Another review that's a bit old, but it seemed only right to wait forNightshift, the magazine for which it was written, to be published first. Read the Jan 2009 issue of Nightshift online here
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are the band on everyone’s lips in the indie pop world at the moment, and quite rightly so. They specialise in short, sharp pop songs, which bring to mind the early Mary Chain, in a more well rounded way, and all those legendary buzzsaw guitar bands of the mid eighties. On tracks like Come Saturday and Everything With You they have the early My Bloody Valentine vim and vigour and are pretty much approaching fuzz pop heaven.
And so to The Wedding Present. It’s a much changed line up from the glory days, but it has always been Gedge’s band, so it doesn’t matter. I had high hopes for this, having seen them for the first time in 13 years at the Indietracks festival this summer, where they blew me away, much to my surprise. And they proceed to do the same again tonight, opening with Kennedy and firing out a smattering of oldies. They don’t need to do this, as most people here tonight cheer as much for songs from this year’s El Rey set. In Spider-Man on Hollywood, The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girlfriend and Don’t Take Me Home Until I’m Drunk they have three songs that easily stand up against the rest of their back catalogue. Tonight’s high points include Brassneck and My Favourite Dress, but it’s the frenetic cover of Girls At Our Best’s Getting Nowhere Fast that first appeared on ‘George Best’ that blows the roof off. When it gets to the finale they go with Boo Boo from their latest album, a song that starts like Pearl Jam’s Alive and takes you places you never thought the Wedding Present could go. Tonight they prove that they are one of the few bands that it was worth their while reforming, and then some.
The Wedding Present myspace is here
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart myspace is here
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