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The Wedding Present | Miki Berenyi Trio
O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
4th October 2024
The Wedding Present are back with a vengeance at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire with new material, plus Miki Berenyi of Lush in support with her Trio.
It’s the second time the Empire has seen Miki Berenyi Trio supporting Weddoes. The trio, comprising Lush’s Berenyi, her partner Kevin McKillop, and Oliver Cherer, are not long returned from a US tour that saw them jamming with Lol Tolhurst (The Cure) and Budgie (Banshees).
Tonight marks MBT’s 50th show together and the set is atmospheric and understated from the start, the trio armed with guitars playing to a backing track. The majority of the nine-song set are MBT compositions, with inevitable Lush songs Ladykillers and Undertow tugging Berenyi back to her shoegaze roots.
The set builds gradually — Berenyi an alluring frontwoman, understated and earnest, soft vocals gliding as the three set about building their solid wall of sound, Cherer bounding around the stage to her left. The peak is reached with a cover of Scratching At The Lid (by Piroshka, Berenyi’s other current project), followed by a spine-tingling version of Lush’s Ladykillers, and on to the finale Big I Am. We’re left breathless and absolutely wanting more.
It’s nearly 40 years since a school friend handed me a mixtape with George Best on one side, with a diligently written tracklist in neat light blue script: “You need this band in your life”. And there they’ve stayed, with The Wedding Present firmly installed as one of my top 10 bands (the second I’ve seen in the space of two days). How can you not be captivated by David Gedge’s ridiculously simple and yet utterly insightful poetry, the northern honesty, the bewildered clumsy romantic trying to make sense of his relationships, the searing emotion and frustration in those guitar breaks. And the sheer wonder at the speed and physical effort of the guitar playing.
Roll forward to today, the 35th anniversary of Bizarro, and the energy is unchanged — in fact, better than ever thanks to the superb guitar skills of Rachael Wood. Gedge’s lyrics pull you in, setting scenes and telling stories of totally relatable life experiences — probably all the more relatable now with the benefit of age. That passion combined with matter-of-fact conversational delivery is comparable to the humdrum artistry of Squeeze, Madness, The Kinks, but with a perspective unique to this band. The audience are lapping it up — a hectic later-middle age mosh forming early on and sustained for the rest of the show, crowned with the odd crowd surfer.
We all know that we’re going to hear Bizarro in its entirely, but before that we’re treated to a raft of songs, including Scream If You Want To Go Faster and This Is The Girl, both brand spanking new. A Million Miles marks the first foray into Weddoes’ past, compounded by Dalliance, Drive, and Come Play With Me. Around this time Rachael Wood really starts to come into her own, with her visceral instinct for Gedge’s music. The two are a fantastic combination and there’s a renewed and exciting energy to the band. Take Me!, always a favourite, delivers nine minutes of Weddoes perfection with that legendary outro.
Time for the encore, and Crawl sees a man hefting his dad onto his shoulders, who punches the air yelling the lyrics at the band for the song’s duration. And finally comes that irresistible riff announcing My Favourite Dress, brought to stunning life from the neat light blue handwriting on a mixtape back in 1987. It’s bittersweet, as this great song means that the night is sadly over.
There’s always something left behind. Never mind oh never mind.
Here’s to next time.
You can find The Wedding Present on their website as well as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Find Miki Berenyi on Bandcamp plus Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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All words and photos by Naomi Dryden-Smith. Louder Than War | Facebook |Twitter | Instagram | portfolio
Use of these images in any form without permission is copyright infringement. If you wish to use/purchase or license any images please contact naomi@louderthanwar.com
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