It had been a while since I’d seen a queue this size outside the Wedgewood Rooms such was the hype and excitement for tonights gig with Wet Leg! The band from the Isle of Wight have completely blown up over night, even if you had been living under a rock for the last 8 months you would still be aware of them! The venue was at capacity tonight and given Wet Leg’s debut album went straight to number one in the charts, I think it will be some time until we’ll be seeing them in venues the size of the Wedgewood Rooms again and for the price we paid tonight too, a whole ten English pounds!
I arrived tonight to be greeted by the hazy sounds of Honeyglaze. A friend had just recently seen them support Wet Leg in Newcastle and suggested that I get down early to catch them and it was a real delight. Honeyglaze very quickly reminded me of the same ilk as the band Palace, whilst also touching upon the sound of Nick Drake too. I enjoyed drifting through their set with them and the last song ‘Childish Things’ a particular favourite. Coincidently this is also the final track on their debut album which drops tomorrow (29th April) on the Speedy Wunderground label, be sure to give it a spin, download or alternatively a stream on your favourite platform.
I’d been fortunate to see Wet Leg a few weeks ago when they played Chalk in Brighton as part of an out store for the record store Resident. Tonight, I was really intrigued to see if they’d play with the buzz they brought with them a few weeks ago, I say this as the band have been touring extensively and it seems not to be stopping anytime soon. The answer was of course, yes!
Entering the stage to the sounds of the Howard Shore song ‘Concerning Hobits’ – the catchy indie numbers begin to flow with ‘Being in Love’, ‘Convincing’ and ‘Wet Dream’ – a song about break up and ex’s texting you about their dreams; a weirdly odd video supports this tune which see’s Rhian and Hester with lobster claws for hands!
Lead singer, Rhian, addresses the crowd to ask how everyone is doing this evening and checking in to see how many people are from the Isle of Wight, there’s not a bad contingent in the house tonight given the level of response! Tonight is the last gig of the current tour, to which Rhian says its nice to be playing so close to home and then randomly tells us how jealous she was of those kids at school who had to wear verruca socks which prompts some crazy looks and laughter from the band and crowd!
Further numbers from the debut album fill out the set with ‘Supermarket’, ‘Too Late Now’ which sees both Rhian and Hester pirouetting together in sync during the intro to the song. ‘Ur Mum’ is a song that can easily become an earworm along with ‘Oh No’. The synth based ‘Angelica’ is always a crowd pleaser too. ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Out’ has a clear ode to David Bowie’s ‘Man Who Sold the World’ with its comparable guitar riff.
The last song of the evening goes to the viral sensation that was ‘Chaise Longue’ which propelled the band into the stratosphere last summer. Usually this number would stir a crowd into a frenzy but tonight there seemed to be subdued audience, a lot of head bobbing but no moshing as seen on the tour so far. Perhaps its has been a hard week so far for the residents of Portsmouth, just as well there wasn’t an encore!
All in all it was a fun night out at the Wedge with the Isle of Wight’s (current) finest export!
