The Wedding Present

*How I Fan/Stan

The Wedding Present is a band from Leeds.

They have been a band since 1985, with David Gedge as its consistent visionary.

They do not do encores.

When Gedge sings a song he has an added dollop of affection for, his shoulder hunch, like he wants to get even more inside the story behind the lyrics.

When Gedge rips into a guitar solo, his whole body reverberates.

When Gedge tours, he comes out to the merch table and engages with his fans.

Weddoe fans, of which we are mighty, understand these things.

And so, when I went to the Lodge in Highland Park with Jeannie to stand amongst my stansters to listen to Gedge, I mean the Weddoes perform the entirety of Sea Monsters in honor of its 35th year release anniversary, I was ready.

Ready to stand in the dark and lose myself.

I was happy to see I was not alone, not in demo, not in fervor, not in knowing.

Yes they performed some newer work. And they closed on the classic Brassneck.

But to me, the crown jewel of their catalogue is Sea Monsters. It’s the confluence of the wall of guitars, this inimitable marriage of loud as fuck music that softens at its edges. Gedge’s talent as a lyricist, of capturing longing, love, betrayal in his delivery, his storytelling, his innate ability to admit “I still want to kiss you” after all has been said and done.

It’s the way Gedge hurts, the way he loves, the way he lays bare. It’s so direct, it’s the economy of that directness, it’s the way it pulls at every part of me that has loved, that has been rejected and yet, come back for more, this cycle of want.

It’s not enough for me to unpack each song in a Substack. It’s required you experience it, via your preferred streaming device. Or if you still have a music system at home, that way. Whichever way. Listen to it. Find that song that speaks to your lived experience as a person whose heart has been stomped on. Or as a person who's found her strength. Or even, as someone who just wants to get lost in sound.

I know that I will see The Wedding Present perform live again. I know that I will shake with joy when Gedge speaks “And there's one more thing…” before he and the bands shreds into “Just come inside, no I’m all alone…” And I know, after seeing them at the lodge, that I am not “all alone.”