Review: The Wedding Present @ The Sinclair 5/24
Photo Credit: Jessica McMillan
Review by Robin Sheng
On May 24th, 2025, The Wedding Present performed at The Sinclair in Cambridge, MA as a part of their 35th anniversary tour for their 1989 album Bizarro, one of their most revered albums in their discography. The Wedding Present are known for their tense, angular instrumentation and lead singer David Gedge’s emotionally cathartic vocal style. Beginning their career in the mid-1980s, their most recent tour in the UK and North America marks their fifth decade of activity as a band.
Instead of directly jumping into their “Bizarro” album, the centerpiece of the tour, the band instead began the show by playing a set of seven songs from other albums across various eras in their career. These included a classic single from their debut album, “A Million Miles,” which was performed with fantastic vocal delivery and a highly satisfying instrumental section during the song’s bridge. Another song from the height of their popularity, “Come Play With Me,” was exemplary of David Gedge’s ability to master the weight of his vocals, as he seamlessly transitions from lighter to heavier delivery. The strength in his voice peaks in the chorus line of “when I saw you,” which is repeated with persisting strength across the performance. On the other hand, several of the songs they played from their more recent records are comparatively weaker in songwriting, although all of them are nevertheless played with their trademark passion and sincerity. Regardless, these seven songs opened up the crowd to be fully immersed in the experience of “Bizarro.”
Indeed, as the band played the first guitar riff of “Brassneck,” the opening song of “Bizarro,” the atmosphere of The Sinclair immediately shifted. The energetic and catchy instrumentation of the song was received by the audience with widespread swaying and head-bopping. But what was perhaps more distinctive and unique to the live setting was Gedge’s vocal delivery, which featured several changeups from the studio version in its rhythmic component. Notably, the performance featured extremely cathartic shouts of “Brassneck!,” from Gedge during the chorus. The next song, “Crushed,” demonstrated the band’s instrumental strength, as the twin guitars sonically intertwined with each other in a highly expressive manner, accompanied by Gedge leaping all over the stage.
“Kennedy,” a single from the album, was another highlight performance. The drum-and-vocals-only second verse of the song, while already distinctive in the studio version, became even more pressing in the live setting. Moreover, the performance featured an intense two-minute instrumental outro, which consisted of passionate guitar shredding interplayed with distinctive drumming, demonstrating the band’s cohesion as a unit. Although the outro was structurally repetitive on paper, every instance of repetition somehow felt quite different to the audience.
Another display of the band’s sonic capabilities can be found in the nine-minute “Take Me!,” a soaring anthem of simultaneous melodic accessibility and structural ambition. Gedge displayed the variety of his vocal capabilities in the chorus with a delicate yelp of the song’s titular phrase, reflecting the emotional intensity of the performance. The song’s instrumental outro section is even longer than that of “Kennedy”, featuring a highly hypnotizing jam led by fantastic guitar playing that adds bits of variation at just the right moments. Such a hypnotizing atmosphere was further enhanced by flashing stage lights.
The excitement did not end after the band finished playing all of “Bizarro.” “My Favorite Dress,” arguably the band’s most well-known song, was played next, which featured a gritty and emotionally hard-hitting performance from Gedge in the song’s verses. Once again, Gedge demonstrates his finesse at changing his vocal weight in accordance to the progression of the song as he descends into its softer sections.
Perhaps more exciting, however, was “Dalliance,” a song from their 1991 album “Seamonsters,” which was produced by the late Steve Albini. The song’s atmospheric tension in its verses was rendered and released effectively in the live setting. Its climax, featuring an octave shift in the vocal department and progressively louder guitars, became a highly memorable moment of emotional cathartic. To further build on the emotional significance of the moment, Gedge announced that he may consider also doing an anniversary tour for “Seamonsters” in two years, which was met with loud cheers from the audience. Indeed, after this memorable performance from The Wedding Present, one can certainly believe that many would want to attend a concert of theirs again if they, hopefully, do end up going on an anniversary tour for one of their classic records again.