Venue Stories - Narratives, Memories, and Histories from Britain’s Independent Music Spaces - Fraser Mann

Venue Stories - Narratives, Memories, and Histories from Britain’s Independent Music Spaces - Fraser Mann

'Nothing Comes Easy': Small Venue Concerts with the Wedding Present

Venue Stories - Narratives, Memories, and Histories from Britain’s Independent Music Spaces - Fraser Mann

David Lewis Gedge [+-]
Musician
David Lewis Gedge is an English musician best known for his work in influential indie bands The Wedding Present (of which he is the singer, guitarist, principal songwriter, and only ever-present member) and Cinerama. The Wedding Present have had eighteen UK Top 40 singles and seven UK Top 40 albums. A champion of the DIY ethic David has recorded with a diverse range of collaborators, from Steve Albini to the BBC Big Band. Over the last thirty-five years he has played almost 2,000 concerts at venues large and small across the world.
Jon Stewart [+-]
Musician and BIMM Institute
Jon Stewart is guitarist for the platinum-selling Britpop band Sleeper and, since 2019, for The Wedding Present. He is also Course Leader of the Master’s in Popular Music Practice at BIMM Institute, Brighton. Previous research publications include work on Robert Johnson, Brian Eno, arena concerts, music memoirs, and YouTube. He is the author of Dylan, Lennon, Marx & God (Cambridge University Press, 2022).

Description

David Gedge (The Wedding Present) and Jon Stewart (Sleeper) reflect on almost four decades playing small and medium-sized grassroots music venues. Between them, both have probably played every room of this type in the UK and a good portion of those in the EU, too. This chapter will compare their experiences gigging in such spaces from 1980s / 1990s to the 2020s. How have smaller venues changed over the decades and what elements remain the same? Which have survived and which are missed? What makes these gigs work so well for artists, and what challenges do they present? What is gained when you move on from the circuit, and what is lost? Unique insights from the small venue dressing room ... if you're lucky enough to be in a gig that has one.

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Citation

Gedge, David Lewis; Stewart, Jon. 'Nothing Comes Easy': Small Venue Concerts with the Wedding Present. Venue Stories - Narratives, Memories, and Histories from Britain’s Independent Music Spaces. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 112-123 Sep 2023. ISBN 9781800503731. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=42693. Date accessed: 29 Mar 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.42693. Sep 2023

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