Credit: Lewis Cater
Live
Pale Waves
Dryden Street Social, Leicester
February 27 2018
Words: Sian Vadher
Despite the sub-zero temperature outside, high poppers Pale Waves brought plenty of heat to their first headline gig at Leicester’s Dryden Street Social . Originally set to play a a smaller venue, the strength of this Manchester band's reputation saw such high demand for tickets, the indie-pop rockers had to be upgraded to a bigger space.
BLOXX kicked off the night with their electric set, full of energy and excitement. The indie quartet from London played with some real indie style, including their new single ‘Novocain’. As well as this, they played a few older songs such as ‘Your Boyfriend’ and ‘You’ - all of which received a good reception. Brighton trio Our Girl provided a great performance in their support role. They transitioned beautifully between mellow chord progressions to heavy garage-rock riffs, exuding an intense captivating beauty in the way the two guitars shared some solo moments with no drums or vocals accompanying them but none of this ambience was lost even with the rhythmic drum beats and reverb coated vocals. Definitely a band to check out.
Just before everyone’s toes had started to completely freeze over, it was time for the band we had all been waiting for. Pale Waves started their set with absolute fan favourite, ‘Television Romance’. We might have been slightly too frozen to start up a mosh pit anytime soon, but it was clear that everyone was loving the warm vibes that this synth-pop banger with its tight pop lyrical content offered, as Heather Baron-Gracie passionately jumped all over the stage.
Credit: Charlie Henson
They gave us a taste of a couple of new songs, one of which was called ‘She’, a slow ballad all about heartbreak, and it’s safe to say that more than a few in the room were on the brink of tears. The way the song was delivered by Baron-Gracie was so poignant, her voice carrying the melancholy vocals throughout the venue, leaving chills down the spine.
Unsurprisingly, new single ‘Heavenly’ featured on the setlist and was thoroughly enjoyed by the entire crowd who were dancing - along with the band themselves! The psychedelic, 80s synth beat with Charlie Woods' groovy bassline, exemplifies the Pale Waves trademark sound.
Credit: CraigoWM
The dark 'My Obsession' (“When death comes you should be heaven’s obsession”) and glistening goth pop gem 'New Year's Eve' - both featuring on the recently released debut EP, ‘All The Things I Never Said’ - follow, before they bring the short but sweet set to a close, singing us out with their debut single ‘There’s A Honey’. There’s an interesting sort of irony between the upbeat and joyous melodies and catchy pop guitar hook sand drum beats, and the somewhat frustrated lyrics as Baron-Gracie sings of a one-sided relationship and the fear of losing her lover, “honey please don’t say you’re gonna leave me”.
Despite only having a limited number of songs, Pale Waves almost definitely did the expression ‘quality over quantity’ justice with their captivating and enigmatic set.
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