Wet Leg at Electric Picnic 2023: Smart, punchy, shin-kicking pop from Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers

Wet Leg

Electric Arena

★★★★☆

Wet Leg are the perfect Electric Picnic Friday-night band. The Isle of Wight duo of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers have vaulted into the higher reaches of indiedom with smart, quirky songs that evoke the spirit of student-disco favourites of yesteryear while brimming with Gen Z sharp-wittedness.

Their music is full of zing on record, but dark, funny tracks such as Ur Mum and Chaise Longue are punchier still in the flesh. They open their set with the effervescent Being in Love, one of their more sincere numbers, yet from there on it’s drollness and audacity to sundown.

Wet Leg’s sound is beefed up by a backing ensemble of bearded indie blokes. But it is at all times Teasdale and Chambers’s show. They’ve got best-friend energy even as they present a study in contrasts, Teasdale grinning from beneath a trucker hat as she sings, Chambers cutting an elusive figure as she sways behind her guitar.

There is no mystery at all to their songs, however. Written as Teasdale was coming out of an unhappy relationship, this is explicit shin-kicking pop that spares no one.

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Wet Dream unleashes an emotional bazooka at Teasdale’s ex. (“What makes you think you’re good enough / To think about me?” she demands.) That theme continues with Piece of S*** – you can guess who that’s about – and Ur Mum. “When I think about what you’ve become / I feel sorry for your mum,” she sings with a grin.

There isn’t much banter – or at least little that’s audible in the huge Electric Arena tent. Instead, the gig surfs off Teasdale’s charm and Chambers’s enigmatic smile.

“We probably should go away to write another album – but it’s nice to see you,” Teasdale says at the end. They then negotiate their two best numbers, the wry, stonking Angelica and then their brilliant screwball smash, Chaise Longue, which hits like Pixies raised on internet memes. (“Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?” goes one typical line.) It’s fantastic – and a great start to day one of Electric Picnic.