wedding present | birmingham | 1987
it felt like i lived at burberry's in birmingham for a few months.
there was just someone playing every week that i wanted to see - primal scream, jasmine minks, my bloody valentine....a looong list.
i went to see the wedding present.
they were supported by the close lobsters.
the place was packed to the rafters but everyone was at the bar while the close lobsters played.
they missed a treat - close lobsters were a fantastic live band. a lot more edge than their records - big trebly, cutting guitar sound and lots of attitude.
during the change-over people started heading towards the stage.
now, the stage at burberry's was all of 18" high - i had stood right next to it during the close lobsters set and wasn't going to move for the wedding present fans.
looking back, wedding present fans at that point in time were a strange lot (certainly aroudn the midlands). they were your obvious smiths/john peel/indie fans BUT they always seemed a bit harder, a bit more like rugby players - lots of beer, big muscles, shouting.
as the band came on everyone in the place pushed forward.
HARD.
my knees were in trouble of being broken against the stage and so i stepped onto it and sat down.
a bouncer pushed over to me and tried to get me to move, but grapper intervened and told him i should stay where i was.
perhaps he thought i looked too weedy to survive in the crowd.
so i spent my first ever wedding present gig sat at the feet of david gedge looking at the churning mass of polo-shirted hard boys jumping about with fists and pint glasses raised above their heads.
after they'd finished i was led by grapper off the stage with the band.
back stage i got them to sign this for me:
they were a lovely bunch of chaps.
there was just someone playing every week that i wanted to see - primal scream, jasmine minks, my bloody valentine....a looong list.
i went to see the wedding present.
they were supported by the close lobsters.
the place was packed to the rafters but everyone was at the bar while the close lobsters played.
they missed a treat - close lobsters were a fantastic live band. a lot more edge than their records - big trebly, cutting guitar sound and lots of attitude.
during the change-over people started heading towards the stage.
now, the stage at burberry's was all of 18" high - i had stood right next to it during the close lobsters set and wasn't going to move for the wedding present fans.
looking back, wedding present fans at that point in time were a strange lot (certainly aroudn the midlands). they were your obvious smiths/john peel/indie fans BUT they always seemed a bit harder, a bit more like rugby players - lots of beer, big muscles, shouting.
as the band came on everyone in the place pushed forward.
HARD.
my knees were in trouble of being broken against the stage and so i stepped onto it and sat down.
a bouncer pushed over to me and tried to get me to move, but grapper intervened and told him i should stay where i was.
perhaps he thought i looked too weedy to survive in the crowd.
so i spent my first ever wedding present gig sat at the feet of david gedge looking at the churning mass of polo-shirted hard boys jumping about with fists and pint glasses raised above their heads.
after they'd finished i was led by grapper off the stage with the band.
back stage i got them to sign this for me:
they were a lovely bunch of chaps.
posted by Crayola Sarandon @ 2:16 AM
2 Comments:
At 3:34 AM,
Mike said…
I saw the 'weddoes' the following year in Glasgow, inspired to travel after I'd received a handwritten letter from Dave Gedge reinforcing what decent chaps they were. £5.50 a ticket eh?, those were the days...
At 4:19 AM,
Anonymous said…
reading your blog brings back so many memories. i loved the close lobsters & the wedding present. oh & many many years ago when i was 19, i smooched one of the close lobsters but i won't say who! xo colleen
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