swim school are a Scottish indie rock trio who have settled on Alice Johnson, Lewis Bunting, and Billy McMahon as their permanent line up since June 2020. They have released three extended plays, numerous singles and have toured with the likes of Inhaler and the Amazons. They shared around thirty minutes of numbers from throughout their career opening with the title track `Seeing it Now` from their EP released in April this year. Tracks like `Give me a reason why` and `delirious` which musically was fairly aggressive
but had a gentle vulnerability in the vocals stood out for me before the band closed out on `see red`. This short set was well received and the band are certainly worth looking out for on their next tour.
It`s been nearer to three years since Pale Waves last played in Birmingham and this time they chose to play the sister venue of the one they graced when last here. There are few seats left as the band hit the stage and begin with a couple of cuts from their
latest album `Smitten` released last month with the meditative `Perfume` and `Not A Love Song`. The debut single `There`s a Honey` rings out with another older track `Change` before we return to a further number from the latest release with the delicate `Gravity`.
This kind of format of older numbers sprinkled with new cuts continues for the rest of the show. In the latter part of the evening singer Heather asking this packed audience to choose a track that the band would play with the choice of `Red` or `Unwanted` with
`Red` slightly edging it. The set concluded with `She`s My Religion` after which the band left the stage but returned fairly quickly to share for me the highlight of the evening with `Glasgow` with its Cure like guitar riffs and vocals that have a Dolores
O`Riorden inflection. The final number was the rock like `Jealousy` which sent this swarming audience into raptures.
I felt tonight`s performance was a little less animated and high-spirited than the previous Birmingham presentation but last time the group took a trip to the Cadbury factory during the day so maybe imbibing all that chocolate gave the event a more energetic
vibe.
Nevertheless the 1500 faithful fans that attended tonight`s gig certainly went home with a smile on their faces and a spring on their step.
