THE WEDDING PRESENT + BERRIES + BLOOD RED SHOES + HYPSOLINE + ARXX + CANNED PINEAPPLE + TERRY DE CASTRO & FRIENDS + M. BUTTERFLY + CINERAMA – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 12.8.23
This is the report for Saturday 12th August (Day Two) of ‘At The Edge Of The Sea XIII’ mini-festival annual bash at the Concorde 2 brought to us from 3pm to 10pm by The Wedding Present and promoters LOUT. If you have missed our review of Day One, then click HERE.
There was a different format to the second day of the ‘At The Edge Of The Sea’ event with the bands playing across two stages. As well as the main stage “Le Bikini Stage” inside Concorde 2 there was an outside stage in what is usually the smoking area called the “Swim Stage”.
If anyone should be walking past the Concorde 2 this afternoon and caught the vocal tones of David Gedge on the air and peered through the tiny gaps in the windows at the main stage (today rechristened as “Le Bikini Stage”), then they might think blimey The Wedding Present have gone all woodwind! But this is only 75% of The Wedding Present up on stage, as guitarist Jon Stewart, does not participate in a Cinerama set. Instead we have David Gedge (vocals, tambourine), Melanie Howard (Fender Mustang bass, vocals) and drummer Nicholas Wellauer. They are joined by a handful of other musicians, one of which is former Wedding Present musician Terry De Castro on Epiphone guitar, who will imminently be back on this stage after this eleven song set, as Terry De Castro & Friends. I wonder who the “friends” will be? All will shortly be revealed.
Indie pop band Cinerama initially formed back in 1998 when David Gedge was on a break from The Wedding Present and Sally Murrell, who left in 2003. Initial releases were stylistically different from The Wedding Present, featuring soundtrack-like arrangements with string and woodwind accompaniment. Thus this afternoon, there is a cello, flute and acoustic guitar also on stage as part of the instruments. In the time that Cinerama has been going there has been around 18 members passing through the doors and today it’s the turn of Robin Squirrel on cello, Emilie Geissmar-Wagstaff on flute and Rachael Wood on acoustic guitar, to show us what they have to offer. Completing the eight-piece lineup is Aegli Issaias who is in charge of the Roland Junior-D keyboard as well as the Roland RD-2000 keyboard.
John Peel fans would be fully aware of the name Cinerama, as Peel’s strong support for “the boy Gedge” carried over from The Wedding Present to regular sessions and plays for Cinerama. In fact there were eleven of them in total. Back in 2003, the final Festive Fifty was broadcast by Peel, and Gedge finally earned his first No.1 placing in the programme’s annual chart. At the end of the track, (‘Don’t Touch That Dial’) Peel commented: “Well, I know one little lad who’s going to go to bed very happy tonight.” After 13 singles and 4 studio albums Cinerama were placed on hold after Gedge and Murrell split up and he reverted to the Wedding Present name for a final Peel session, broadcast on 21st September 2004.
This afternoon Cinerama were showing their togetherness by all wearing the same coloured clothing, which was black with a couple of large white flower or ‘Time Tunnel’ vortex style designs dotted about the place, which looked rather striking. Suffice to say that fans were in attendance nice and early to enjoy this eleven song set.
Cinerama:
David Gedge – vocals, tambourine
Melanie Howard – Fender Mustang bass, vocals
Nicholas Wellauer – drums
Terry De Castro – Epiphone guitar
Emilie Geissmar-Wagstaff – flute
Aegli Issaias – Roland Junior-D, Roland RD-2000 keyboards
Rachael Wood – acoustic guitar
Robin Squirrel – cello
Cinerama setlist:
‘Maniac’
‘Comedienne’
‘Hate’
‘Kerry Kerry’
‘Barefoot In The Park’
‘You Turn Me On’
‘Ears’
‘Me Next’
‘Hard, Fast And Beautiful’
‘Dance, Girl, Dance’
‘Honey Rider’
More on Cinerama and The Wedding Present can be located HERE.
The intriguingly named M. Butterfly is a Brighton based singer of sad songs who started making music in the early Noughties. It’s the project of singer-songwriter Martyn Moss, who usually operates alone, however as today is a special occasion, he is joined by a couple of friends at the outside ‘Swim Stage’.
The friends being half of local group Duskhouse, namely vocalist Lily Balmer and on Ibanez guitar is James Bowden. Martyn, as you would expect, is on vocals as well as playing his Fender Jaguar guitar. There is no drummer.
The trio stand in a line with M. Butterfly not centre stage but on our right (stage left). He is donning a distinctive orange cowboy hat. Their seven song set consisted of a half dozen M. Butterfly chosen tunes as well as one Duskhouse tune.
The friends kick off with ‘Cowards Blues’, although “Cowboy Blues” would have been more appropriate judging by Martyn’s choice of headgear. It seems that he is operating on the fringes of Americana/Country, with even the closing number titled ‘Country Eyes’. On one of the tunes, ‘Our Leaders Don’t Lead Us’, Martyn performs as a solo, but Lily and James are back in action on the penultimate number ‘Four Walls’, which is actually a Duskhouse number. It is clear that the lyrical content of each composition is important to Martyn, who is no doubt inspired by the likes of PJ Harvey and the like.
M. Butterfly today were:
Martyn Moss – vocals/Fender Jaguar guitar
James Bowden – Ibanez guitar
Lily Balmer – vocals
M. Butterfly setlist:
‘Cowards Blues’
‘The Sell’
‘My Own Private Eden’
‘I Can’t Give Myself 2 U’
‘Our Leaders Don’t Lead Us’ (played solo)
‘Four Walls’ (Duskhouse cover)
‘Country Eyes’
linktr.ee/mbutterfly
linktr.ee/duskhouse
Terry de Castro started working with David Gedge in 1998 when she joined Cinerama shortly after its inception. It was supposed to be for one concert and a Peel Session, but it turned into twelve years of touring and four albums with both Cinerama and The Wedding Present. Incidentally she played her final concert with The Wedding Present at the first annual ‘At The Edge of the Sea’ Festival in Brighton in 2010.
The friends for the live set of Terry De Castro & Friends were an additional vocalist (Astrid Williamson), bassist (Melanie Howard), drummer (Nicholas Wellauer) and percussionist (Will Thomas). Terry explained that her eight tune performance was “songs about love and demise of love”. Musically the set was beautifully crafted Americana pop songs. Before a cover of The Smiths song ‘London’ Terry explained that she “countrified covers”.
For the final track of their set, Terry De Castro & Friends were joined by another friend, David Gedge on acoustic guitar. Wearing a red rose in keeping with the rest of the band, somebody commented that it should be a Yorkshire white rose for somebody in a Leeds band.
Terry invited the crowd to sing along to their final number, as they may know it. They certainly did, joining in enthusiastically singing the Wedding Present’s ‘Brassneck’.
Terry De Castro & Friends:
Terry De Castro – vocals/Epiphone guitar
David Gedge – acoustic guitar
Melanie Howard – Fender Mustang bass, vocals
Astrid Williamson – vocals
Nicholas Wellauer – drums
Will Thomas – percussion
Terry De Castro & Friends setlist:
‘Love Is Selfish’ (Jack White cover)
‘Glorious’ (Goya Dress cover)
‘Friday I’m In Love’ (The Cure cover)
‘Supermarket Flowers’ (Terry De Castro song)
‘Just Idleness’ (Cranebuilders cover)
‘Who By Fire’ (Leonard Cohen cover)
‘London’ (The Smiths cover)
‘Brassneck’ (The Wedding Present cover)
Playing no less than ten numbers at the outside stage (aka “Swim Stage”) were local 5-piece scuzz-pop and slacker rock group Canned Pineapple. Their lively and very entertaining set reminded me of bands like Teenage Fanclub and The Wonder Stuff.
Animated singer and guitarist lead, Seán Drury, had a very good rapport with the audience. He joked “If we sell 30 t-shirts, it means a f’ing good night out for us. No pressure”. Towards the end of the set, he jokingly announced “Next some rock n roll, not the middle of the road stuff, we’ve played so far.” There was nothing middle of the road about Canned Pineapple’s performance, which was full of energy, catchy melodies and fast guitars.
Canned Pineapple broke their own rule about playing covers. As it was ‘Blonde’ by The Wedding Present, there were no complaints from the audience.
You can catch Canned Pineapple (and Sock) at ‘PierFest 2023’ at Horatios on Saturday 16th September. Find out more about the fest HERE and tickets for this concert can be purchased HERE.
Canned Pineapple:
Sean Drury – vocals/Fender Mustang guitar
Oakley Gardiner – Fender guitar
Gabriel Rice – guitar
Jude Allenby – Fender bass
Charlie Pringle – drums
Canned Pineapple setlist:
‘Shubadooba’
‘Jessie Met Jane’
‘Bowie’
‘She Said’
‘Blonde’ (The Wedding Present cover)
‘King Of The Monkeys’
‘Blue’
‘Turkey Sandwiches’
‘Ain’t It Strange?’
‘She’s Got A Car’
ARXX are two people with one big sound, namely Hannah Pidduck (vocals/guitar) and Clara Townsend (drums). They marry together a varied range of influences from punk, blues, soul, and garage rock.
Early in their seven tune set, Hannah proclaimed “Now to get noisy, after the chilled sounds”, and they were true to their word. A common feature across all the bands was the quality of the drumming, and Clara’s excellent heavy drumming style was no exception. Her style complemented Hannah’s guitar riffs perfectly. Throughout their set there was good humoured banter between Hannah and Clara, which added a light-hearted element to their performance and didn’t distract from the songs.
Their own description of “Imagine Taylor Swift if she only ever listened to Nirvana.” is pretty accurate. Whichever way you describe it, ARXX gave a special live performance with their own DIY sound.
You can catch ARXX at ‘Bad Pond’ festival at Chalk on Saturday 2nd September. For further information click HERE.
ARXX:
Hannah Pidduck – vocals/guitar
Clara Townsend – drums
ARXX setlist:
‘Not Alone’
‘Call Me Crazy’
‘God Knows’
‘What Have You Done’
‘The Last Time’
‘Deep’
‘Ride Or Die’
Back to the ‘Swim Stage’ for Brighton-based quartet Hypsoline, who are Beth Molly Moore (vocals and guitar), Trilby White (vocals and bass), Natalie Caushaj (guitar) and Hannah Feenstra (drums). The band take their name from a song by the French band, La Femme.
Hypsoline opened their set with ‘Space Babe’ their debut single which showcased Beth’s dreamy breathy vocal. Her wonderful vocals are a key feature of the band’s punchy, rhythmic and melodic indie-pop songs. On ‘Escape’ there was a change of roles with Beth taking the bass and Trilby lead vocals. Less ethereal than Beth’s, Trilby’s voice gave a good contrast and worked well on this track, as well as the vocal harmonies.
Before playing ‘Nights Like These’, Beth announced that this is going to be the title track of their forthcoming debut EP. From the pockets of enthusiastic dancing in the audience to this song, this is a release to look out for. The band seemed to have a harder-hitting sound than their last Brighton performance at ‘Hidden Herd Presents’ back in June (Review HERE). This worked well without compromising their melodies or Beth’s vocals.
Hypsoline closed their set with ‘Disposable Girl’, an interesting loud quiet number (think Pixies). The vocal harmonies and swapping lead vocals between Beth and Triby worked perfectly. It was a very good song to end a great performance.
Hypsoline:
Beth Molly Moore – vocals/guitar
Trilby White – vocals/Epiphone bass
Natalie Caushaj – Fender guitar/vocals
Hannah Feenstra – drums
Hypsoline setlist:
‘Space Babe’
‘Call Your Name’
‘Same Love’
‘Escape’
‘Nights Like These’
‘Instead Of Me’
‘With You Gone’
‘Disposable Girl’
Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes are Laura-Mary Carter (guitar and vocals) and Steven Ansell (drums and vocals). The stage set up for this duo is different from most bands with Steven’s drum kit at the front of the stage at 90 degrees rather than facing the audience, but with his vocal mic facing the front.
There was another lengthy soundcheck before Blood Red Shoes could start their set, as the vocals were not coming through on the monitors. Once this was fixed, they kicked off their set with ‘Elijah’ from ‘Get Tragic’. From the start it was clear that they had more of a rock sound than the previous artists that day. There were similarities with garage rock band The Kills.
Given the location and name of the event, it seemed appropriate Blood Red Shoes should play one of their earlier songs ‘It’s Getting Boring By The Sea’. I should point out that neither their set nor the festival were getting boring. Steven explained that because the schedule was running behind, they were going to play fast with less talking. This suited the band’s fast paced sound.
In their recent live shows, Laura-Mary has taken a more prominent role, allowing her guitar playing and vocals to shine. This was the case again during ‘At The Edge Of the Sea’. Her performance was like a mix of Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice and Joan Jett. In keeping with the rest of the day’s bands, Steven gave a masterclass on the drums, especially considering he was often side on to his drum kit to sing. To close the very good set Steven did his usual showpiece, when he stood on his drum kit to play cymbals.
Blood Red Shoes:
Laura-Mary Carter – guitars/vocals
Steven Ansell – drums/vocals
Blood Red Shoes setlist:
‘Elijah’
‘Cold’
‘It’s Getting Boring By The Sea’
‘Light It Up’
‘Murder Me’
‘Black Distractions’
‘An Animal’
‘Red River’
‘Je Me Perds’
‘I Wish I Was Someone Better’
‘Morbid Fascination’
The final band on the outside ‘Swim Stage’ was Berries, a garage-rock trio. They have a new drummer since their last Brighton visit with Lexi joining Holly (guitar and vocals) and Lauren (bass). Although Berries didn’t include Brighton on their tour for their debut album ‘How We Function’, the Brighton and Hove News Music Team caught them on the London date. (Review HERE).
Berries opened with ‘Copy’ and ‘Wall Of Noise’ from ‘How We Function’. Their latest single ‘Control’ showed a good progression for the band. Their new material fitted comfortably alongside earlier songs such as ‘Silent’ and ‘Lies’ from their 2019 ‘Lies’ EP.
Holly, Lauren and Lexi were very tight musically. They seemed to have a heavier rock sound than I remember from their pre-Covid Brighton gigs I saw at Latest Music Bar and the Green Door Store. What hadn’t changed was the way all of the band members play with genuine smiles. Clearly enjoying playing live, their sense of fun soon spread to the audience.
During the set Holly gave a shout out to the “little train” as the Volks Railway train went by. You don’t get that at many gigs! Unfortunately, because of over running of previous sets, and starting later than scheduled, some of the audience moved inside to get a good spot for The Wedding Present and for the raffle draw. They missed out on the final song of Berries prize performance. The trio are currently working on the follow up to ‘How We Function’ and have promised to include Brighton on their next tour.
Berries:
Holly Carter – guitar/vocals
Lauren Cooper – bass
Lexi Clark – drums
Berries setlist:
‘Copy’
‘Wall Of Noise’
‘Lies’
‘Control’
‘Silent’
‘Grow’
‘Siren’
‘We Are Machines’
‘Spiral’
Headliners The Wedding Present were playing their second set of the ‘At The Edge Of The Sea’. (You can read a review of their day one set HERE.) Saturday’s set was a mix of hits, classics and rarities in a 70 minute set. The Wedding Present took to the stage at 9:05pm slightly behind schedule after the raffle draw. (Sorry I don’t know who won.)
They started with two seemingly slower numbers ‘Deer Caught In The Headlights’ and ‘Loveslave’. The performance moved up a gear with the next song, ‘Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft’ (from 1987 ‘George Best’ album). This wasn’t just on stage, but in the crowd with a lively mosh pit area, and the many voices enthusiastically singing along to their favourite songs.
The second playing of ‘Brassneck’ from 1989 ‘Bizarro’ album of the day, after Terry De Castro & Friends included it in their set, was a particular highlight. David joked Jon would have to sing ‘We Should Be Together’ (a Sleeper cover) and favourite song from the 2023 ’24 Songs’ album. (Jon plays guitar with Sleeper on their live shows.) It wasn’t Jon, but bassist Melanie who sang Louise Wener’s part. It was difficult to hear her vocals at times in the song, but you could make out her good voice with a bit of extra concentration.
There was plenty of good-natured banter between David and Jon throughout the set. With Jon’s lack of a mic, this may have been a little lost on those at the back of Concorde 2. ‘Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm’ was a lively number. While ‘Take Me!’ from 1989 ‘Bizarro’ album was introduced as Jon’s favourite song from before joining the band in 2019.
Before the last song David announced it was Melanie’s birthday. Already in good voice from singing along throughout the set, the crowd gave the bassist a few verses of ‘Happy Birthday’. A good example of the strong bond between the band and the devoted fans who devotedly attend The Wedding Present’s annual ‘At The Edge Of The Sea’ event.
Then David reminded everybody “We don’t do encores”. Something anybody who has been The Wedding Present live would know. There are a lot of people who made ‘At The Edge Of The Sea’ possible. The well-deserved list of thank you’s from David included the bands, their crews, those on the merch stall and those who made online steam possible. After saying “See you next year. We’ll leave you with this one” David realised he hadn’t introduced his band. I’m sure everybody knew who they were, but that wasn’t the point. Unsurprisingly each band member got a massive cheer as their name was called out.
The Wedding Present closed their set and the two-day event with ‘Bewitched’ from 1989 ‘Bizarro’ album. It was a good performance clearly enjoyed by the devoted fans who sang every word of every song and cheered each one of those songs. I’m sure the majority already have the 2024 event booked in their diary and have probably already bought their tickets. The only decision left will be which Wedding present t-shirt to pack.
The Wedding Present:
David Gedge – vocals, guitars
Melanie Howard – bass, vocals, cowbell, laptop
Nicholas Wellauer – drums
Jon Stewart – guitars, cowbell
The Wedding Present setlist:
‘Deer Caught In The Headlights’ (from 2012 ‘Valentina’ album)
‘Loveslave’ (from 1993 ‘Hit Parade 2’ album)
‘Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft’ (from 1987 ‘George Best’ album)
‘Fleshworld’ (from 2001 reissue of 1991 ‘Seamonsters’ album)
‘Blue Eyes’ (from 1992 ‘Hit Parade 1’ album)
‘Ringway To Seatac’ (from 2005 ‘Take Fountain’ album)
‘Big Rat’ (from 1994 ‘Watusi’ album)
‘Something And Nothing’ (from 1987 ‘George Best’ album)
‘Rachel’ (from 2016 ‘Going, Going…’ album)
‘Give My Love To Kevin’ (from 1987 ‘George Best’ album)
‘Brassneck’ (from 1989 ‘Bizarro’ album)
‘We Should Be Together’ (Sleeper cover)
‘Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm’ (from 1997 reissue of 1987 ‘George Best’ album)
‘Take Me!’ (from 1989 ‘Bizarro’ album)
‘Bewitched’ (from 1989 ‘Bizarro’ album)
More on The Wedding Present can be located HERE.
Next year’s event has already been announced, here’s the rundown:
Friday 9th August 2024 (7pm – 10pm):
‘At The Edge Of The Sea’ proudly presents The Wedding Present playing a 30th anniversary performance of ‘Watusi’ together with other classics, in a 90 minute set. Plus special guests.
Saturday 10th August 2024 (3pm – 10pm):
‘At The Edge Of The Sea XIIII’. Featuring The Wedding Present playing a mix of hits, classics and rarities in a 70 minute set with many special guests to be announced!
Tickets are on sale now from HERE.
