The Wedding Present @ Great American Music Hall

The Wedding Present show was a far cry from my typical Friday night music indulgence, complete with thirty-something fans sporting corsets and stonewashed denim. The band’s catchy set invoked a surprisingly emotional response from the crowd. They displayed a mature musicianship quality and the sense of mind to abstain from the emo-ness that characterized their early sound (which would have seemed absurd at their age). I grew to enjoy David Gedge and Co.’s safely vague pastiche of mopey 90s pop and post-parochial school, depressed rock sound.

The songs are pretty and grey, without being whiny. One track in particular, “Interstate 5″ gave me chills to the regretful core of my judgmental journalistic cynicism: “And though you seemed quite sincere / Will you even recognize my face this time next year?” (And you thought no one could empathize with the story of your popscene after-party life.)

Thank you, David Gedge, for being sentimental and self-pitying without tempting Bright Eyes comparisons.

Moral of the story? With a shot of Maker’s in hand, this show provided the perfect setting to re-nurse your broken heart of (insert definitive life period here) and commiserate with other like-minded individuals.