Wet Leg are everywhere right now! Mercury Prize nominated, five Grammy nominations and last Tuesday they were at the O2 Academy in Liverpool! RESOUND was there to see if they’re worthy of the hype.
Wet Leg, a duo comprising of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, formed on the Isle of Wight in 2019. ‘That’ single, ‘Chaise Longue’ soon became viral in all the right way. A critically acclaimed album soon followed, all the while they have gigged relentlessly so expectations are high for a fantastic show. tonight.
First up on stage is West London’s Lava La Rue. Since her critically acclaimed in 2019 EP Stitches she’s proven to be quite a talent. Lava La Rue played great set of urban flavoured R&B, backed by great band of multi skilled musicians, she proved to be very popular among crowd in fact, It’s hard to remember when young support artist gave such a memorable performance at this venue and she left the gathered crowd whistling and applauding for more.
A very talented young lady and it’s surely only a matter of time before she gets wider recognition as a leading name in British music.
When they finally arrive on stage, Wet Leg, the set kicks off with Being in love followed by the salacious Wet Dream which soon saw the whole room rocking and singing along to the point you could hardly hear the band.
Barely visible through the thick purple wash of the lights enveloping the stage, it ensure everyone ‘s attention was focused on the music. In these tumultuous times, the likes of Convincing and Supermarket are the perfect antidote. The tongue in cheek lyrics over ridiculously catchy songs is just what we all need on a wet Tuesday night in November. Sky rocketing cost of living, high inflation, war in Europe are all forgotten as we live in the moment and savour the joy emanating around the auditorium.
The next few songs, Obvious, Oh No and I Want to Be Abducted (by a UFO) are tight and highlight what and accomplished live band they have become. It’s a long way from those nervy early performances all the way back in… 2021!
Featuring the last lyrics you’d ever want your Mum to hear, Ur mum’ has evolved into an audience participation, the line ‘Okay, I’ve been practicing my longest and loudest scream Okay, here we go ,One, two, three…’
A massive long scream of indeterminate length filled the room. Every single person present was screaming, including me! I must say, it was a very therapeutic experience!
After this little catharsis, the catchy riff of Angelica rings out which is sadly second to last song. One of the disadvantages of having such huge success so early in your career is only having only one album to build a set around- you know it’s going to be short and sweet.
Leaving the best to the end of this wonderful evening, Chaise long started and not to put too fine a point on it, everyone went nuts, giant inflatable D’s bouncing over our heads, and a massive frenzied sing-a-long. Absolute madness.
We want more Tuesdays like this. Hopefully we don’t need to wait too long for next visit of this ray of sunshine that are Wet Leg.
Word and pictures: Tom Adam