a terrible factor. Luckily, I was able to sponge off my parents after I applied for and obtained a place on a postgraduate teaching course at Leeds University for the next year. They saw my potential (cough!). Meanwhile, I claimed the dole, drank in ropey student pubs, watched ropey Newcastle United performances and went to gigs and bought records by loud American guitar bands like Sonic Youth, Swans, Dinosaur Jr, Husker Du, Butthole Surfers and Big Black, all the time viewing the C86 scene with contempt.  The first 2 Wedding Present visits to Newcastle, on 10^th November 1986 and 21^st February 1987 didn’t even cross my radar.

Moving to Leeds in the autumn of 1987, to Headingley of course, I realised just how massively important local bands were to the whole area, which is why I was such a huge fan of Age of Chance and barely noticed the release of George Best though I seem to recall a stunning version of Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm closing an edition of Calendar; am I making that up? It still didn’t stir me into seeing the band when back home on 16^th February 1988, during February half term, again at Newcastle Riverside. Back in Newcastle to start work as a teacher from autumn 88 onwards, one of my new colleagues revealed he’d studied Maths at Leeds University between 1978 and 1981; he didn’t know David and he’d never even heard of The Wedding Present. Perhaps his influence dissuaded me from attending their third Riverside performance on 17^th April 1989.

I tell you a couple of bands I really used to love back then; The Fall and That Petrol Emotion. The former you’ll know about, while the latter included two pals from university and the O’Neill brothers, of ex-Undertones fame.  In August 1989, John Peel was about to turn 50 and his birthday party at Ladbroke Grove Subterrania would feature a reformed Undertones headlining and The Fall as support. Somehow I called in a few favours and got my hands on a ticket. Sadly, the O’Neill brothers lost their father the week before and The Undertones didn’t play, with The House of Love stepping in as openers and The Fall shunted to headliners. I remember them as dreary and posh, while The Fall made absolutely no concession to the occasion by being as thrillingly contemptuous as ever. However, it was the band in the middle of the bill that utterly blew me away; playing a set that was mainly derived from the unreleased Bizarro, I discovered The Wedding Present with fresh ears that night. The songs were longer, the sound more ferocious, innovative and uncompromising. I have subsequently grown to love both original and revisited versions of the band’s early back catalogue, but I maintain they only became the band I adore when they signed to a major label.

Despite this new found affection for The Wedding Present, I didn’t make it to Newcastle Mayfair on 12^th November 1989 and I’ve no idea why. Exactly a year later, Sunderland Poly played host to them, but I opted to stay close to home; Newcastle Uni was the venue and Teenage Fanclub, who I would say are the only band I actually love more than The Wedding Present, were making their debut in town. Truthfully, I can’t say I regretted missing that concert, as TFC were simply sublime. One gig I desperately wish I’d seen was the tour supporting Seamonsters, which visited Newcastle Mayfair on 29^th May 1991. Instead, I opted to watch the European Cup Final between Red Star Belgrade and Olympique Marseilles. Rather than Dalliance, Octopussy and Heather in all their freshly-minted glory, I endured 120 scoreless minutes before Red Star triumphed on penalties, long after inertia had set in. Forty five years of watching Newcastle United should have told me that football always lets you down, while music never does.

I learned from my mistakes though; 25^th February 1992 and I was up at the front in Newcastle Riverside as the band tore through the first, full-length, headlining set I’d seen from them. If the London gig for Peel’s 50^th was an epiphany, this one was confirmation that I’d wasted a lot of time not watching The Wedding Present. I was even inspired enough to travel down to Sheffield Leadmill on 5^th April 1993 to see them headline the Radio 1 Sound City; tremendous night, tremendous gig, tremendous venue. Nothing was going to stop me seeing The Wedding Present from now on; well, that’s not strictly true, as 27^th November 1993 saw them playing Newcastle Poly, while at the same time Teenage Fanclub played Newcastle Uni. I took the Scotch option. Again.

Next to Seamonsters, I would opt for Watusi as my next favourite first period TWP album, even if Mr Gedge found my revelation at the 2014 celebration of that release, that I had purchased the cassette version somewhat baffling. In terms of first period live experiences, the performance at Newcastle University on 4^th October 1994 was probably my favourite. On fire from start to finish, engaging, electric and a supportive crowd. It was a very memorable night, as was their final appearance at the original, late-lamented Newcastle Riverside on 6^th October 1996. I wasn’t there; I was watching The Fall disintegrate at South Shields Custom House. A visibly paralytic Mark E Smith wouldn’t take the stage when asked to and the plugs were pulled. It was an utter fiasco. Mates who’d done The Wedding Present instead praised their performance from the very heavens. Typical.

That final Riverside gig marked the end of The Wedding Present’s first phase visits to Newcastle. Around then I had become a dad and, while I’m now happy to say I go to gigs with my son (he’s at Leeds studying History and living round the corner from Brudenell Social Club), his initial existence meant the responsibilities parenthood involved resulted in me almost becoming detached from live music for a number of years. Consequently, the three visits to my region by Cinerama on 14^th October 2001, 6^th October 2003 and 13^th April 2004 simply passed under my radar completely. I still bought the Cinerama releases, listened intently and developed an affection for them, but it didn’t occur to me to see them live.

News of the return of The Wedding Present and the release of Take Fountain did make me sit up and take notice, though infuriatingly, I missed out on tickets for a sold out return to live performances at Newcastle University on 2^nd March 2005 as I realised it was happening just too late. At that point I had seen The Wedding Present live on 4 occasions and missed them (and Cinerama) 13 times; I just wasn’t prepared to let that damning statistic get even worse. Since then, 13^th November 2005 (Northumbria Uni), 15^th December 2008, 4^th December 2010 (both Newcastle Academy), 13^th August 2011 (Middlesbrough Town Hall), 30^th December 2011 (Leeds Academy), 10^th November 2012 (Newcastle Academy),  28^th October 2013 (Newcastle Think Tank), 10^th November 2014 (Newcastle Cluny) and 7^th November 2015 (Newcastle new Riverside) have all been experienced, enjoyed and appreciated. Looking ahead, I’ve got tickets for The Wonderstuff tour (though I intend to be in the pub 2 minutes after The Wedding Present’s set) and the Sage (seats A1 and A2 in the stalls) for the Going, Going premiere and I’ll be at Brudenell Social Club for Saturnalia if the bairn has finished his exams by then.

In many ways, I am a Johnny Come Lately TWP fan, but after almost 27 years I think I can be forgiven for my lack of engagement in the early years and the daft choices I made, missing gigs I ought to have attended. To this day choosing Red Star Belgrade v Olympique Marseilles ahead of Seamonsters still keeps me awake at night. Whatever you say about me is far milder than the things I’ve said about myself.