At the Edge of the Sea

Now in its third year, the Brighton leg of The Wedding Present’s annual festival scored a coup over its new, Yorkshire counterpart with an exclusive, low key appearance from fellow northern songsmith Badly Drawn Boy.

Brighton folk-pop sextet The Stars Down To Earth benefited from a bill- topping slot on the Concorde bar stage, winning over visiting Weddoes fans with their chiming harmonies and endearing humour.

Tokyo’s unknown Pinky Piglets managed a similar feat on the main stage, the hyperactive quartet making their mark with stupidly entertaining rock moves, punk-pop odes to chocolate and a wonderful, garbled attempt at the host band’s infectious ‘Kennedy’.

Badly Drawn Boy Damon Gough’s solo show was by turns bitter, amusing and honest, mixing new, unheard material with a brace of covers and gems from his own past, peaking with a medley of ‘The Shining’ and The Lotus Eaters’ ‘The First Picture Of You’.

The Wedding Present themselves went all out for a hit-packed headline set, age-defying founder David Gedge a blur of bionic-wristed guitar thrash and vocal yearning. Gedge’s songs have mined raw, universally familiar emotions for over 25 years, and tonight’s audience energetically celebrated their collective love lives’ soundtrack.