Just days after releasing their latest single, ‘Kiss’, Pale Waves headline the stage in Heaven, London for their “biggest show yet” claims Heather. Selling out yet another venue, fans anxiously wait for any sign of life. Emerging from the darkness is nothing but a sustained synth followed by flashes of lightning appearing on the screen. Charlie and Hugo walk on stage to join Ciára. The riff for ‘Television Romance’ kicks in and in flies Heather in a black bra under a white suit with a black, lace mask on under a mass of curly darkness, accompanied by a classic dark lip.
Photo by: Niall Lea
Breaking in to her well known dance moves, clawed hands and robotic movements, she immediately engages with the crowd as they copy in response. Kicking around the stage in her true loves, creepers and black socks, Heather carries this energy in to the head-banging, ‘Heavenly’ and ‘Kiss’. Grabbing her Vox Phantom, the lights behind change to a dark red in with the shape of the their heart logo flashing behind them as Heather shouts "Let's have a fucking good time!". Swaying and clutching on to the microphone, Heather shakes her head as Hugo and Charlie jump around her. With a memorable chorus “We can dance forever and pretend, I wanna, I wanna stay till to the end.” Heavenly makes the perfect sing along track to get everyone involved and moving.
Bursting in to the infectious riff to ‘kiss’, the crowd jumps even more lurching in to a passionate wave of excitement to hear the new single sung with perfection live. Halfway through Heather screams “Let’s go fucking mental!” right before the guitar solo, demonstrating an increase in confidence and joy in partying with their fans, new and old.
Photo by: Niall Lea
The atmosphere is then slowed down as Heather says “Who wants to get a bit emo now? I know a do.” Emotions start to flare with the beautiful, heartbreaking power ballad ‘My Obsession’, a song about the relationship between two people who are in love and have to unfortunately suffer the cruel events life has in store. "You'll always be my favourite obsession, I'm so sorry for confessing." is sung in unison across the room. Looking up at Heather singing the words, the pain is still prominent behind her eyes showing real passion in her performance and the power of writing something so personal and touching.
During ‘Noises’, a song about body image and self esteem, roses thrown in to the crowd from earlier on are waving in time to the music, still maintaining the emotional atmosphere. Coming right up to the end of the stage Heather briefly looks in to the eyes of her fans before jumping back and kicking all around the stage during the guitar solo. At the end of the song, Heather dramatically embraces her fans with arms open wide and shaking her head before she dramatically "dies" flopping on to the floor as if she's just finished playing a part in Romeo and Juliet. Only in this adaption, she springs up again with a big grin on her face.
Towards the end of the set, Heather proudly announces, “the debut album is nearly done” triggering screams and whistles echoing around the club. If this set list is anything to go by, teasing new material like '18', 'She' and 'Noises', their debut is sure to capture more hearts across various tours and appearances alongside The Cure at British Summer Time and Reading and Leeds festival.
Photo by: Niall Lea
To round of the set, after a game of Chinese whispers across the venue that Matt Healy, front man of The 1975 is stood on the balcony, he sure enough looks down to say a quick hello and congratulations to Pale Waves for putting on such an impressive show. In the past few months from performing almost unsurely and stiffly to diving all over the stage in a new outfit, light shows and strobe lights making a blinding entrance, Pale Waves are certainly on the road to having the potential to perform in larger venues. The Goth-pop Mancunian four piece instantly capture hearts with a balance of tears and joy. The growth of their fanbase and success is staggering and this performance is just the beginning. With the release of their debut album coming soon, they're only going to get bigger and better.
Photo by: Niall Lea
