“Life’s too short not to be at the helm,” says . It is a statement she has exemplified time and time again on the band’s sophomore album run. In the years since the band burst onto the scene with their riotous , the lead singer has stepped, somewhat inadvertently, into the role of frontwoman, having previously been one half of a music duo with founding member who has since sought to move into a less public-facing role, and their decision to inaugurate their touring band as fully fledged bandmates, bumping them up into a five-piece.
The quintet wasted no time, kicking things off with ‘catch these fists’, the lead single of their second album ‘moisturiser’, to rapturous applause. Straight after, they take things back to the good old days with a couple of tracks from their debut, including their pièce de résistance ‘Wet Dream,’ a track which feels as exciting today as it did the day it was released, and serves as something of a mission statement for the band. Fervent and all as the energy from the stans at the front was, it must said that even the raw charisma of Teasdale and her cohort was no match for the stereotypically morose German crowd who, in most of the room, stood in a seemingly moody stillness even through some of the set’s rowdiest moments.
Other highlights on the night included ‘jennifer’s body’ (all great female-fronted rock bands should have a track with this name) and ‘davina mccall’. The last time I saw Wet Leg was in Moth Club, a small kitschy club in East London where they performed a short but sweet set under the name Uma Thurman, with all members of the band sporting Thurman-circa-Pulp Fiction-style black bob wigs as a preview to their then-upcoming second LP. This extended set does expose the minor weakness of sameyness in their repertoire, but if energy dipped in the back half of their set it was only momentarily before Teasdale and co turned the dial up several notches for a home run comprised of their singular debut hit ‘Chaise Longue’, followed by ‘CPR’, and their newly minted hit ‘mangetout’ which has become a signature song of theirs thanks to a canny placement in Heat Rivalry.
The night was a fantastic testament to the band’s electrifying sound and Teasdale’s competence as a ringleader. My only complaint, besides my stoic fellow audience members, would be the absence of their thrilling cover of The Cardigans ‘My Favourite Game’ which appeared in the television advert for the Not A Passenger campaign.