Live Review: Wet Leg at The Vic Theatre • Chicago

Brassneck | July 31, 2026 | 0 Comments

Wet Leg

The Vic Theatre

Chicago, IL

July 29, 2026

Review by Jeff Elbel. Photos by Curt Baran.

Hailing from the Isle of Wight in the UK, indie rock quintet Wet Leg performed a bit of time traveling magic in addition to crossing the Atlantic Ocean for their first appearance in Chicago this year. The band packed their festival-sized show into the relatively cozy confines of the Vic Theatre for an official Lollapalooza Aftershow that took place the day before Lollapalooza actually began. Lucky fans got to see an extra few songs performed on Wednesday’s headlining set and also witnessed how the band operated under pressure.

Fans observed these sights through a persistent cloud of thick stage fog, lit from all directions by flashes, beams, and strobes of bright white light. The band itself was clothed mostly in white or off-white, with the exception of frontwoman Rhian Teasdale’s blood-red Mowalola briefs. The impact was dreamlike and surreal.

As her bandmates dove into opening number “catch these fists,” Teasdale emerged from the billowing fog and struck a bodybuilder’s pose. With an athletic presence that flouted gender norms and radiated raw feminine power, it was a far cry from the “cottagecore” frilly frock and long skirt seen at Thalia Hall during the band’s first local concert just four years ago. The band’s updated visual element was fully aligned with the brazen and brash lyrics of songs including the hand-clapping and snarky “Wet Dream.”

The set list drew almost equally from the band’s two albums, including 2022’s self-titled debut and 2025’s moisturizer. Fans treated practically every song as if it was a greatest hit, singing along with gusto.

Teasdale frequently stepped backward with her translucent green guitar to the spot where co-founder Hester Chambers was stationed near the drum riser. The two longtime friends played head-to-head with beaming smiles and sometimes broke into joyful dancing. Chambers played a pealing solo during “Oh No” and often traded the lead guitar role with multi-instrumentalist Joshua Mobaraki.

The restless “Being in Love” was among the songs reserved for the Vic audience and not performed during Thursday’s Lollapalooza set. Teasdale’s lyric described a string of discomforts and maladies before concluding, “I kinda like it ’cause it feels like being in love.”

Mobaraki played fat synthesizer sounds during “pond song” while bassist Ellis Durand dug into a growling bass line driven by Henry Holmes’ sturdy backbeat. Holmes thundered through debut album diss track “Ur Mum” next, stoking a spirited singalong that peaked when Teasdale counted in the Vic crowd to join her in her cathartic “longest and loudest scream.”

“I love the Chicago accent,” said Teasdale afterward. “You can definitely hear it when you scream. It’s beautiful.”

The coquettish melody and fully smitten portrait of the blissful “Davina McCall” made one of the starkest contrasts in tone between material from moisturizer compared to the scorned and embittered catharsis of the band’s debut album material. Teasdale has said that Wet Leg’s latest material gave her the opportunity to reflect upon newfound contentment and the nature of queer love. The singer sank to the stage to sing the related and vulnerable “11:21” with her knees pulled to her chest. “u and me at home” described the gravitational attraction of domestic bliss after time on the road as a “big elastic band that pulls you back to me.”

The show built to fever pitch with a string of absolute bangers, despite a hiccup. The icy cool “Angelica” found its titular character going through the motions and ready to escape a pointless party. “I don’t wanna follow you on the ‘gram,” sang Teasdale dryly.

An initial attempt at breakout single and signature song “Chaise Longue” threw the band for a loop following a blast of static that appeared to emanate in the vicinity of Mobaraki’s guitar rig. The song ground to a rapid halt as the band and crew began troubleshooting gear. The five musicians walked off stage as the house lights remained down. Teasdale offered an apologetic shrug as she exited.

When the band returned a few minutes later, they rebooted the song with an extra measure of their already ferocious energy. Holmes drove the mesmerizing motorik beat like caffeinated clockwork. The audience enjoyed the additional chance for call-and-response participation. “Excuse me,” Teasdale delivered in a coyly disaffected voice. The crowd roared in response, shouting, “WHAT?!”

Teasdale questioned a fate pivoting between love and suicide during the clang and clamor of “CPR.” The show concluded with the purring Strokes-meets-Pumpkins garage rock of sweet-but-salty kiss-off “mangetout.”

Per their habit, Wet Leg left it all on stage during the main set and departed without an encore. The band bid fond farewells and echoed Chambers’ thanks to the audience for buying tickets to the evening’s exclusive event, knowing that many people in the room would also be present among the much larger crowd in Grant Park the following day.

Local band Smut opened the show, featuring songs from 2025’s Tomorrow Comes Crashingalbum.

WET LEG SET LIST:

1 catch these fists

2 Oh No

3 Wet Dream

4 Supermarket

5 liquidize

6 jennifer’s body

7 Being in Love

8 pond song

9 Ur Mum

10 pokemon