If you know anything about Pale Waves' aesthetic, when walking into the O2 Institute Birmingham, you'll see that this is a match made in dark academia heaven, it's as if the gothic-looking theatre was built just for them. The band have drawn in quite the crowd tonight, as the room is filled almost to the back wall even before the support slot. Most in attendance are late teens, and early twenties, but still a mixed crowd, dark clothing being the common factor.
The support tonight comes from Scottish band Swim School, who have been compared to the earlier sound of Pale Waves, I would say that's an accurate statement. To me, if you could bottle up the sound of Avril Lavigne's 'I'm With You' and curate a whole set, that would also be a good description (and as a lifelong fan of the mentioned, that's a compliment!). But circling back, I think a lot of the Pale Waves fans in the room have probably gone home and added a few tracks to their Spotify playlists, a band that sounds like your favourite band? Perfect!
Onto the main act, as mentioned earlier it was as if the room was made for this band, probably unlike some of the academies the band have played at this tour. Still, it all came together even more as the stage set was put up, donning two gorgeous chandeliers, a red curtain backdrop and Greek statues. Nothing too over the top, but sophisticated and elegant.
It's worth noting that the band have just released their latest album 'Smitten' (which you can read our review for here), there's always a bit of a worry that fans haven't quite caught up with the newest material having a show so close to the release, but without getting too ahead, I don't think there's any need to fret here.
Soon enough, smoke filled the room and the band took the stage to an intro to which the words 'shimmery' came to mind (any fans of The Cure, think of when they walk on to 'Plainsong'). All went silent before the isolated sound of frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie: "I saw her standing there and I was smitten" before breaking into the 90's dreamy nostalgia track 'Perfume'. There was a beautiful orchestral transition into the following saucy track 'Not A Love Song'.
Song three, 'There's A Honey' is where the crowd really came alive, a classic Pale Waves track the singer proclaims. Baron-Gracie's vocals are astonishingly well-trained, you could easily pull a recording from this show and release a live album with no alteration whatsoever. She has an amazing grasp on that vocal twang perfected by singers such as Dolores O'Riordan.
"This is about being 23 and being a big fat emo" the singer confesses before heading into 'Drive', followed by 'You're so Vain' (not the Carly Simon song). 'Eighteen' is the moment when everyone's phones go up and the biggest sing-a-long of the night takes place, admittedly, this was also the song that introduced me to the band during the Reading Festival livestream some years ago.
It came to a point in the night where the audience got to choose which Pale Waves song would be next, would it be 'Unwanted' or 'Red'? Based on cheers, 'Red' was a clear winner, following the self-proclaimed moody song 'Thinking About You'. Taking a slightly poppier turn, 'Kiss Me Again' followed by 'Television Romance' (another huge sing-a-long) gave off a Taylor Swift meets the 1975 vibe.
It's important noting that Pale Waves have always been a great representation for the LGTQIA+ community within the industry, creating a space for resonating fans as well as themselves, during 'She's My Religion', one of the many tracks describing Baron-Gracie's own experiences regarding her sexuality, the singer gestured to a fan to throw up their pride flag on stage for her to drape around her. This seems to now be a tradition displayed at many Pale Waves shows and we love to see representation.
Concluding the night with one of the most popular tracks from 'Smitten', 'Glasgow', and a fan favourite 'Jealousy', Pale Waves put on a very surprisingly captivating act. With their dreamy music, you could fear that the performance may be lacklustre and wouldn't provide the adrenaline one often seeks from a live show, but this wasn't the case at all. Overall, an enchanting night out and I still can't get 'Perfume' out of my head.
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