The Wedding Present

In 2025, The Wedding Present will be playing a series of concert dates in North America to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the release of their classic major-label debut long-player, Bizarro [“Simply unbeatable” – Melody Maker].

David Gedge says, “Bizarro was our second album, and you can hear on it how much we had learned from the experience of recording our debut, George Best. You only have to listen to something like ‘Bewitched’ to notice that there’s much more in the way of texture and depth on Bizarro. We’d just improved as songwriters and arrangers, basically. It’s no less frenetic a record, though!”

"The Wedding Present’s second proper studio album, Bizarro, [RCA Records, 1989] cut down on the frenetic jangle that the band had been known for in its early days and replaced it with healthy doses of darkness and power. Adding some fuzzy, crunchy, distortion to give the guitars some hefty impact, slowing the tempos down to speeds that allowed vocalist David Gedge to squeeze more heartbroken despair and bleak sarcasm out of every line, and generally upping their game in every way, the album was the fullest realisation of The Wedding Present’s sound yet. Leading off with the unstoppably hooky ‘Brassneck’ which features a brilliant Gedge reading of lines that rhyme “grow up” and “throw up”, the album plays like a collection of thematically related singles. The most single-y among them is ‘Kennedy’ which has some brilliant sing-along lyrics and an intensely dramatic guitar strum build-up that crescendos into a maelstrom of sound. The rest of the record isn’t far behind; whether it’s the sparse ‘What Have I Said Now?’ or the slowly grinding ‘Bewitched’, one could extract any song and it would feel like a highlight... especially the epic-length ‘Take Me!’ which closes the album in a fury of strums, drum fills and chugging bass that builds and builds until it seems like the song is going to levitate and take the listener right along with it. The Wedding Present didn’t necessarily need to improve their already-winning template, but they did, and it pays off big time on Bizarro."

'Bizarro' reviewed by AllMusic

Upcoming Shows


May
31
st
Turf Club
May
31
st
Turf Club

The Wedding Present

'Bizarro' 35th Anniversary Tour
with The Tubs

Past Shows


Mar
27
th
2018
Turf Club
Mar
27
th
2018
Turf Club

The Wedding Present

with Terry de Castro and DJ Jake Rudh
Apr
22
nd
2017
Turf Club
Apr
22
nd
2017
Turf Club

The Wedding Present

with COLLEEN GREEN BAND

More Shows

Mar
22
nd
Fine Line

Russian Circles

with Pelican
Dec
27
th
7th St Entry

Jaki Blue

with KAYCYY and Sophia Eris
May
3
rd
The Fitzgerald Theater

Ichiko Aoba

Apr
13
th
7th St Entry

Wheatus