Wheatus – Live Review – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
By David Schuster, November 2025
If I had to summarise Wheatus’ gig at Leeds Brudenell Social Club in three words, they would be unusual, clever and funny. Fortunately (for me), I’m allowed to use a lot more than that. So, please bear with me whilst I enthuse, quite a lot.
Seeing Wheatus live isn’t like going to watch other platinum selling bands at all. Founder and frontman, Brendan B Brown, and in fact the majority of the musicians, constantly interact with the audience. The singer-songwriter jokes with the crowd, tells anecdotes and addresses individuals in the audience directly. As an example, over the introduction to ‘The London Sun’, he says, “It was raining last time I was in London. I went out in the rain. I think I’m becoming British!”. The whole experience is very inclusive and intimate, more like watching a group of mates perform at your house party. Mates who just happen to write great songs.
Brown is a born showman. For almost 20 years now the band have been perfecting their famous ‘all request shows’. There’s no fixed set list, the audience shout out the names of tracks that they want to hear and Brendan leads the group into the chosen numbers. This approach requires the musicians to know an awful lot of tunes off by heart, something which he discussed with me in a recent interview. However, it does generate some magical moments. ‘Truffles’, shouts a lady to left of stage. The frontman asks her name. “Well, you see Stephanie,” he responds, “the thing is that ‘Truffles’ is a terrible song.” The crowd groan theatrically, and the guitarist grins before adding, “Just because it’s terrible doesn’t mean we’re not going to play it. It just means we have bad taste too!”
“Longstanding friendship”
The bijou stage of the Brudenell is crammed to bursting with people and gear. As well as the main man, far left, there’s the keyboardist, bass player, drummer, no less than three backing singers and a percussionist. Following the first track, ‘BMX Bandits’, Brendan then welcomes Philip A. Jimenez on stage, and back to the group, after an absence of almost 10 years. He’s clearly someone who’s very handy to have around. He has a second percussion rig, augmenting full time percussionist Gui Fuentes. But, in the course of the evening I see him playing banjo, harmonica, melodica and an impressive number of other esoteric instruments. He also acts as a second frontman. There’s great chemistry between Jimenez and Brown, and it’s clear that they have a longstanding friendship. On the subject of the singer having worn a kilt on stage, commando style, he says with a grimace, “We’ve shared a hotel room. I’ve already seen your balls more often than I’d want to.”
As you’d expect, with the crowd literally calling the tunes, this impressive ensemble run through some of the best of Wheatus’ back catalogue; ‘Sunshine’, ‘Leroy’, ‘American in Amsterdam’, ‘I’d Never Write a Song About You‘ and ‘Love is a Mutt’. However, in a show covering more than 25 tracks, there’s also time for some lesser known gems: ‘I Am What I Is’, ‘Chan’s the Man’, a remix of ‘Punk Ass Bitch’, created as the end theme for the animated Jackie Chan Adventures, and ‘A Fisherman With a Clock’. The latter’s odd lyrics come from a dream that Brown had. It’s something of a surprise to Jimenez too, who admits he’s never heard them play it before. Of course, they play their famous cover of Erasure’s ‘A Little Respect’, tweaking the end to segue into The Temptations’ ‘My Girl’. In our interview, the frontman said that he plans to release an album of cover versions in 2026, so it’s no surprise that the set also includes a scorching version of Green Day’s ‘Basket Case’.
“Impromptu shouting”
However, the band never let things get too serious. The guitarist pauses to re-tune his instrument, telling us that he, “read in Guitarist Monthly that it sounds better that way.” Midway through the set, as a nod to the season, they treat us to a festive version of their hit ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, entitled ‘Christmas Dirtbag’. The whole band also improvise a few bars to the crowd’s impromptu shouting of “Yorkshire. Yorkshire. Yorkshire.” After which the singer comments, “Ahhh. We got lost in your regional chanting there.” Towards the end of the show Brendan makes sure that the tracks chosen build nicely, through ‘Fourteen’, ‘Pretty Girl’ and ‘Hey, Mr Brown’, before the much anticipated climax of ‘Teenage Dirtbag’.
Wheatus are playing two consecutive sold out nights at the Brudenell Social Club. That’s a real rarity, but I’m not surprised. They’ve earned more than ‘A Little Respect’ from me. The best gig of 2025.
images: David Schuster
David Schuster describes himself as an “adventurer, collector, musician and writer. Not necessarily in that order.” Growing up west of the Pennine hills of the UK and living his adult life east of them, he’s inclined to think that the Wars of the Roses were a mistake. David loves discovering new bands and musicians and is happiest listening to live music. He has travelled extensively in the UK and is fascinated by the variety, history and landscapes of the thousands of islands that comprise the British Isles. David is always reassured when online shops confirm that he’s not a robot.
