Lucky fans who got a ticket to Wet Leg’s sold-out Berlin show queued early on Sunday, November 9th, eager to see the band that had just been nominated for a Grammy the day before. The nomination is for their second and latest album moisturizer, which also serves as the name of the tour.
The concert took place at the famous Columbiahalle. It is a small arena that fits about 3000 people and offers quite a magical atmosphere. Once an old US army sports hall from the 1950s, it now feels like walking on the living history of divided Germany.
The supporting Duo Faux Real entered the stage an hour and a half after doors. The artists wore matching white outfits in true Y2K style with a mini skirt over bell-bottom jeans. Their performance made one think of a circus performance meant in the best way. Not only did the duo sing and dance and showcase their talents on various instruments – from a modified guitar to a transverse flute – but they integrated artistic performance pieces as well as a staged light show that could as well have been fire, if it had been a circus stage. Right from the beginning, they both interacted with the crowd, finishing their last set dancing together with the people in the middle of the pit. If they were European, one would have probably already seen them at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Faux Real was a fun heating-up party for the headliners Wet Leg. The band started a couple of minutes late with white smoke filling the stage. It was not possible to see further than half a meter until the fog finally lightened and revealed the band walking on stage.
The smoke machine went on heavy for the rest of the set, highlighting the beautiful lighting of the show. That also explained why there was no backdrop or video screens on stage – one would not have seen it well anyway. This also put the attention and focus on their music. While the band’s live performances are extraordinary, that day, depending on where one stood, lead singer Rhian Teasdale’s voice was not loud enough to overpower the instruments for some parts of the songs. Whenever she did not play her signature green see-through guitar, she walked around on stage freely, interacting with the fans in the first rows. Each side felt included singing with her. When watching the bassist, he was usually headbanging while the other three band members stayed in their marked places on stage. That makes sense as all sang backing vocals along the tracks. The keyboardist/guitarist was the one who talked a little bit in between songs. He praised the crowd for their “loudest and longest scream“ on the song ‘Ur Mum’.
The longer the show went on, the more Rhian Teasdale seemed to warm up, smiling widely and integrating small dance bits into her performance. For the more laid-back track ‘11:21’, soap bubble machines turned the stage into a big bubble bath. During ‘CPR’, an old red cable phone replaced the microphone.
For their final song ‘mangetout’, the band really got all of their leftover energy out. After that, the lights went on in the arena and turned a couple of faces into masks of confusion. No encore? No, no encore. Just like their refreshing sound, their non-traditional concert etiquette also sets a unique tone. In the end, nothing was missing from their setlist. While it was unfamiliar, it was a joyful ending to their remarkable show.
