It is common knowledge in Yorkshire that all great ideas are conceived in the pub, usually scribbled on the back of a beer mat.

But The Wedding Present’s Dave Gedge is no common Yorkshireman – though with 11 different line-ups in a little more than 20 years, he is certainly intolerant of fools.

“We were on tour last year and this idea for a festival was conceived over breakfast in a Little Chef near Leeds. I know it sounds odd, but we have a song called At The Edge Of The Sea, which was a B-side to our second single in 1986, and I thought it sounded like a great name,” he says.

“Next thing you know everyone started throwing their ideas in: burlesque dancers, a pub quiz, all sorts. We’ll see what Lout (the promoters) want to do next year, but I’d love to make it an annual thing, and perhaps incorporate those odd suggestions.”

In that At The Edge Of The Sea is a name band hand-picking a selection of their favourite acts, it follows in the wake of Meltdown on London’s South Bank and All Tomorrow’s Parties – both festivals curated by celebrities. But Dave refutes those comparisons.

“This is more an extended concert.

I’ve always thought club venues are the best setting for rock ’n’ roll, and Concorde 2 is a great place right by the seafront.

To be honest, I’m hoping a few people from up North come down for the weekend to see how great the set-up is.”

In the main room bands will play from 3.30pm to 10pm.

In between, quieter acoustic acts will play in the bar – including a set from Dave as Cinerama and some numbers from The Wedding Present bassist Terry de Castro.

“There will be music all day with DJs later on,” says Dave. “It’s just loads of friends of mine I like. Scale is not important. Most of the acts have supported us before, with the exception of The Pipettes, and they’re people I’ve got on with.

“There’s so much good music in this area: The Pipettes, Villareal, Astrid Williamson. They all live locally, and The Top Bananas, two crazy Brighton blokes on stilts I saw busking on homemade instruments, were the first band we booked.

“Variety is important. When we’re on tour I pick bands who don’t sound like us, but that can be a problem because 99% of the bands that want to support us sound like us. It’s flattering, but do you really want an hour and a half of The Wedding Present preceded by bands that sound like The Wedding Present?”

Dave is far more amicable than his well-documented management style suggests. He bustles with enthusiasm and tells entertaining tales from his recent past, seeing the world in ways other than from a tour bus window.

“All I need to work is a guitar, a piece of paper and a pen. I’ve lived in Seattle ‘great music scene’, LA ‘cartoon city’, Leeds ‘while everyone else left’ and now Sussex, ‘hippyish, leftfield, quirky’.

“I’m just back from Spain where I saw My Bloody Valentine at my favourite festival, Primavera Sound. Their festivals are less corporate than ours, you know it’s not going to rain and it won’t be full of people burning polystyrene cups to keep warm.

“Ours are all fashion and people get precious about their position on the bill. In Spain you have massive bands at weird times. They are smaller with much more variety, and if we can match that, I’ll be a happy man.”

AT THE EDGE OF THE SEA LINE-UP: The Wedding Present, Cinerama, Lucky Soul, Frank Sidebottom, Human, Astrid Williamson, Terry De Castro, The Pipettes, The Victorian English Gentlemens Club, Villareal, The Top Bananas and guest DJs * From 3pm-10pm, tickets £15. Call 01273 673311 or visit concorde2.co.uk