Wet Leg Are a Wet Dream to See Live

Indie-rock group Wet Leg, took to the stage at the O2 Academy in Leeds Wednesday night (28th May). Despite this being their penultimate show in their UK tour, Moisturizer, the band did not disappoint, leaving the crowd roaring through every song.

The Isle of Wight formed band, entered the back-lit stage to nature sounds, creating an ethereal atmosphere. This quickly turned manic when lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Rhian Teasdale came into view flexing her biceps and abs.  

Strobe lights quickly changed the energy of the O2, giving it a club-like feel, when they burst into one of their most recent songs Catch These Fists. Wet Leg followed this with a song from their first album, Being In Love, which was brought to life with the electric sounds of the guitars and bass. Teasdale and lead guitar and backing vocals, Hester Chambers merged into one during the guitar solos, playing together towards the back of the stage. 

Teasdale then got the crowd riled up by splitting them into sections, asking how they are, waiting for a screamed response. The band then did their own interactions on stage, where the audience was also introduced to Henry Holmes on drums, percussion and backing vocals, Josh Mobaraki on rhythm guitar, synthesizer and backing vocals and Ellis Durand on bass and backing vocals. During these introductions each of them went round saying (or shouting) how excited they were for the show.

During Ur Mum, a song from their debut album, Wet Leg,  everyone went wild when Teasdale said the line ‘I have been practicing my longest and loudest scream’, followed by a countdown. The O2 erupted with people screaming, and joining in with the band, who were going crazy on stage. This created a fun vibe for everyone in the crowd who were then ready for anything else that was going to be thrown their way.

After announcing that they were going to be playing some new and old songs, they went straight into Wet Dream, which of course, sent everyone into a frenzy. With this tour promoting their new album, Moisturizer, the band perfectly executed blending new and old songs together, and still managed to keep the audience engaged during their new songs. 

Supermarket, another song from their debut album, gave Teasdale the perfect opportunity to show how effortless her talents really are. During this song she gave the perfect example of the manic-ethereal juxtaposition mentioned earlier. By reaching high notes whilst smirking at the crowd and then quickly altering to a deep voice and shouting ‘BUY ONE GET ONE FREE’ as if she was at a football game. 

Wet Legs penultimate song needed no introduction as the audience recognised the intro to Chaise Longue almost immediately. The song was ramped up and played with a rock feel to it, with people half expecting a mosh pit to break out. They ended the way they started, with a newly released (that day) song, CPR. In spite of this, there were still a big handful of people singing along to every word, showing the dedication of Wet Leg’s fan base. 

When the song ended they walked off and the lights went up, people hesitated, some people shouted ‘we want more’, but no more came. That was it, no encore. Despite personally loving an encore, just leaving after their last song, is a very cool ending to a very cool show.

Wet Leg’s new album Moisturizer out July 11. Pre-save on Spotify here.