Playground magazine

It’s no secret that David Gedge has always loved football. The cover of his first album after forming The Wedding Present – the band that rose from the ashes of The Lost Pandas – was legendary: “George Best” was named after the Irish Manchester United player who helped them win the first European Cup, and it featured an image of the attacking midfielder in his glory days leading the “red devils”. With a declaration like that, it’s clear what colour David Gedge’s heart’s blood is: thick, shiny red. Oddly enough, The Wedding Present is a band born in Leeds, which would make you guess that his preference would have been Damned United (that is to say, Leeds United) which dominated the English first division in the early 70s under the leadership of Don Revie. But like they say, people change their home, their country, or their wife more easily than their football team. David Gedge is for United to the death.

The Wedding Present will perform this weekend at one of the charming, small-format indie festivals that have been spicing up the summer festival agenda for some time. It’s Palmfest, in L’Hospitalet de L’Infant (Tarragona), a touristy seaside town, which from Thursday to Saturday this week will welcome bands like We Are Standard, We Have Band, Bigott, Pegasvs, Russian Red, Klaus & Kinski and The Suicide Of Western Culture – you can check out the entire roster here. The Wedding Present will be on the Nàutic stage on Friday, 27th July at 12.30 a.m., and as a warm-up, David Gedge has chosen his ten all-time favourite football players for us. You guessed it: they all wear or have worn the red jersey of Manchester United.