Pale Waves released their fourth studio album Smitten in September, and arrived in Glasgow – the ninth stop on their UK promotion tour – presumably happy to be out of Dundee.
Still buzzing from Chappell Roan’s visit to the city last month, the crowd chorused a rendition of ‘Pink Pony Club’ as they waited. Like Roan, the Manchester band are members and advocates of the LGBTQ+ community – their lead singer, Heather Baron-Gracie, is a lesbian, and their fantastic drummer, Ciara Doran, identifies as non-binary. The audience was diverse and in the mood for a party.
Before the band took to the stage, they were supported by one of Scotland’s most exciting new contributions to the indie scene: Swim School. A three-piece band based in Edinburgh, the trio has opened for the majority of this tour. They played an energetic, ambient style of indie-rock, and were encouraged by a pocket of dedicated fans who gave Alice Johnson, their hypnotic lead singer and guitarist, the confidence to really sing. She and Lewis Bunting (lead guitar) combined brilliantly for interconnecting riffs over solid drums. Their energy was captivating and, had their set lasted much longer, they may have outshone the headliners.
After a brief intermission, Pale Waves strode out and took their place among the chandeliers and marble busts that were scattered across the stage. Baron-Gracie wore her usual black-and-white uniform, and smirked at the crowd as she picked up her distinctive Vox Phantom guitar. A bright, orchestral track filled the room, and the band joined in one by one to play ‘Perfume’, the biggest song from Smitten.
This album marked a stylistic change for them, moving away from their goth-pop roots towards a more glittery indie sound. Speaking to the Irish Times in 2018, Baron-Gracie named The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan as one of her biggest musical heroes, and this influence was obvious as she yodelled gracefully over jangly chords played by Hugo Silvani – the band’s minimalist lead guitarist.
The band then launched into the playful ‘Not A Love Song’ that teased the audience with sexual fantasies before chorusing “we don’t end up together”. This was followed by ‘There’s A Honey’ from the band’s debut album My Mind Makes Noises. Charlie Wood, the band’s bassist, played chords instead of individual notes to create a full sound that rippled through the crowd.
Baron-Gracie professed a “love for the Scots”, and claimed Scottish heritage from her Glaswegian father. Scottish crowds love to be loved, and they responded energetically with one concert-goer tossing their bra on stage. She picked it up and traded it with her roadie for an acoustic guitar – which she used to play ‘Change’, an anthemic break-up song.
They continued to play a varied setlist of old and new songs to constant whoops of approval from the audience. The performance centred around Doran’s steadily ferocious drumming, while Baron-Gracie strutted from side to side, thrashing her guitar or sitting on the edge of the stage. Around halfway through the set, they invited the crowd to choose what song to play next – either ‘Unwanted’ or ‘Red’ – and the screams were loudest for the latter.
An hour after coming on ‘She’s My Religion’ was played, an anthem that Baron-Gracie described as the first song on which she celebrated her sexuality. Accordingly, she grabbed a pride flag from the crowd and draped it over her shoulders as she and the crowd screamed together: “She’s no angel but she is my religion”.
After this, the band exited the stage calmly and without thanks. As is customary, the chant of ‘one more tune’ filled SWG3, and they quickly returned to the stage, with Baron-Gracie now wearing a retro Scotland football jersey and the pride flag on her shoulders swapped for a saltire. They humoured the audience with a soulful rendition of their new hit ‘Glasgow’, before ending the set with the vicious ‘Jealousy’.
A night of celebration for the experienced band, they played with an energy that could be heard musically and felt through the reaction of the crowd.
4th-year Scots Law
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