David Lewis Gedge

After work, the Minx and I drove over to the Brudenell Social Club for an evening with David Gedge, who is promoting volume two of 'Tales From The Wedding Present', which is a biography of Gedge and The Wedding present, written by him and long-term collaborator Terry de Castro, and illustrated by Lee Thaker.

The first part of the evening involved Gedge, de Castro, and Thaker, on stage, kind of interviewing one another, although this was ably led by de Castro. Such is the length of their friendship, she does an excellent job of amicably keeping Gedge from taking himself too seriously. And he was on great form.

After this, there was a Q&A from the audience, which can be a recipe for disaster, but actually the questions were interesting and, crucially, succinct, and it was really enjoyable.

After that there was a short break and then a semi-acoustic set from Gedge and de Castro who were joined by current Wedding Present bassist, Melanie Howard. A dozen songs, ably delivered, and although many of them were very familiar to me, the different format - acoustic guitar, bass, and electric guitar - made them fresh and interesting; I found the new arrangement brought out different elements of the songs.