Pale Waves

Max Watts

23 March 2023

Adelaide two-piece Teenage Joans bring their loud garage punk-pop to the stage with a raw angsty energy. They fire up the crowd with a cover of 5 Seconds of Summer’s She Looks So Perfect and a few brand-new tracks from their forthcoming debut album they will be releasing at the end of this year, including the first single called Superglue.

It’s only the second time Manchester four-piece band Pale Waves has visited Australia and with three albums already under their belt, they’ve built quite a cult following. Their current tour marks a celebration of their latest album Unwanted with a classic pop-punk sound.

Frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie is strikingly dressed in all black tonight from her high heel patent leather boots and fishnet stockings to a leather skirt and top. “A Pale Waves stan always has the best style too, it’s a fact,” she comments upon admiring the audience’s appearance.

Baron-Gracie wears her heart on her sleeve as she shares some of the bands most popular tracks written predominantly about her relationships with women and exploring emotions of heartbreak, jealousy, hopelessness and vanity.

“One thing about me is that I’m very gay. And this song is about a girl. If you’re gay and if you’re not gay sing it so loud with me!” Baron-Gracie wraps a pride flag around shoulders as she sings Clean serving as an anthem for the LGBTQI community.

The emotion pours out of Baron-Gracie in her raw vocals backed by the band’s infectious guitar riffs and nostalgic ‘80s/’90s influence.

Guitarist Hugo Silvani is dying to do a shoey tonight so they ask the crowd to offer up some shoes or boots (preferably leather and not fabric) so he can tick off an Aussie-gig tradition off their bucket list. He downs a boot full of beer before continuing with Red.

The title track of their latest album (Unwanted) is the precursor to the two-song encore including She’s My Religion and Jealousy. A brief spoken word passage (featured in the video clip for She’s My Religion) read by Baron-Gracie plays over the speakers. “Life is full of tiny coincidences, pulling me to the exciting moment we met. My madness, only she could recognise and drowning in her own chaos. I saved her and she saved me,” she says.

We come together to unleash our tension and insecurities for the final powerhouse track Jealousy.

Words by Michael Prebeg