Rhian Teasdale strides forward on Brixton Academy’s stage, raising her arms either side of her head and flexing her biceps like a prize boxer. It’s a pose that feels like both a challenge and a statement of intent – Wet Leg are back and they’re coming out swinging.
Tonight (May 23) marks the second night of the band’s first UK headline tour in support of their second album, ‘Moisturizer’ (due in July), and presents the Isle Of Wight band in new and improved form. Previously, the group – centred around Teasdale and guitarist Hester Chambers – often looked bemused and in awe of the stages they were performing on and the crowds they were performing to. The whirlwind that started with ‘Chaise Longue’ in 2021 quickly grew to hectic levels, leaving the band little time to settle into their new roles as the next anointed stars of British indie.
Now, though, a shift is evident. New songs like recent single ‘Catch These Fists’ and the swooning indie-pop of ‘Davina McCall’ see Teasdale putting down the guitar and stepping more into the frontwoman role, her moves backed by intention and a fresh confidence that ooze star power. Chambers maintains her position at the back of the stage, happy to stand sideways on to the crowd, but there are glimpses of the pair’s dynamic that started this whole thing during the likes of ‘Being In Love’, when Teasdale joins her friend and bandmate to dance with their guitars in front of the drum riser.
Between songs, the old Wet Leg shine through, too. Teasdale’s banter is still half-mumbled into the microphone and courses with that awe of old. “This is a big room,” she remarks at one point of the 5,000-capacity venue, but it pales in comparison to the stadiums and outdoor spaces they were becoming a fixture in as support act to Harry Styles and Pulp. The band’s performance tonight suggests it’s far from the biggest venue they’ll be seeing as they release and tour this new album.
A good chunk of that record is on display tonight, but frustratingly, many of Teasdale’s vocals are hard to hear. When you can make them out, though, they suggest another album of memorable songwriting. There are kiss-offs in the same vein as those on ‘Wet Leg’’s ‘Ur Mum’. “You think I’m pretty / You think I’m pretty cool / You wanna fuck me / I know, most people do,” she shrugs in the alt-country twang of ‘Mangetout’.
There are also sweet admissions that nod to a new loved-up era. “You’re my sweet baby angel,” Teasdale declares on ‘Davina McCall’. “You know that I would do anything for you / It’s like a dream come true.” When the singer picks up an old-school phone receiver on the closing ‘CPR’ – a jagged, grungy anthem-in-waiting – she cries into it: “I / I / I / I’m in love!”
What Wet Leg excelled at the first time round was whipping crowds up into giddy states with their bouncy indie. The enthusiasm for those songs has only grown stronger since the last time they toured, the “longest and loudest scream” in ‘Ur Mum’ a deafening, venue-wide effort, and every surreal line of ‘Wet Dream’ bellowed back at them with vigour. By the time ‘Chaise Longue’ rolls around, the crowd – and band – are more than warmed up for a suitably spirited version. Sound issues aside, Wet Leg’s return is a knockout.
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’
When Lady Gaga steps onto the stage at The O2, towering above the crowd on the wide skirt of a deep red crinoline dress, it’s immediately obvious that this won’t be an ordinary Tuesday night. Known for never holding anything back, the theatrical pop visionary dives straight into world-building, transforming the arena into a surreal, camp horror setting. She faces off against another version of herself, surrounded at different moments by skeletons, witches and plague doctors.
“I must sing and build the walls to cradle my own space, and my own sound will grow the fortress of a home erased,” the two Gagas declare in unison before the grand entrance. What follows feels like a powerful reflection on the refuge and sense of belonging she has carved out with her music since her breakout moment with ‘Just Dance’ in 2008.
Aside from her newest release ‘Mayhem’, it’s the songs from her early records ‘The Fame’ (and its reissue ‘The Fame Monster’) and ‘Born This Way’ that take center stage. Although Gaga has reinvented herself many times over the years, it was those early projects and eras that built the groundwork for her artistic journey and gave her the freedom to experiment however she wished.
Lady Gaga credit: Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Live Nation
Her imagination and creative drive are fully on display tonight. One moment she’s sinking into the folds of her massive skirt, bursting out from a cage as ‘Abracadabra’ echoes around the venue. The next, she’s locked in a fierce duel with her chessboard “white queen” double during a striking performance of ‘Poker Face’. When she sings ‘Perfect Celebrity’, she moves into a sandpit, using it to show the complicated push and pull between love and resentment, gently holding and then violently gripping the skeleton lying beside her.
A breathtaking rendition of ‘Paparazzi’ keeps that feeling alive, as Gaga stumbles down the runway dressed in a white lace look partially covered with metal plates and crutches, like a knight stripped of its armor. The night is filled with imagery and layers of meaning, but she never loses sight of making it pure entertainment.
She also uses the moment to acknowledge the people who have supported her along the way. A triumphant ‘Born This Way’ becomes a tribute to the queer community. Gaga speaks from the heart, saying they have “inspired me for my whole career” and tells them, “You are so precious to me and to the world.” Sitting at the piano during the acoustic segment, she is clearly touched by the audience’s overwhelming love and takes a quiet moment to express her emotions.
Lady Gaga credit: Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Live Nation
“I feel very, very lucky to be here tonight,” she says, looking back at the first time she performed in the UK twenty years earlier. “I feel so humbled that, almost 20 years later, I’m still here.” After emotional versions of ‘Dance In The Dark’ and ‘The Edge Of Glory’, she asks the crowd, “If I come back 20 years from now – I’ll come back sooner – but will you come and see the show?”
There’s hardly a soul in the room who wouldn’t say yes, especially after a night this imaginative and flawlessly executed. Returning to full theatrical energy, Gaga leans into the absurd for ‘Bad Romance’, telling the crowd to “put your paws up” and showing off her hands with ridiculously long, sausage-like fingers, as if she’s stepped into a gothic version of a scene from Everything Everywhere All At Once.
As flames appear on top of the opera house behind her, she walks offstage and reemerges for the encore without makeup, wearing a plain black outfit and a beanie over the hair hidden beneath countless wigs throughout the show. It’s a quiet nod to the person behind all the spectacle, but still part of the performance. Like everything she’s done tonight, it’s executed with complete precision and heart.
