The Pale White @ Sneaky Petes, Edinburgh - 08.04.26

Buckfast & Bangers: The Pale White Bring the Party to Edinburgh

Words - Iain McClay

Sneaky Petes was absolutely packed for the Pale White’s return to the Scottish capital which, if you know it, meant it was loud, warm and very noisy. There wasn’t a lot of room to move which was difficult given the music being played by all three bands was infectious.

There were two support bands, first up were local band Oh Romance who had brought along a few of their own fans. Oh Romance were not a band I’d seen before, but they have plenty of potential. They play a brand of indie rock with a noticeably melodic side. The band themselves are tight which you would expect after three years together, and the lead singer has a voice perfectly suited to the songs. Giving out roses at the end of their set made sure they lived up to their name!

Next act, Scott Hepple and the Sun Band who have clearly decided to draw their inspiration from 1970’s rock music and delivered a blistering set of blues infused rock, whether the cans of tenants they’d sneaked into the venue with them helped or hindered that we will never know but their set was excellent, I saw many a head starting to bang and they received an enthusiastic crowd reception. I’m sure they went home to their home city of Newcastle absolutely loving life after this performance.

It was then time for the main act, The Pale White, they burst onto the Newcastle music scene a few years ago now and have been honing their skills since, making it clear from the off that they wanted to have a party.

They shared out a bottle of Buckfast I think Oh Romance had given them and then went for it. They have just released a new album, Inanimate Objects of the 21^st Century, and played a number of songs from that album but also treated us to a number of other songs from their back catalogue.

The sheer power of their brand of indie rock shook the venue and the audience dived headfirst into a night of throwing some shapes and living life to the full. They played, by my count, sixteen songs and hammered the audience into delirium, not that the audience needed to be persuaded, I saw a number of Pale White t-shirts before the gig started and a lot of people who were clearly really enjoying themselves.

It was such a consistently good set that it was impossible to pick a favourite so I’m not going to try. What I did do was leave the venue with a smile on a face and a resolution to listen to more of the Pale White while investigating the first two bands more, all in all an excellent night of fantastic music to send me off into the, by now, cold Edinburgh night.

Listen to The Pale White album "Inanimate Objects of the 21^st Century" here on Spotify