Pale Waves embrace the ‘Smitten’ era as their greatest yet at Outernet, London

‘Smitten’ breathes something bigger into everything Pale Waves are about. 

Words: Jamie Muir.
Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.

Grand chandelier lights. Smooth red curtains. Foliage adorning the stage. Tonight at Outernet, Pale Waves’ celebratory headline tour is dressed to a tee. Each release sees their statement of intent hit hard, and with ‘Smitten’, they have a crowning turn of an album that finds their voice louder and stronger than ever. The punchy live hooks of ‘Unwanted’ laid a post-COVID marker for a band who approach shows like a true spectacle; it felt like what would come next could be defining. ‘Smitten’ seizes that sentiment, a coming together of every big-time chorus and soaring moment that goes firmly for the heart and gets it every single time.

swim school, meanwhile, are building an intoxicating world of their own. Gig by gig, city by city and song by song, their dreamy-pop foundations are blossoming into something much bigger. The swooning ‘don’t leave me behind’ and ‘kill you’ cast the spell, but the knockout punch comes with the roaring ‘let me inside your head’ and ‘give me a reason why’. Commanding the stage, their opening set is a signal that swim school have found their home. They’re not inviting you in; they’re dragging you firmly into the moshpit.

“It’s the last night of tour, so let’s go fucking mad,” Heather grins from the stage. As the lights drop and Pale Waves step into gear, there’s a feverish buzz of excitement. Like a combination of everything that’s come before, ‘Smitten’ breathes something bigger into everything Pale Waves are about. Kicking into frame with ‘Perfume’, this is a set where the band have everyone gathered firmly in the palm of their hands. And they run with it. 

Spanning across a catalogue stacked with bangers, ‘There’s A Honey’ and ‘Drive’ see Heather stride across the stage like the main character from the coming-of-age movie that’ll change your life. ‘You’re So Vain’ is visceral and screamed back in unison, ‘Unwanted’ sees arms in the air as crunching riffs reign supreme and an emphatic ‘Eighteen’ rumbles the venue into pure synth-rock submission. 

‘Easy’ is dedicated to an engaged couple on the front row, but all across ‘Smitten’, the band’s ability to transform emotion into irresistible anthems takes things to new levels. ‘Last Train Home’ has phone lights held aloft, and ‘Gravity’ refuses to stop rising as a track that’ll go down as one of Pale Waves’ very best. ‘Kiss Me Again’ is overflowing with swagger like an immediate shot to the heart, ‘Thinking Of You’ sees the room in awe, and a rapturous ‘Glasgow’ will leave a stamp on Outernet for good. ‘She’s My Religion’ sees fans turn to each other, a marker that Pale Waves have become a symbol for so much more.

It all makes for a night that sees Pale Waves embrace the ‘Smitten’ era as their greatest yet. Flowing with a confidence that makes their live show the sort that commands devotion, it’s the soundtrack of a band becoming who they were destined to be.