I would say that Leamington Assembly is my favourite venue at the moment but it is quite a big place and I was worried that there would not be a large enough crowd to create a decent atmosphere. I needn't have worried because in the end a few hundred people turned up and although they were a bit subdued everyone seemed to have a good time.
First up were The Jet Age. An American 3 piece with more guitar pedals than tunes. There were one or two songs that were OK but on the whole they left me feeling not much of anything.
The Wedding Present took the stage not long after. Starting with Heather and then straight into Once More before Mr Gedge addressed the crowd. Next came Go Man Go and Skin Diving both had 2 drummers! New song, You Jane, followed and sounded great. Then The Theme From Cheers and another new song Can You Keep A Secret. As that ended a loop of John Peel introducing The Wedding Present played and it was time for Bizarro.
It's not my favourite album by The Wedding Present but has some great songs. Highlights last night included Crushed, Thanks, Bewitched, Take Me! and Be Honest. Even Kennedy (a song I've never been keen on for some reason) sounded fantastic.
There were a couple of bizarre things. Firstly David Gedge appealing for people to follow him on Twitter and secondly stopping the show (with one song left to play) to single out the person who threw a glass on stage. With the house lights brought up he threatened to have the person thrown out as the glass had apparently hit Jessica, his girlfriend. I have never understood why people throw glasses on stage and David was right to have a go. As he pointed out to the perpetrator "it's not as if you're a kid in fact none of us are getting any younger!"
The interruption broke the spell and as they played Be Honest (the last song) the moment had passed and I was thinking about heading home.
One of the great things about Leamington Assembly is it is just around the corner from the train station. We left the venue with 6 minutes before our train home and arrived on the platform with 2 minutes to spare.
All in all a really good night out.
