Let’s Wrestle – The Lexington, London
Having recently signed to Full Time Hobby, Let’s Wrestle are here tonight on the back of the reissue of their awesomer than awesome debut ‘In The Court Of The Wrestling Let’s’. Cutting an unprepossessing figure offstage (think a young Rivers Cuomo as an IT programmer rather than a multi-million selling rock star) singer and main songwriter Wesley Patrick Gonzalez owns the stage and clearly seems to be enjoying himself. While the band are, obviously, more able and confident musically than they once were, they still sound loose and frantic enough to retain the unassuming charm of their earlier material.
Sounding like Pavement after a few too many cans of fizzy pop, they treat us to songs spanning their, admittedly brief, career to date, ranging from ‘Song from an ABBA tribute record’ (the band’s first single, played here for the first time in 3 years) to material from their upcoming Steve Albini-produced second album (which, if tonight’s anything to go by, will probably blow your face off). As they tear through favourites like ‘Tanks’ and ‘ I Won’t Lie to You’ it’s clear to see that this is a band who have built up a tremendous amount of goodwill and support. While calling a band likeable may be seen as damning with faint praise, Let’s Wrestle truly are, it’s hard to imagine anybody having a bad word to say about them. That’s partly due to the humour and honesty in the lyrics and partly due to the full-blooded enthusiasm of the performance and you can be sure it’ll serve them well as they get ready to release their sophomore album. It’s a testament to their ability as songwriters that they can make a song running through a to-do list for the day sound as great as ‘My Schedule’ (‘I’m going to my local library, And then I’ll go to the charity shop’).
And now for the obligatory end to any Let’s Wrestle review where the lazy/uninspired/semi-retarded reviewer comments on how appropriate the title to the sixth track on their debut album is. Oh well, I’ve never been one to break with tradition so it only remains to say that when Let’s Wrestle sing ‘We Are The Men You’ll Grow to Love Soon’, you can’t help but agree.