Wet Leg
Main stage, Friday
★★★★☆
Wet Leg bring pop-star glamour and indie-rock abandon to day one of All Together Now with a blistering set that grows in intensity as the sun sinks beneath the horizon.
It’s a stomping, triumphant performance by the chart-topping Isle of Wight band. Or at least it becomes one after a fraught opening 20 minutes interrupted by a technical issue that requires frontwoman Rhian Teasdale and guitarist Hester Chambers to distract the audience with a joke about tractors as roadies scurry back and forth.
Problem corrected, Wet Leg create a splash with salvo after salvo of zinging alternative anthems by turns biting, bittersweet, loved-up and scathing towards rubbish former boyfriends. (Somewhere out there, Teasdale’s ex must feel his ears burning.)
The last time they played an Irish festival, Teasdale grinned from beneath a trucker cap, uniform of laid-back indie rockers everywhere. This time she has brought the big guns, flexing her muscles in a pink track top and pouting, Zoolander style.
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Her imposing physique is matched by the slaloming music. They start with the frazzled avalanche of Catch These Fists, from their just-released second album, Moisturizer, before showcasing their talent for wryly chirruping singalongs with Wet Dream and Ur Mum.
As it’s a special occasion – just their third Irish gig – they treat the audience to the first live airing of U and Me at Home, a lulling valentine to domesticity inspired by Teasdale’s nights in with her girlfriend.
That’s followed by the funny, surreal breakout hit Chaise Longue and, finally, CPR, a blitzing grungy number that sees Teasdale go full pop star by yelling into an old-school telephone. She hoots towards the handset – a call of the wild that serves as a pummelling full stop to a knock-out show.
