NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
As the “it” band of the last year, Wet Leg has been selling out venues faster than you can say “Isle of Wight”! Toronto was no exception as they stopped by the Phoenix Concert Theatre on Tuesday, even though there were at least four other amazing shows that same evening: Glass Animals, Cage the Elephant, Khruangbin, and Sleigh Bells! Wet Leg rose quickly on the heels of their viral hit “Chaise Longue” in 2021 and released their debut self-titled album this April. Their completely irreverent, deadpan, innuendo-filled lyrics and quirky videos have really caught the attention of fans everywhere. I just missed them in NYC last December when they played at Mercury Lounge, probably the last time they will ever play such a small venue. Their fans were definitely out in force with one even dressing up as a lobster!
Opening for Wet Leg was a Canadian band Dizzy, who stepped in just a couple of days ago. I last caught this band opening for Tokyo Police Club in NYC in 2019. Since then, they’ve released their sophomore album “The Sun and Her Scorch” in 2020, which earned them a nomination for Best Alternative Album at the Juno Awards. With Katie Munshaw providing fabulous vocals and the trio of brothers Alex, Mackenzie and Charlie Spencer taking care of the instrumentation, Dizzy blew through a wonderful set opening with the first single “Sunflower” off their last album. Definitely check them out.
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The set for Wet Leg was to be only 45 minutes, as expected from a band with a brief catalog. I don’t know if it’s the tone of lead vocalist Rhian Teasdale, the lilt on certain words, or just the way she stomps all over the subject of her lyrics in such a sweet voice, but there’s something hugely entrancing in the songs. They opened with the first song from the album “Being in Love”. I would say that Wet Leg reminds me of the B-52s with the way they switch between major and minor keys and their fun, sometimes nonsensical songs but maybe in a “sad” (probably not the right word) way, although it’s hard to say whether a song like “Being in Love” is happy or sad.
I needa lie down
Only just got up
I feel so uninspired
I feel like giving up
I feel like someone has
Punched me in the guts
But I kinda like it
‘Cause it feels like being in love
Or maybe it’s just real life? Either way, it’s wonderful. As usual, guitarist and backing vocalist Hester Chambers kept a low profile. She’s so shy and adorable, with a voice barely above a whisper. When she addressed the crowd, I had to take out my earplugs and I still couldn’t hear what she was saying! The band seemed to be having a great time and you couldn’t keep the smile off Teasdale’s face, even when she’s singing “mean” lyrics. She did get the crowd engaged during “Ur Mum” with every fan in the place screaming towards the end. Interestingly, the audience skewed on the “middle aged” side. What is it about Wet Leg that speaks to Generation X rather than Z? Or maybe gen x was just quicker in buying up the tickets. Who knows?
Wet Leg didn’t have a separate encore and just ran through all their songs, finishing off the evening with “Angelica”, then”Chaise Longue”, of course, with everyone yelling “What??” in place of Chambers. It was such a fun evening!
One thing I do have to say is I found it interesting that photographers were only allowed to shoot from the sides since the straight up shots are “not flattering”. Yes I understand they are young women but I would have thought they would have more of a “fuck you, I don’t care what I look like” attitude. Then again, maybe the attitude is “fuck you, it’s our tour and we’ll do what we want”!! Haha, yes that must be it!
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cool to find this band