In Brig’s 2018 Fresher’s print edition of the newspaper, music editor Jamie Harris covered Pale Waves’ sound perfectly as he noted their debut album had the power to ‘have you dancing one minute and emotional the next’. Having witnessed the band perform live on Friday 21 September at Glasgow’s SWG3, I can confirm this transcends into the indie-pop bands live performances.
Kicking off their headline tour in Glasgow, to a sold-out crowd, the Manchester-based band certainly delivered a show worthy of the hype surrounding them.
Pale Waves are currently embarking on a UK-wide tour to promote their debut album, My Mind Makes Noises, which hit number eight in its first week of release.
Dubbed as Manchester’s next big thing, the band consists of singer and rhythm guitarist Heather Baron-Gracie, drummer Ciara Dorans, lead guitarist Hugo Silvani and bassist Charlie Wood.
Opening with their early single off the debut, ‘Television Romance’, the band had fans bopping and singing along from the first note. Baron-Gracie’s haunting vocals were note-perfect as they went on to play their biggest hits from the album, such as ‘Eighteen’, ‘Black’, and newest single, ‘One More Time’.
The set – running for a little over an hour – was lit up by predominately red strobe lights, which is pertinent with the tone and aesthetic of the album. It created a real synergy between the audio and visuals, which added to the overall experience immensely. The colour red has become something of a signature for the band. Baron-Gracie announced they’d play album favourite ‘Red’ for the first time at the gig, sending fans into a frenzy.
Pale Waves have been strongly compared to label-mates The 1975, but their strong performance at the Glasgow venue sets them into a league of their own. Fans were hyped from the get go, and by the time they closed the show with ‘There Is A Honey’, fans were only left longing for more.
The band are set to return to Glasgow in the coming months as they support The 1975 in January at the SSE Hydro.
5 out of 5.
Setlist:
- Television Romance
- Kiss
- Eighteen
- Heavenly
- Red
- New Years Eve
- Black
- She
- Came In Close
- The Tide
- One More Time
- Noises
Encore:
- My Obsession
- There Is A Honey
