Live Review: Pale Waves & Inheaven - The Baltmore Cabaret, Vancouver 30/03/2018

This Friday Pale Waves made their third stop in Vancouver in the past year. The indie-pop quad played The Biltmore Cabaret, with support from fellow Brits INHEAVEN.

Going into the night I wasn’t sure how good a turnout it would be, given that a lot of Pale Wave’s fanbase is almost adjacent to The 1975’s and the venue doesn’t allow minors. Fortunately this was definitely not the case, with the 350 capacity venue being nicely filled out with fans of both bands.

INHEAVEN started off the night with their dreamy, guitar filled sound that does nothing but remind me of British rock. It’s not a sound you hear often in North America, and it was thoroughly refreshing. Despite being only about 20 minutes long, their set was full of hits such as Baby’s Alright, Stupid Things, and finished off with Regeneration which was a smash with the crowd, and the perfect way to end their first ever Vancouver set. They definitely have fans in Vancouver now, if they didn’t already.



Pale Waves took to the stage to cheers from the very enthusiastic crowd, and opened up with Television Romance, immediately getting the dance party going. Heather Baron-Gracie on vocals is one of the most interesting people I’ve seen on stage in a long time. Despite being fairly quiet she was able to keep energies up with her zombie-esque dance moves. Ciara Doran (drums), Charlie Wood (bass), and Hugo Silvani (lead guitar/keys) while all kept with the ‘quite shy’ thing that the band seems to have going (apparently that’s a fairly standard British trait), were just as energetic and fun to watch as Heather.

With the Manchester band only having six songs officially released, they filled out the set with three new or unreleased songs; Kiss, She, and Eighteen. Fitting in perfectly with the rest of their discography, these songs were wonderfully relatable and reminiscent of being a teenager or young adult in the world. Throughout the entire set the band seemed to be enjoying themselves just as much as the rest of us, turning to each other and seemingly sharing little jokes and smiles.

Finishing up with top hit There’s a Honey, Pale Waves left everyone in the venue wishing they had more music out so that the night could go on forever. These four are quickly becoming one of my favourite bands, and I cannot wait for their return back to Vancouver!



Photography and Words by Kelli Anne Lane