Wet Leg, Gorilla. 20th April 2022

Wet Leg are great. Great on record, great live, utterly joyous and fantastic. There, done, you really don’t need to read any further, but if you’ve time… When I last saw them live, they were a delightful mix of confident shyness and that’s still true. The album wasn’t out, but the hype after their debut single was building fast. They still seemed a little shocked to be playing to sold out rooms, but the songs were superb. Of course most of the room only knew a handful, but with the album now out in the wild, boy has that changed. In a year that’s already delivered some great debut albums, to say that Wet Leg’s is an early contender to top the pile is high praise, yet very well deserved. The fact that they’d sat on it for 12 months must’ve been torturous, but now explains the utter joy exploding from the stage. We’re in Gorilla, a slightly bigger room than last I saw them, but it feels smaller due to the amount of people packed in here. It’s one of those gigs that if you’ve got a ticket, you wave it around (if it weren’t digital) boasting to people whilst clinging onto it for dear life. It’s a calm start, by enlarge this isn’t music to go nuts to. ‘Wet Dream’ is the first to really get things going, but they’ve learned this live lark pretty quick, hitting us with a volley of fast tracks to get everyone bouncing, before slowing things down so we can catch our breath. It’s here you get to appreciate Rhian’s voice all the more and you can hear pin drop in Gorilla. Last time I saw them, everyone was waiting for Chaise Longue. No longer, everyone sings along to every song. There’s a bit of funk in these tunes, but a whole lot of surf pop too. It’s impossible to stand still, heads bobbing and shoulders swaying. Mostly they’re just a delight. Hester and Rhian trading smiles as they trade lyrics. The three lads on stage are all great too, so let’s give a shout out to Josh, Ellis and Henry who always seem to get missed out. Granted when they finish with ‘Chaise Longue’ it is pretty full on, the whole place shouting “WHAT!?” back at the stage, but honestly there’s not a weak point all night. Like I said, the album is a stunner. I’m down to see them a few more times this year and just like last time, already I can’t wait. The rooms are surely to get bigger and bigger. “Good times all the time!”