Inside the rise of Wednesday at their biggest-ever show
North Carolina’s alt-country it-group, Wednesday, have spent most of this year on tour. For their final show, which doubled as their biggest-ever performance, the quintet’s sunny-scuzz charm and impeccable musical chemistry melted London’s usually icy demeanour in a super-pit melting pot of mid-week merriment.
After a day of surprising sun in the English capital, Wednesday appeared positively thawed-out before a crowd who’d spent the day flirting with the idea of frolicking in flowered, fragrant fields. It was the perfect setup for some hot-rotten-grass-smell scuzz, to lift from the band’s 2023 album, Rat Saw God; so when the group stepped out to some Aphex Twin’s asymmetrical techno, the roar said one thing: We’re ready.
After an opening set from Philadelphia-based shoegaze group Bleary Eyed, the sold-out crowd vied for a decent view of the tattoo-laden Asheville musicians, who stood beneath an impressive tapestry of their recent album cover. It was an impressive race from ‘Reality TV Argument Bleeds’ into ‘Got Shocked’, but, curiously, few feet were moving. It was the kind of crowd that needed permission to get lost.
Perhaps frontperson Karly Hartzman picked up on this air of general reservation, for her first address to the crowd admitted the band had the “jitters” in response to this being their biggest-ever show. A whoop and a jeer for the formidable, yet honest, group; we were making history with them. The confession had bridged a gap.
More interaction only helped to melt away this icy metropolis resistance; before a segment of the show, which saw the alt-rock stalwarts run through the more twangy side of their repertoire, Hartzman asked for any North Carolina folk in the audience to make themselves known. “For our more country-leaning songs, you have to have certain qualifications,” she joked, before saucily wincing at “deep-cuts” thrown her way from the eager audience. A sway and a side-step, and the band soon launched into an epic cover of Gary Stewart’s ‘She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinking Doubles)’.
Anyone who knows a thing or two about the band will know that they’re extremely serious about their job. In one infamous MJ Lenderman interview, the now-solo country artist left the celebration for one of his most triumphant shows early. Why? Wednesday band practice, early the next morning. A Sunday, no less.
It’s a regimented approach to have for music as fun as Wednesday’s, but the solemn devotion has so evidently paid off: deceptively simple guitar lines jangled syrupy counter-melodies, Alan Miller’s drumming was spritely but never overbearing, Ethan Baechtold’s bass was sure-footed in the rotting clamour, and Xandy Chelmis’ lap and pedal steel arched a bow over the whole thing.
Though his star-status was on par with Hartzman’s, Lenderman has now publicly distanced himself from the group. Thankfully, his new replacement, Spyder, was a fan favourite, eliciting a merry yell from the room each time he jerked his mini-croc-laden fret board toward the burgeoning crowd. Hartzman’s quick wit, sharp scream and pitch-perfect voice, somehow even more impressive than her vulnerable recorded growl, soared above the soundscape transcendentally. She tied together their undeniable chemistry as a unit.
She didn’t just master the band; throughout the night, Hartzman deftly gave the uncertain audience all the right cues. A cheeky reminder that they’d had better crowds on the lengthy tour meant the heart of the room throbbed with a renewed energy. A call for a circle-pit, with the advice that oft-stoic London crowd members (including a hearty showing from the arms-crossed Radio Six dads) switch places with the headier and sweatier for their own comfort, shook up the formation of the space as the right-hook swinging ‘Pick Up That Knife’ climbed into considered chaos. Hartzman even took to advising the pit when exactly to jump.
While witnessing this frontmanship in quiet admiration, the music video for Bleeds opener ‘Townies’ came to mind: In it, the band introduces a typical All-American sorority to the wonders of alt-rock; by the end, they’re jumping and jeering in a collective head-bang. For a gig to mature from good to great, it can take something as simple as that: an encouraging nod, a light push in the right direction, so the tension and energy shoot in the same direction.
The band didn’t let this hard-earned capitvation go to waste. Recently, the band publicly left Wasserman Music after the CEO was named in the files associated with the late Jeffrey Epstein. Hartzman delivered an impassioned two-minute speech which touched upon this, paid tribute to the victims of the files, called for a “free Palestine”, and also perspicaciously criticized the ICE agents in Minneapolis. “It’s really strange because the people being deported are the people who arguably contribute most to our society,” she said.
After the emotional speech, which devolved into a “free Palestine” chant from the audience, she guided the bubbling energy forward. It’s a small but mighty skill to have. Indeed, when accepting Far Out’s coveted ‘Frontperson of the Year’ award, Hartzman noted that the band’s success stemmed from “lots of sold-out shows on our US tour, and lots of fun seeing our friends all over the country!”. By the end, the earlier rosy-cheeked references to their hometown had rolled merrily into one proven conceit: “We are all North Carolina,” they beamed at the crowd.
But Wednesday’s aim for displacement wasn’t exactly a bid for the ease of escapism. Rather, it was proof that the magic of live music can still transport us through unification. A lesson we’ll all do good remembering.
