Pale Waves’ first night of tour in Norwich

The evening started in the packed-out Waterfront in Norwich, the first night of Pale Waves’ tour and first sold-out show of many on this run.

The night started with Swim school, a 3-piece indie-rock band from Edinburgh, who recently headlined the smaller room at the Waterfront back in April. They were even better than I remember, Alice’s vocals were on point this evening and the band as a whole had so much more energy than last time, they were made to play bigger stages and to bigger crowds, and you could tell just how excited they were to be back on tour. Their set included many upbeat hits including ‘Seeing it Now’, ‘Give Me A Reason Why’, ‘Delirious’ and ‘Bored’ that got the crowd moving and you could tell that the crowd really enjoyed their set. 

Next up was Pale Waves who I have been waiting to see since 2019, and they certainly didn’t disappoint! The stage had the most amazing set up with 2 chandeliers with candle lightbulbs and some statues which paired with the bright white lights and flickering purple tones fully encapsulated their latest album ‘Smitten’ and set the tone for the evening. You could tell how much thought the band had put into their show to ensure it was a fully immersive experience for their fans.

Being truly honest, as a big fan of their older music, I wasn’t too sure about their newest album but after hearing it live, I have definitely changed my mind!

Their set started off with ‘Perfume’ and ‘Not A Love Song’ from ‘Smitten’ before throwing us back to their debut album ‘My Mind Makes Noises’ with ‘There’s A Honey’ and ‘Change’ from their second album ‘Who Am I?’. Then it was time for ‘Gravity’ and ‘Drive’ which they said they hadn’t played live for a while. The crowd sang the loudest for ‘You’re So Vain’, ‘Television Romance’ and ‘Eighteen’. We were then brought back to the Smitten Era with ‘Last train Home’ which was more slowed down and acoustic, before the band got the crowd to pick between ‘Red’ and ‘Unwanted’. Unfortunately, they chose ‘Red’, and I was gutted because ‘Unwanted’ was one of the first songs that got me into their music, and I would have loved to have heard it live. 

 They then played ‘Miss America’, ‘Easy’ and ‘Thinking About You’ before leading into ‘Kiss Me Again’ which is my favourite song off the new album, and I was very happy that they played it. 

Heather Baron-Gracie, Lead singer, interacted with the fans throughout the show and kept their energy up throughout the whole evening before dedicating ‘She’s My Religion’ to all the lesbians in the room. 

They then left the stage, before coming back on for an encore of ‘Glasgow’ which they said was very stripped back due to some ‘first night of tour technical difficulties’ but still sounded phenomenal. They said they’d be back very soon to play the single in full. then they played hit song ‘Jealousy’ to end the evening on a high note.  

The setlist included the perfect blend of the best songs from all their albums and the show was a very fun night out. I highly recommend catching them on this tour if you can!