[ originally published: 19/02/2014 ]
The Wedding Present
Great
Hall, Exeter University – 5th October,
1988
Support:
The Heart Throbs
Also
in attendance: Wayne - my best mate
You never forget your first. Your first gig, that is. Mine was a relatively obscure
indie band from Yorkshire that a much cooler friend of mine at college introduced me to. The Weddoes were ‘between albums’ when I lost my live band virginity to them. Their debut ‘George Best’ had made a reasonable dent in the consciousness of NME readers and Peel listeners alike and major labels were taking an interest. As it was, I had recently bought the non-album single Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm and was awaiting the follow-up Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? when they descended on Devon.
My best buddy Wayne and I decided to buy tickets, but not being able to drive yet,would have to work out a way to get there later. A minor detail! Wayne had beaten me to the first gig experience by a few months, when he went with his cousins to see Wet Wet Wet in Plymouth. I wonder if he’d admit to it nowadays; by the time of the Weddoes show, he was already showing signs of denial.
Somehow I managed to convince my mum to take us. Living, as we did, 30-odd miles away from the venue – an hour-long drive on largely rural B roads – it was a nice gesture from her to say yes without hesitation. Wayne’s mum Val was taken along for the ride; they would have a girl’s night out in Exeter as Wayne and I mixed it with students older, smarter and considerably cooler than us.
Mum and Val dropped us off outside and drove off into town. Wayne and I joined the queue and patiently
waited in line with the cooler kids. The next hour or so is hazy, partly because it was so long ago – more than 25 years in fact – and partly because I couldn’t really take it all in. I do, however, remember sitting in the foyer with Wayne and noticing Weddoes frontman David Gedge standing just to my left. Wayne and I argued briefly over whether it really was him or not – he didn’t think so, but I was pretty sure[1]. I also remember where I stood as the support band came on. Facing the stage, I was
pretty near the front by the speaker stack on the right. Perhaps not the best idea for a gig newbie like myself.
As I remember it, the opening band the Heart Throbs were a decent band. Well, they must have been because I became an immediate fan, buying some of their early singles and all three of their subsequent albums. They were fronted by the bleach-blonde Carlotti sisters Rose and Rachel, sisters of Echo and the Bunnymen drummer Pete de Freitas. Like a number of bands of the time – the Primitives, the Darling Buds, Transvision Vamp – the blonde girls out front were the focus of the group, the male members remained largely anonymous.
The Weddoes were a blast, of course. They tore through most of the songs from ‘George Best’, added a healthy splash of old faves, and even played one or two new ones including a song called Kennedy which, a year or so later, would become their debut major label
single and their first ever Top 40 hit.
Throughout the show, I had been forced further back the crowd, from front right to halfway back to the left. That didn’t matter though. From there I could take more in without being blasted by the speakers or getting a wayward elbow smashing into my nose. Surveying the scene – a crowd of sweaty moshers, Mr Gedge bent over his furiously-strummed semi-acoustic in his trademark way, the reaction when the band finally launched into A Million Miles after the crowd had been shouting for it all night – a huge grin fixed itself to my face and stayed there for days. I was hooked, and over the coming years I would see hundreds – yes, hundreds – of bands at various places around the country. I would even see the Wedding Present on another four occasions (to date)[2].
So, technically, the Heart Throbs were the first band I saw live[3]. Officially though, it was Gedge & co.that took my virginity. If you’re reading David – you were great.How was it for you?
[1] I was right, as Wayne himself admitted
following the show. To this day, Gedge mingles with his audience before and after each show.
[2] On the ‘Bizarro’
tour a year later in Bristol; on the ‘Bizarro’ 21st Anniversary tour
in 2010 in Cardiff; on the ‘Seamonsters’ 21st Anniversary/’Valentina’
tour in 2012 in Cardiff again; and briefly, the tail-end of an in-store show at
the Plymouth Virgin Megastore in 1996, after which David Gedge himself
commented on my well-worn Bizarro t-shirt.
[3] Even this isn’t technically true if you
include the resident holiday camp bands I saw as a kid, and those that always
seemed to play at family parties and weddings etc. But, for obvious reasons, they don’t count!
