Wednesday at the Roundhouse

Wednesday

Bleary Eyed

Roundhouse, 25 February 2026

I finally saw my favourites Wednesday again at their biggest ever show at the Roundhouse and the crowd absolutely went wild for them, as they celebrated their most recent album, Bleeds.

I've been patiently waiting to see Wednesday again after they blew me away at their Scala show back in 2024. I was lucky enough to catch Karly Hartzman doing a solo instore at Rough Trade last year, so I can't complain, but when they announced a full band tour I couldn't get tickets fast enough. 

Initially though this London date was supposed to be at the far smaller Electric Ballroom and when it was upgraded to the Roundhouse due to the band's growing popularity (indeed it did sell out at the bigger venue too), I can't deny I was disappointed.  It would have been great to have seen them at a smaller venue one last time, but what can you do when a band is on the rise. It's clear people have discovered how good they are and I am lucky I at least caught them before they exploded.

I arrived early but there was already a small queue, again such a difference to the Scala show a couple of years back, but fortunately I still got a pretty good spot at the front. This was especially necessary tonight, as I had viewed footage of their other UK dates and saw the crowds going pretty wild, and even a few mosh pits forming, so having a barrier to hold onto was a must tonight. 

I love a punctual band, so I was immediately endeared to support band Bleary Eyed when they actually turned up on stage a couple of minutes early. With the backing track playing a kind of electronic, swirl of dancey drumbeats and strange noises, it was clear this Philadelphia band is hugely by My Bloody Valentine, and my suspicions were confirmed when they started to play. And like MBV, who funnily enough I had once seen at the Roundhouse too, they were incredibly loud, with lots of fuzzy, distorted guitars creating cool and atmospheric soundscapes. 

The first couple of songs were definitely bonafide shoegaze songs, but later they seemed to also veer into more punky and grungy territory, with lots of bone-shaking riffing going on. Some of the songs featured frontman and guitarist Nathaniel Salfi on lead vocals with fellow guitarist Margot Whipps providing breathy backing vocals and harmonies, adding to the lush dreamy feel to their songs, but there were also a few where Margot sang lead and it was fun to see the interplay between them.

Both Salfi and Whipps wore glasses and I did wonder if that's where the band name came from, but I hugely enjoyed their set and they were definitely a good fit with Wednesday. They said that the band had been hugely encouraging to them during this tour, telling them every night, "you can do it!" which was actually quite lovely.

Salfi was the one who told us that this show was actually Wednesday's biggest show, not just in the UK, but ever. Although they had a big backdrop with the album cover, it did feel before they came on stage that they weren't used to shows this size, as the stage almost looked too small for the big stage. Of course when they came on and started playing that was completely forgotten.

The band all took their places before Karly Hartzman herself emerged to big cheers, which kind of demonstrates just how much more well known she's become in the past couple of years. At the Scala show she even set up her own equipment with most people barely noticing but, even though the other band members still did this at this show (with help of course), it was clear Hartzman couldn't do that now.

She did look great though, wearing an almost Cyndi Lauper-esque ensemble of handkerchief skirt and a big-buttoned sleeveless top over a lace vest, with her hair neatly tied back. On top of this she was actually wearing heels! Quite high ones too but by the second or third song she had abandoned them and put on black loafers instead, even sometimes performing in her bare feet (something she later joked about to the crowd).  

The set began with the noisy but arresting Reality TV Argument Bleeds , the first track on the new album, which did make me wonder if they would just play the record all the way through, and although they didn't end up doing this, instead peppering lots of songs from Rat Saw God throughout (and even one, just one measly song!, from their first album - Fate Is - and none from Twin Plagues), I think they actually did play every song from the album by the end.

Hartzman was obviously in a great mood and was smiley and talkative throughout, afterall not only was it their biggest show, it was the last show of the European tour too. I think she talked more at this show than any I've seen her at before, which was nice and it was good to see her so happy (she did say at the Rough Trade instore that she had a complicated relationship with London and apparently Wednesday's first ever London show was not an enjoyable affair for the band for some reason). The crowd clearly loved her though and it was funny (in a good way) to see quite a few younger female fans wearing black lipstick like the one Hartzman herself often wears (although not tonight!).

The big difference this tour, other than the larger venues, is the fact that MJ Lenderman is no longer playing guitar with them: they say he remains a member but only in the studio. In his place is the wild-haired and mustachioed Jake "Spyder" Pugh, who was very smiley throughout and seemed to be absolutely loving being there. He did a good job, but I can't deny, I missed Lenderman a lot. I missed his charismatic presence (even though he is much more a side-man in the band), his huge chemistry with his former girlfriend Hartzman, the occasional song he sings lead on (the one time I saw him play with the band it was a Drive-by Truckers track), his backing vocals and, most of all, his distinctive guitar playing. Other than being a great songwriter and frontman of his own solo band, he's a fantastic guitar-player whose style is so easily identifiable to me and I do think it's part of what made that last Waxahatchee album so utterly great. 

Even though Hartzman is very much Wednesday and she is undoubtedly wonderful, having Lenderman with her makes her even greater and I must admit I missed that special thing they have together. I'm grateful I got to witness it one last time when she popped up at Lenderman's own Roundhouse show last year, it really was magic. Spyder is a newcomer to the band though and the more he plays with Wednesday probably the better it will be and I'll probably forget all about Lenderman ever being there during there live shows, but this time I felt it, especially during the J. Mascis-esque guitar soloing on the tremendous track, Bitter Everyday, which has Dinosaur Jr greatness all over it. It didn't quite reach those heights this time for me and I sadly did feel it was because Lenderman's licks were missing. 

It was interesting too that Lenderman used to stand on the right side of the stage and now the always great and entertaining pedal steel player Xandy Chelmis takes that spot: it almost feels like they are showing that they can't replace Lenderman, which feels right to be honest.

That said, the band were on good form despite this and Hartzman was certainly buzzing. She asked if there was anyone from North Carolina (where the band comes from) tonight and surprisingly there were quite a few cheers and she asked people to shout out from exactly where they were from, leading to lots of North Carolina cities being shouted out and Hartzman responding to each one. She said the night before she had asked the same question in Leeds and only one person replied, that their grandmother lived there, she laughed. She wanted to know because "for our more country leaning songs you have to have certain qualifications" and they certainly delivered bringing the twang with songs like Garys II, Phish Pepsi (what a joy to hear this one) and even their cover of Gary Stewart's She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin Doubles), which she tells us they only started playing again after making Spyder finally learn it.

After a bunch of their more softer songs, she did complain that the crowd wasn't bringing it, telling us that the London crowd was their most quiet on this tour and encouraging everyone to go crazy for the next few songs, even saying to get a mosh pit going, and that if anyone didn't want to take part just move to the back out of the way. I had seen plenty of videos from their UK dates and it's true that the crowd were jumping around and looked far more rowdy but it's also true that this came at the end of a bunch of softer songs from their repertoire (such as Formula One) which didn't really lend themselves to moshing. However the youngsters in the crowd got the message and by the time they played Quarry (aka the one that sounds a little like the Kinks' Waterloo Sunset) the crowd was jumping up and down and even though I was at the barrier (thankfully - something to hold on to), I was being moved around by those behind me. You do worry about the safety aspect of encouraging it, especially in larger venues like this, but it was definitely fun, although I can't deny I preferred the most laid back vibe of the Scala show.

I think the biggest moment though was when they played Elderberry Wine and I'm pretty sure the whole crowd was singing along. It must have felt great for Hartzman and the gang, it certainly felt like a triumphant moment for them and the song is indeed one of their finest moments and sounded wonderful.

 It was also fun to see how Hartzman interacted with the crowd, smiling throughout and even taking part in a little banter. "I’m gonna bring it down a little now and play a slow quiet one," she told us when someone loudly shouted out a request. Hartzman just smirked and said back "Alright yeller. I say I’m gonna play a quiet one and you yell, so I’m gonna call you Old Yeller."

She also gave an impassioned speech about what was going on in America at the moment, particularly rallying against the ICE raids. "It’s really strange because the people being deported are the people who arguably contribute most to our society," she rightly said, before going on to criticise those in power who were mentioned in the Epstein files (they recently left their booking agency when its CEO was mentioned many times in the files) and, finally spoke about the conflict in Israel, leading to the whole crowd, chanting the words back to her (I can't say the phrase as my post was censored before for repeating it, crazily enough, but I'm sure you can guess) as the band went into their next song.

Near the end she warned us that they only had a few songs left and they wouldn't be playing an encore: "the last three songs take a real toll on my voice," she said, "so we won't be coming back after we play them, so if you want to go crazy, now is your chance." I, of course, respect the no encore stance a lot and it did indeed allow the crowd to really go mad on these last songs, namely Townies (amusingly introduced by Karly as "a song about a hand job"), Bull Believer with Hartzman beautifully screaming her head off at the end over a wall of distortion and finally the short but sweet punk shout-fest, Wasp (which I also saw her perform at the Scala show). 

The whole show definitely had a lot of good feeling, amazing energy and the crowd felt young and full of love for the band, who I'm sure had only just discovered them, which is obviously rather delightful. But I also didn't get that chill down my spine and that feeling I had witnessed something incredibly special that I did at the Scala show, where I felt so close to the action and so immersed in the music, that after I almost floated home on a cloud of elation. 

There's no doubt though that Wednesday are now a big band and no longer a cult secret. It's fantastic to see so many people loving them as they deserve, and although I've lost the ability to see them in small venues now and feel that special connection, I still feel absolutely delighted for them and it's wonderful to see Karly Hartzman blossom into one of the best frontwomen in the world right now.