Dancing By Myself: My Wet Leg Concert Experience

There is no better experience than going to a concert by yourself - especially when going to see a band that you know almost nothing about. The experience becomes 100% your own. Everything around you is new, untouched by your presence. You are a completely free agent. You’re free to dance as wildly as you want, talk to as many strangers as you want, and be whoever you want without fear of judgment or regret.

I was lucky enough to have this experience when I saw Wet Leg perform their final US show at The Fonda in Los Angeles on March 30th. Despite only having five songs out on streaming services, despite it being a Wednesday night, despite being new to the US market, Wet Leg sold out all 1,200 seats at the Fonda. I arrived at the theater just after the doors opened, about 8:15 PM,  to find that the line extended around the corner and nearly two full city blocks back. 

When I first entered the venue, I must admit, I was a bit nervous. I had been to a few small shows on my own, but I had never been to this big of a venue with this large of a crowd without a friend to rely on. I spent the first 15 minutes at the venue huddled in the corner with my $15 beer, afraid everyone in the crowd would turn out to be an ax murderer. 

But then, by the grace of God, I heard a quiet, sweet voice utter “I like your jacket.” I turned around to find a 20-something girl with mousy hair and a kind grin looking at me. It turned out that she had also come to the show alone and was just as nervous as I was. We ended up chatting about everything from school, careers, silly celebrity gossip, to, of course, the music. In this sea of strangers, I made a friend. So, yes, I had shown up alone, but there was barely a moment of loneliness. That feeling of friendship and togetherness - a bond over music -  only increased once the opening band, Momma, took the stage. 

Momma was pure Grunge. I’m talking slacker attitude, simple yet passionate riffs, heavy distortion, and grimy yet deeply personal lyrics. These gals had all of the bad-ass oomph of Hole. The biggest difference was their ability to simultaneously scream and sweetly croon. Lead singer, Etta Friedman, had such a lovely nature to her voice that, despite being foreign to the traditional grunge sound, fit beautifully within their songs, giving the band an especially unique and modern vibe. 

Usually, when I go to shows to write, I stand off to the side and observe. I become a bit of a wallflower. But that night, alongside my new pal, I was moshing along with the pack, right in the center of the pit. I was already starting to lose myself in the sound, and this was just the opener. 

Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers of Wet Leg have some sort of mystical powers. The way the headliner completely won over the crowd with a setlist composed of mostly unreleased songs is truly miraculous. But at the same time, it was totally logical. Based on what I witnessed that night at The Fonda, Wet Leg has the perfect combination of musicianship, spunk, humor, passion, and rebellion necessary to make a killer rock band. Wet Leg is impossible to ignore. It is impossible not to fall completely in love with them. 

I fell instantaneously. I was scrambling around the photo pit with my tiny point-and-shoot digital camera that my parents got me for Hanukkah, struggling to get any work done because I was so entranced by what was happening on stage. If you go through all of my photos from the night, there are only 3 pictures that didn’t come out blurry because I was moving and grooving so much. I just couldn’t help it. 

As I was walking back to my spot from the pit, I took a bit of extra time to observe the crowd. Usually, when I go to shows, the crowd stays within one demographic. Usually, people are around the same age, wear similar clothes, have similar vibes, etc. But the Wet Leg crowd was all over the place. There were young kids, college students, millennials, and even some old folks. I swear, one older couple came to the concert dressed up as lobsters. Lobsters. What the hell? I had the chance to chat with one guy, approximately in his late-40s, saying that he and his friends had discovered Wet Leg through the radio station KCRW. I overheard a group of high schoolers note that they had found Wet Leg through a curator account on Tik Tok. People from all backgrounds had flocked to The Fonda to see this one British grunge band. Wet Leg, even in its earliest stages, has true universal appeal. It was astounding. 

There’s a playfulness that persisted throughout the entirety of Wet Leg’s performance. They wore cheerleader costumes - Rhian Teasdale’s being an almost exact replica of the uniform Megan Fox wore in Jennifer’s Body. All of their songs included clever puns and the occasional overly-cheesy sexual innuendo. But the majority of the playful energy of the night came from the interactions between Rhian and Hester. Their friendship shined throughout the entire theater. We all just wanted to be a part of the group, and experience their fun. 

At one point, the two quite literally started rolling around on the floor. They leaned back to back, using each other to lower themselves onto the floor, and then started spinning like tops, flailing about without missing a beat. I could just hear their giggles from a few rows back. Throughout the night, they would spin around, dance side-by-side, and exchange smiles that would always lead to uncontrolled laughter. They were celebrating each other. This was their last stop on their tour of the Americas. They had made it from the English countryside all the way out to Hollywood Boulevard. Teasdale and Chambers had made it together. 

The band’s friendship established an intense sense of community throughout the crowd. Thanks to Wet Leg, I wasn’t alone in a room full of strangers; I was rocking out alongside my new friends. Throughout the night, I found myself smiling at my neighbors, singing to the people behind me, and laughing with the people down the isles. Wet Leg’s songwriting and musicianship made them a good band. These qualities got the ball rolling. But it’s Wet Leg’ss performance skills, personality, and loving interactions with their fans that, in my belief, will make them legends.