Photo + Words: Tom Sunderland
Wet Leg, a band notorious for not talking too much, sure know how to fill the rooms as we are here at a barely navigable Rock City.
This venue always seems to smell like lager and anticipation whenever you walk through these doors and up the several flights of stairs.
The stage, swallowed up by smoke, is like a storm brewing. The band walk on, emerging from the fog and kick straight into a belting ‘Catch These Fists’, the first single off of their incredible sophomore album ‘Moisturiser’. The piercing guitar line of the track makes everyone chant and bang their heads in unison. Rhian Teasdale sounds as good as ever.
Wet Leg go on to play a couple of tracks from their debut self titled album. Hit ‘Wet Dream’ (which seems to be in every TV show soundtrack on Netflix these days) and whimsical ‘Oh No’ are played next.
“You’re so woke – Diet Coke”
The band then go on to play probably my two favourite tracks on the newest record, ‘Liquidise’ and ‘Jennifer’s Body’. Tracks off the newer album just seem to hit that extra harder and sound incredible live.
The calmer and more sultry ‘Being in Love’ and ‘Pond Song’ are up next, translated incredibly well from their respective albums, the crowd doesn’t fail to sing and bounce along to both.
‘Ur Mum’
Later in the set, the band play possibly the heaviest track they have in their catalogue ‘pillow talk’, the drums and the heavy bass line lead the track’s verses and then the whole band kicks into gear for the energetic choruses, Teasdale’s whimsical and low register in the track accompanies the rest of the instrumentals perfectly.
This whole band could be described as whimsical so apologies for describing them as such so often. ‘Angelica’ is the definition of whimsy. The last time I saw this band before this was headlining the main stage at Truck Festival which they thoroughly deserved. This being written after all the mid-sized festival announcements, I’m shocked they aren’t following on from last year and headlining the others, even if that Wet Leg – Wolf Alice run up at Tramlines looks incredible.
The growth from this band has been exponential and I’m not shocked they’re still selling out tours and venues so quickly. I went to their first ever headline tour back in 2022 at Leeds’ Brudenell (2022!!! That’s how quickly this band has grown, unreal).
The band finished strong with their hit debut single ‘Chaise Longue’ and it sounded just as good as it did back when they released it all those years ago.
The Talking Heads-esque ‘CPR’ is up next. An absolute unreal track with haunting verses and energetic choruses, it might just be the perfect Wet Leg track that shows how much their sound has progressed over the last few years.
Wet Leg aren’t known for their encores so it’s no shock they don’t play into them. They bang out their set, no issues, no pauses, smash out the set and leave the crowd wanting more. Hearing ‘Mangetout’ live was the one thing I was begging for before the show and then being surprised as it was presented to the crowd as the closer to what is a very impressionable set.
Wet Leg have the potential to grow even more if their sets remain as fun, strong and entertaining as that. Rock City’s intimate setting and Wet Leg’s live set is a match made in heaven.
Taped Magazine 