Most bands wouldn’t have the confidence to start their largest UK show to date with an unreleased song, but most bands aren’t Wednesday. The alt-country powerhouses from North Carolina harness an intriguing sound, with lead singer Karly Hartzman’s slice-of-life lyrics sung with a country twang, effortlessly blending with lead guitarist Jake Lenderman’s dirty shoegaze riffs. The sonic blend proves an enticing combination, not least for the sold-out crowd at London’s Scala, but also for critics, with their album Rat Saw God attracting rave reviews since its release in 2023.
Fans of Rat Saw God were treated well throughout the gig, with the band alternating between its hits and new unreleased material throughout the night's proceedings. Despite the album’s popularity, the Scala crowd took a while to liven up—perhaps trying to look cool—yet even North London’s biggest hipsters were pogoing around the dancefloor to “Turkey Vultures,” a shoegaze anthem featuring a slow buildup that eventually explodes into an unrelenting wall of harsh noise, which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Deftones album.
From then on, Hartzman had the crowd in the palm of her hand. They almost screamed her teenage stories, which make up a large proportion of Wednesday’s lyrics, back at her. “Chosen To Deserve” consists of tales of “doing it in the back of an SUV” and friends experimenting with prescription drugs, with Hartzman’s effortless honesty ensuring that these stories are relatable to audiences throughout the world. Whether you’re from the suburbs of North Carolina or from Uxbridge, the lyrics are eminently reminiscent of the teenage woes that we all experience.
The best song of the night was unquestionably the Mortal Kombat-inspired “Bull Believer,” with a preface from Hartzman that her screams at the end of the song would be in honour of Gaza. The brooding and menacing bassline propelled the song forward into an anxiety-inducing conclusion, featuring a cacophony of screams and raw guitar tones that sent the sold-out audience into raptures.
It’s impressive that a band as interesting as Wednesday exists in the modern day. They tastefully honour their influences whilst maintaining vast amounts of originality, with their most skillful feature being the heart and emotion that shine through Hartzman’s autobiographical lyricism. It is even more impressive that the band has the outright musicianship to translate these feelings to the stage, with the incredible response from the crowd as Wednesday completed their set proving that they are not a live outfit to be missed.
