By Alisha Lawton
Pastel is a five-piece shoegaze-influenced rock band from Manchester. Formed by cousins Jack and James Yates, after being inspired by a Stone Roses concert, the lineup is completed by Joe Anderson (guitar), Liam O’Shea (bass), and Rhys Wheeler (drums). Their sound draws inspiration from bands like Ride, The Verve, and The Stone Roses.
“Latter day shoegaze with a bit of swagger to it” – BBC 6 music DJ Steve Lamacq.
Their highly anticipated debut album, Souls In Motion, released on the 17th of January 2025, via Spirit of Spike Island, and to promote the album, Pastel embarked on their most extensive UK headline tour to date, with performances in Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, and London.
First up to start up the night at Pastel’s home show, in Manchester, while people were still piling into the Club Academy, were a band called ‘Alright’.
Despite their name—Alright they were nothing of the sort. They were a fantastic start to the night, bursting full of energy, and they warmed the audience up big-time, ready for the bands ahead.
Every song they played, the Manchester audience loved. The band showed appreciation to Pastel for having them on the line up, and shouted to the audience ‘big love’ as they left the stage.
Next on the bill were female-fronted, Dirty Blonde. The band entered the stage and started to play, but the lead singer appeared to be missing. However, her voice echoed throughout the speakers, so the audience kept looking around to find out where the vocals were coming from! The plot twist was that she was within the audience, walking through them; making a grand entrance to the stage, something very cool and exciting.
After playing 3 massive songs that the crowd danced to, the next song was Polly, the very track that got them playlisted on MTV – a huge achievement for an underground band.
As their set came to an end, they announced their final song would be their upcoming single, Rush, which is yet to be released.
Pastel then entered the stage to a mighty cheer from the Club Academy venue, and the lead singer bounded around the stage proving he owned the space.
It was clear to see that the band were a hit with the indie-rock loving Manchester audience, with the band taking a lot of inspiration from the 90s Brit-pop era of Oasis and The Verve.
A few songs into their set, the lead singer invited the band’s guitar tech to the stage to play for them, as their usual guitarist and lead singer took on the vocals for the song, after which the lead singer jokingly tells the guitar tech to ‘f*ck off’ stating that he ‘had his time’ – then letting us know he’s only joking and the guitar tech is actually a ‘really good guy’.
Around 6 songs into the night, the lead singer told us that they were about half way through, but that the audience shouldn’t worry, and worried they weren’t. Front to back, the venue was packed full of people of all ages, dancing and singing along to the music. The lead singer joined the audience at one point, darting about, almost throwing himself around, showing pure brit-pop attitude.
After every song, the audience cheered louder, encouraging the band to transition to the next, and as the night came to a close, the crowd chanted the band’s name in admiration—the sign of a great night.
Photography & Text Copyright 2025 © Alisha Lawton/ADRENALINE Magazine. All rights reserved.
Chloe Morris 
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