PALE WAVES // MANCHESTER ACADEMY, MANCHESTER

Tonight’s show saw Manchester’s own Pale Waves play a sold out Manchester Academy with support from Sports Team.

PALE WAVES PERFORMING AT MANCHESTER ACADEMY - 27.09.2019 PICTURE BY: | KIRSTY LEANNE PHOTOGRAPHY — **PALE WAVES PERFORMING AT MANCHESTER ACADEMY - 27.09.2019**
PICTURE BY: | KIRSTY LEANNE PHOTOGRAPHY

★★★★★ (5/5)

First up was Sports Team, a six piece band filled the stage in quantity and in energy. Their highly instrumental set kept the crowd engaged as the bands frontman danced about on stage encouraging the audience members to do the same. His energy and charisma led the set. As the frontman announces they’re about to do a the 1975 cover the audience erupts in cheers unsurprisingly. The cover is sang loudly by the audience members. The bands catchy riffs have you bopping along subconsciously. As the bands set comes to a close the frontman climbs down onto the barrier and interacts with the crowd as the band continues to play behind him. The band exits the stage to a sea of applause.

Next is tonight’s headliners, Pale Waves! Having not seen this band play before I was excited to see them perform. The four piece arrive on stage to the deafening crowd who instantly begin singing along with frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie. The bands set sees people on each others shoulders singing along at the top of their voices. Heather announces “I will always preach till the day I die be who you wanna be” which earns a loud agreement from the crowd. The crowd sings along loudly to each and every song to the delight of the band. “You’ll always be my favourite obsession” echoes across the academy room as fans sing loudly. Heather announces “this is the last show on the mind makes noises tour” which earns the band even more applause leaving the frontwoman smiling in appreciation. Drive has fans singing loudly in unison once more throughout the packed out room. As she announces “It’s a Friday night Manchester are you fucking ready?” the crowd erupts in agreement once more. She continues “Our first show we played was in Manchester, it was to about 30 people and half of that was family so this is a nice change” which earns even more noise if that was even thinkable given how loud the crowd were already. A LGBTQ flag is then thrown on stage and worn by the frontwoman which evokes cheers once more. The crowd bounces along to the frontwomans delight. As one more time starts the already energetic room appears to get even more rowdy, the room bounces along to the popular track singing along loudly with the band. It was quite an atmosphere! As the set nears its close Heather appears on stage alone with an acoustic guitar, she is lit by four single spotlights creating a very intimate aesthetic in an otherwise large room. She performs Karl (I Wonder What It’s Like To Die) and the room erupts in applause as she plays her last chord. It was a beautiful calm moment within the otherwise busy set. As the band begins their encore Noises begins and the room erupts once again, the entire room sings “What do you see when you look at me” as Heather chimes in with “Louder for me Manchester, arms in the air are you fucking ready”, it’s clearly a fan favourite within the set! As the set draws to a close the frontwoman begins to thank fans for coming and admits the band has played every small venue in the city, the last song begins with the intro “We’re Pale Waves from Manchester, goodnight”. The set ends with There’s a Honey which sees frontwoman Heather climb down onto the barriers to interact with the crowd one last time.

Pale Waves put on an incredible show with some of the most aesthetic stage set up I’ve ever seen! Their setlists are catchy from start to finish. Having never seen them before myself I was blown away by the performance. They’re a definite band to watch if you get the chance.