You’d be forgiven for thinking you’d bought two tickets to the gun show when Wet Leg arrive on stage at Brixton Academy on Friday night. Frontwoman of the now-five-piece band, Rhian Teasdale is on fighting form, fists clenched, ready to go into battle.
It’s a confident return for the Isle Of Wight breakouts, their debut single ‘Chaise Longue’ cementing them as the buzz band of 2022, seeing them tour the world with Harry Styles and racking up wins at the Brit and Grammy Awards. Since the hype died down, they’ve been back in the studio (and from the look of things, the gym) working on their much-anticipated second album ‘Moisturizer’, out in July. Tonight is the first outing of many of their new songs.
Set opener ‘Catch These Fists’, is a statement of intent: this isn’t the whimsical duo you last saw, wide-eyed, and somewhat overwhelmed by the speed of their ascent. This is a band matured, back with something to prove.
The sound at Brixton tonight is a bit of a shit show. Teasdale’s not known for her bellowing voice and at times is drowned out by the band and the fans, who in their time away, haven’t forgotten the words to their catalogue of bangers. It’s a welcome reminder of just what this group achieved with their debut, a bright light in a dimming scene of British guitar music. All signs suggest they’re poised to do it again.
While on first listen, some of the new tracks – see sweet, indie love song ‘Davina McCall’ – may lack the quotable anthemic lines of some of Wet Leg’s biggest hits, it’s refreshing to see that ‘Moisturizer’ isn’t just going to be more of the same. Whether the lads who love to lob a pint will stick around remains to be seen. But there always was a lot more to this band than surface-level kiss offs, if you took the time to dig in.
Most notably, the show is hot! Rhian takes time to introduce her band, with Hester Chambers now playing alongside the three former touring members, who are now officially in Wet Leg. But as the band has grown, so has Teasdale’s confidence. With frontwoman mode, well and truly activated, she grinds up and down the mic stand in a teeny-weeny skirt that strongly suggests that Wet Leg never skip Leg Day.
Teasdale once told us: “I can’t just be full-on Sexy Goddess. I have to be Sexy Goddess with lobster claws. Lobster Goddess”. With no sign of animal accoutrements anywhere in sight, this is a new era of Wet Leg. And one we’d highly suggest sticking around for.
Wet Leg played:
‘Catch These Fists’
‘Liquidize’
‘Oh No’
‘Being In Love’
‘Wet Dream’
‘Supermarket’
‘Pillow Talk’
‘Davina McCall’
‘Piece Of Shit’
‘Ur Mum’
‘Too Late Now’
‘Jennifer’s Body’
‘Mangetout’
‘Angelica’
‘Chaise Longue’
‘CPR’
‘Moisturizer’ is out on July 11 2025. Listen to new single ‘CPR’.
