Wet Leg (& Katy J Pearson), Usher Hall, 27/05/25
- Danny C
- 27 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Wet Legs rapid rise in popularity these past few years since releasing their first instant-classic singles Chaise Longue and Wet Dream can be highlighted by comparing this visit to Edinburgh and their last gig here just over 3 years ago – this one at the Usher Hall (capacity just under 3000) and the also excellent Mash House (capacity under 250). That’s an impressive career trajectory in such a short space of time and the show was fitting of the grander venue, with the band - and Katy J Pearson in support - delivering top-notch sets with confidence to spare.
As with most bigger Edinburgh shows like this there was a lot of well-known faces before, during and after the gig. With me for this eagerly anticipated show DJ Gez, Gig-Antics Stu and (named for tonight only) Chaise Logie met up with a few others beforehand, bumped into a few other pals in the queue on the way in, and inside there were quite a few quick “hello’s” and catch ups, including the complete set of the Mystery-Blondel & son family, pockets of the Edinburgh Gigeratti crowd and I was pleased to also finally get to thank SheBeat Jodie for hand delivering my copy of her album From Liverpool To Leith a couple of months ago, handing it in to a neighbour as I was away at the time. If you’ve not heard it, go to Bandcamp and get a copy it’s a 10/10 for me - fab stuff, likesay.
A good size crowd already in for the support were treated to a slick seven-song warm-up by Katy J Pearson & band with songs from across a few of her albums, showcasing her distinct laid-back soaring vocals, upbeat melodies and funky tunes (Those Goodbyes and Alligator were standouts for me). She also mentioned her first supporting slot with Wet Leg's Rhian at a young age and appreciation for this spot on this tour. It’s no surprise to hear their mutual love and respect for each other (as Wet Leg mentioned this during their set too) and if you were to put two acts together on the one bill I’d say this is as good a match-up as you’ll find around anywhere.
Then a full house in waiting through one of the longest intro build-ups of moody music and eighties goth-level dry ice flooding the stage before the band came on stage, starting with a bang to the punch-in-the-face recent single, Catch These Fists and Rhian commanding the stage right from the off. They rattled through the next few songs one after the other (another new tune, Liquidize and familiar favourites, Oh No and Being In Love), before pausing, chatting to the crowd and introducing the band.
Kicking on with the crowd-pleaser Wet Dream, that lifted the cheering to another level (bordering on Beatles-esque screaming at one point) and kept it going through Supermarket. A couple of new tunes followed with a great goth-bassline (and more dry ice) for Pillow Talk then Davina McCall, which could easily have been a Katy J Pearson song, as the sound was quite close to her style I'd say.
Piece Of Shit, Ur Mum and Too Late Now came over loud, confident and impressively with great vocals (especially Piece of Shit with some really strong vocals and range). Ur Mum had a crowd singalong all throughout and Too Late Now had the longest, loudest audience mass-screamalong mid-song I think I've ever heard live. As it often does when there are new songs introduced before they’re released, the crowd calmed a bit for another couple of new numbers, Jennifer's Body and Mangetout, from the next album due (out in July) unsurprising given the pace of the show to this point, and I can’t remember which if these it was, but again, one of these had a fantastic goth-heavy intro bassline kicking the pace on again. What's not to like about that!
The whole set was about 75 minutes start to finish and no encore, but none needed as they ended with Angelica, Chaise Longue and CPR and brought the roof down with those tunes, packed with more genius guitar hooks, addictive basslines and singalong anthem lines.
Having missed them the last time they played Edinburgh at their much smaller sold-out Mash House show and having had heard mixed reports of their mini-tour opening show at Brixton Academy, with some questions about the sound not being great there, I was pleased this lived up to how much I’d been looking forward to it. The band had swagger, confidence and fun onstage as they played and I’m also going to single out Josh Mobaraki on guitar and keyboards for (in my personal view) bringing a healthy amount of dark goth vibes to a few of the tunes with his playing, which added perfectly to their already well-known Indie-rock singalong sound.
For a Tuesday night out, this was as good as gigs get and even though the short five-date tour has finished now, there’s a bunch of festival dates. So, to pinch from their opener Catch These Guys if you’re in the same muddy field as them over the summer.