I’ve seen The Wedding present a handful of times over the years, with the most recent show having taken place not even one year ago, so understandably, they weren’t that high on my list of bands that I absolutely had to see at SXSW this year. My time would likely be better spent exploring for new favourites or seeing if any of the heavily hyped bands are actually worth the hype so I didn’t feel an urgent need to go see The Wedding present yet again. On the other hand, the heart wants what it wants and David Gedge and co. always put on a fun show whenever they play, so I figured, what the hell – I made the call to see them in action once more. No regrets.
Playing a late night set at new-ish Austin whiskey bar Seven Grand (where oddly enough, the band shared stage space with the bar’s jukebox), Gedge announced that it was one of about six shows they’re playing this year for SXSW, noting that they played nine the last time, so clearly they’re scaling back.
Certainly not scaling back an ounce of the energy put into the performance, though. While I only caught the last half of their set, the band had the crowd, which clearly included a few die hard fans, bopping along to classics like “Kennedy” and “Take Me I’m Yours,” the latter of which Gedge announced as their last song of the night, noting that while it’s just one song, it’s the length of three songs actually, adding that they don’t do encores so this would be it. Gedge insisted it was nothing personal of course: “You’ve been great. Now get some sleep. Tomorrow’s a big day.”