The Wedding Present @ 400 Bar 3/28/12

When I walked into the 400 Bar last night, the band on stage Toquiwa (formerly Pinky Piglets) reminded me instantly of the Japanese cheerleaders I’d seen first thing in the morning in the stands for the opening day baseball game (A’s vs. Mariners) live from Tokyo. This adorable four-piece have enough energy to get a stadium-sized crowd moving; the more intimate crowd on the West Bank had no choice but to fall under their sway and do as instructed - shake your body and mind! (It’s the band’s motto) After an energy-packed set, the four tiny Japanese girls were still dancing among the crowd. Bowing and pressing their materials in my hands, I could imagine how after seeing them busking in a Japanese train station, they would be asked to support The Wedding Present on their tour through the UK and US. Toquiwa have some pretty respectable fans having been asked to open for The Hoodoo Gurus, Guttermouth and Bad Religion as well.

On the other hand, the middle-child in last night’s bill, Washington DC’s Jet Age, didn’t do all that much for me. Originally thinking the band’s name was Zarigani$ because two thirds of the band were “that guy” wearing the t-shirt, but nope. Maybe they didn’t say who they were; maybe they’re not quite sure. I also mistook Jet Age for The Wedding Presents’ roadies at first and even after they started playing as their first few tracks sounded a lot like the WP, their next few songs sounded an awful like Ted Leo & the Pharmacists before they played a couple of Spoon-sounding songs. Good guitar stuff to steal from for sure, but there was a definite lack of originality in their sound(s).

Last time I saw The Wedding Present was a couple years ago at a much bigger venue (The Troubador in W. Hollywood, CA) when they were touring their 1989 lp, “Bizarro” in its entirety. Wondering then how the getting-long-in-the-tooth Gedge would play the extended and frenetic guitar parts on that album (fyi: he just cut the solos live; that’s how he dealt with it) I didn’t have the same issue heading in to see 1991’s “Seamonsters” played front to back last night.

Gedge lead the band through eight songs including “Anyone Can Make a Mistake” and “It’s a Gas” before we got to hear “Dalliance,” the opening track on the album. Catching himself early into it, Gedge said he wasn’t going to speak between songs as to maintain the flow of the full-length album, and then burned through “Dare,” “Suck” (it didn’t) and flipping to side two and playing “Lovenest, “Corduroy” et al.

And as everyone who has seen The Wedding Present live knows- they don’t do encores, although Gedge made that proclamation a little more politely than I’d heard him do back in Los Angeles. They wrapped up with “Drive” and closed with a real oldie and one of my personal favorites, “You Should Always Keep in Touch with Your Friends.” That last song serving as a reminder that the Wedding Present, now doing this for over twenty-five years, are a band still worth hearing. Seeing them in the tiny 400 Bar was an added bonus.  The tour headed out to the West Coast after last night’s show.