It was beginning to feel like Glasgow would never get to see Pale Waves again as rescheduled dates became an unavoidable occurrence for the band.
However, on 5 March, Heather Baron-Gracie, Ciara Doran, Hugo Silvani and Charlie Wood took to the stage at Glasgow’s O2 Academy.
Support came from fellow Manchester band ‘Hot Milk’ and London based artist ‘Bitters’.
The place erupted as the four walked on to take to their spots and break into the opening song ‘Change’.
This is the lead single from their latest album ‘Who Am I?’, and from originally looking at the setlist, it was a surprise that this was their starting song but this soon changed after seeing how well it got the crowd going.
The setlist was a mixture of ‘My Mind Makes Noises’ (debut album) and ‘Who Am I?’ tracks, although more old tracks.
‘Television Romance’ and ‘Eighteen’ came next (both favourites from the first record) so were received very well, as were all of the tracks.
Heather spoke to the crowd about her Scottish roots with her father being from here and even wore tartan on the night.
With the band having a heavy LGBTQ+ fanbase, ‘Tomorrow’ was one of the loudest.
The changing lights accompanied the pop-rock tone of ‘Fall to Pieces’ well.
This then changed back to red and white during ‘One More Time’ to perhaps represent that this is an old track.
Heather showed her vocal range during acoustic tracks ‘Wish U Were Here’ and ‘Odd Ones Out’.
Fans were treated to a new track from the upcoming third album that awaits.
‘Jealousy’ was fantastic and really shows the band’s growth over the year. It builds the excitement for the third record as the band said this will not be the lead single, making it even better that they played this.
‘Red’ and ‘The Tide’ gave fans a lot of happy nostalgia.
As did ‘My Obsession’ which was like a big sing-song, a really nice moment.
Before the encore, the set was ended with ‘Easy’, an emo love song from the second album.
As the crowd waited on the band to return onstage, it was complete darkness with just spotlights. This was to signify the beginning of ‘She’s My Religion’ as the speech Heather and her girlfriend Kelsi wrote together played.
This added to the anticipation of them coming back onstage and everyone was buzzing as the baseline began. It sounded like every single person was singing.
They ended the gig with ‘There’s a Honey’ from the first album which sounded so good.
In support of bandmate Ciara, Heather held up the transgender pride flag which was a lovely moment.
Some fans waited afterwards outside and the band came out, Heather sang an acoustic version of ‘Easy’ which was a surreal moment. Ciara also stayed behind and got pictures with fans.
For every fan, this was definitely a night to remember.
Featured image credit: Pale Waves on Instagram
