Liz Phair warmed a rain-soaked crowd last night with support from the Boston band Wheat at the Newport Music Hall.

Phair came on stage wearing a teddy with purple and red swirls, a black bra, mid-thigh-high black stockings and brown boots. She looked about as comfortable in her garb as a fat man in a string bikini.

Her four band members looked like recruits from busted heavy metal groups. Their hard-rocking ways sometimes covered Phair’s guitar as she stood rock solid at center stage.

The most activity the audience saw from Phair was her constant guitar changes. Still, she mostly stood center stage as the guitar technician strode on stage to drape the next guitar over her bare shoulders.

Phair’s stage setup was much more modest than her attire. It consisted of Phair, her band and a blue backdrop with lyrical excerpts from various songs projected onto it.

Phair strummed through her 75-minute set without much spectacle. She sang several songs from her latest self-titled album including “Extraordinary,” “Rock Me,” and her newest single “Why Can’t I.” Phair also tossed in a few of her old classics, including “Flower, “6’1″ ” and “Polyester Bride.”

The half-capacity crowd was a mix of Generation X and the baby boom echo. While a quarter of the crowd sang along to every song, most of the audience looked to be drawn in by the chance to see the “hot new” Liz Phair. A few bored looking men showed up only to please their wives or girlfriends.

Phair paid no attention as she sang each song flawlessly while flashing a giant smile.

Phair invited Wheat, an up-and-coming band from the east coast, to support her. 

“She had our record and liked it and asked if we’d like to come out on tour,” said drummer Brenden Harney.

Wheat recently released its major label debut, “Per Second, Per Second, Per Second…Every Second,” on Nov. 5.

The band struggled with some legal battles before being able to release an album. It originally signed with an English record company, but the company was bought out by Zomba, a much larger record label.

Originally, Zomba was not going to release the material to the public and would not give Wheat its recordings back for free.

“We were just stuck,” Harney said. “At that point we said we’re just going to go on with writing, and we wrote some more stuff and in the mean time the label finally came along”

Wheat once again entered the studio and recorded new material, this time under Aware Records. After a couple of months, the band emerged satisfied with its creation.

Wheat is composed of singer/guitarist Scott Levesque, guitarist Rickey Brennen and Harney. The band started when Levesque and Harney met while attending an art school in Massachusetts. They later met Brennen who played in the same practice space and the three began playing as Wheat.

Harney said the band tries to be very intimate with the crowd during a show.

“I think there is a real sincerity to what we do. There is a real effort to reach out,” Harney said. “It’s almost like you met someone.”

Wheat’s first song of the night was a weak opener, but it came back strong with its next song, “Some Days.”

The emo-punk clad group entertained the mixed crowd with several selections from its new album.

Wheat finished its 40-minute set with the best song from its album, “I Met a Girl.” They even coaxed some members of the audience to sing along with the chorus.

Wheat ended its show with an apology to crowd for its appearance as the opener. Overall the band was a bit rough around the edges but managed to warm the crowd prior to Phair’s pop.