Out and About With….Wet Leg
Gig Review
21st November 2022, O2 Institute, Birmingham
Photography & Written by Erin Connolly
The anticipation was high on Monday night when fans were anxiously waiting for the Isle of Wight born superstars to perform at O2 Institute. It was clear that they are very well loved and I was very surprised that such a big band was performing at O2 Institute. This led to it being a really supporting atmosphere with all of the truest wet leg fans in one room. Wet leg is a band that has blown up in the last year, with 5 Grammy nominations and 2.5 million monthly streams. I discovered them about six months ago with Chaise Longue trending on YouTube and ever since I’ve seen them featured on programs such as Jonathan Ross, playing at big festivals such as Glastonbury and having their song featured as the Birmingham Commonwealth Games theme tune. It seems only fitting that they come and visit Birmingham and sing that same song at 02 institute.
I arrived on a very busy and rainy Monday evening with the pouring rain and bustling energy from the only just finished football. The room was already very busy and I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of love and support for the opening act. Malady was the perfect start to the evening with upbeat indie rock tracks that blend into each other so smoothly. They seemed to blend the genres of indie, early dubstep , post rave and synth pop perfectly with slinky bass lines, melodic vocals and jazz inspired drumming. This combination really excited me and when I walked home I immediately started listening to them.
After the London based band malady finished their support slot. The crowd were very clearly anticipating the band of the year. After a slightly delayed start, the band comes on stage very grandly Dancing to the lord of the rings soundtrack with a single spotlight.
The energy very quickly changed when they started performing. This band has become popular very early in their musical career, and one of the things I have really seen an improvement on is their energy and confidence on stage. Due to the very obvious innuendos in their songs they used to giggle and act shy and they hardly moved on the stage. The performance on Monday night was nothing like their earlier performances I saw on YouTube. They started off a little shy with most of the energy coming from the guitar and drums but from the second song, you could see their confidence growing and the songs become heavier. As I left the pit to watch the rest of the set, they started performing my favourite song. ‘Oh no‘. As someone who likes heavier music this song is perfect for me. The drums are strong and clamouring, the vocals almost screaming and the guitars slinky and long. This energy stayed high and it was slowly infecting the audience in the pit. We all knew it would come eventually, but the arrival of Chaise Longue sends the relatively demure crowd to dance and sing along. It was the perfect evening to an amazing set.
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