The Wedding Present

Manchester Ritz

October 10th 2025

Live Review

Perhaps the classic indie band the Wedding Present still celebrate the thrill of the form with an emotional intelligence and guitars set to machine gun velocity in a set that traverses their back catalogue and underlines their innovative invention and songwriting nous with thrilling pop/noise adventures. 

It’s packed in here. 

Heaving. 

Whatever the Wedding Present have got, it seems to be eternal with an audience that might be as dogged as the band but is also still growing. This most English of bands, who somehow utilised the possibilities of pop/noise presented by the early eighties noisenik underground to the songwriting nous of its one constant member, David Gedge, are still celebrated beyond the diktats of fashion and the demands of pop culture.

Formed in Leeds but forged in Manchester, David Gedge grew up and was classmates with fellow Middleton punk obsessives the Chameleons. This geographical connection makes sense and is mentioned tonight, and the singer still reflects something of the aesthetic of that stark, emotive Mancunian post punk of Buzzcocks and Joy Division that was about creating new soundscapes for timeless ideas. 

Underlining this, the band of ever changing shipmates built around the now silver fox singer are back out on tour. This time to celebrate their current ’40’ compilation album, which, of course, is less of the usual collection of ‘most popular’ songs, but rather a chronological, aural journey that they celebrate tonight with another unique twist by playing the celebrated songs in reverse time order.

They start with a brand new song, Two For The Road,  that sounds as good as anything in their catalogue. They then go backwards through the years, ending with debut single Go Out and Get ‘Em Boy on its fortieth anniversary. The debut itself still nestles in my shrinking record collection, complete with the fanzine that came with it and memories of it being nervously handed over by David after the band supported my band, the Membranes, at some long lost Leeds gig in 1985. At the time, they were sprightly young elves newly formed from the ashes of Leeds underground indie band, The Lost Pandas, with singer/guitarist David Gedge and bassist Keith Gregory combining Gedge’s unique melodic touch, lovelorn lyrics with their mutual love of post-punk noise into something unique enough to become a much loved alt rock institution. 

The affable Gedge himslef still defies all rock n roll cliches, making an art out of a very British awkwardness, and yet is in full control of the space. His droll between song banter breaks barriers, and the sonic rush of the songs connects deeply with the faithful. Backed by perhaps the most musical line-up in the band’s decades-long career, with the thrilling addition of Rachel Wood on guitar, bringing something magical to the well-worn sound. The killer rhythm section of Christopher Hardwick and Suart Hastings also adds another level of frantic energy and musicianship to the inner core whilst Gedge lays his heart on the line with songs of love and fury that detail the banality and heartbreak of love and life. 

There is nothing shambling or indie about the Weddoes these days. There never really was to be fair – that was just perceptions and cliches. They always were a cut above in the musical stakes, but these days they are an athletic pumped machine as they deliver the songs that switch between the delicate emotional intelligence of the verses into the big choruses, and then the much-loved freak-out codas where the twin guitars entwine. These climactic end sections are blissful with Gedge hunched over his six string delivering the fastest rhythm alive in hypnotic machine gun strumming over the high velocity song exits and the guitar interplay is hypnotic with Rachel Wood adding all kinds of colours to the melee and the frenetic frantic rhythm playing is something to behold. 

The reverse time travel set somehow presents the band as a seamless whole and is a pop culture cool trick, moving you back in time, listening to The Wedding Present’s development in reverse and nodding at all the hallmarks of their sound.

Often underrated, often ignored, the Wedding Present are one of the few decades old bands who didn’t let you down. They perhaps best define the post-punk spirit of old school DIY and creating your own narrative very much on your own terms.

The set list celebrating their history curiously places them in the now. Their urgent sonics still sound and feel urgent. Once celebrated by John Peel, the Wedding Present were one of the biggest ‘indie’ bands of the eighties but always looked like outsiders even at their own party and yet time has not trapped them. 

In 2025, they still feel urgent. 

Love songs are timeless; the awkwardness of passion and emotion is an eternal theme, and the lyrics and music document this perfectly. A sci fi frantic pop express, a Tardis of love with a soundtrack to match, the band that regenerates itself like Dr Who never sounds old, remaining a new band built around its quiet, defiant core and remains at 40 a high decibel wedding present for life.

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