Waxahatchee at The Forum

Waxahatchee

Anna St. Louis 

The Forum, 25 July 2024

I'm happy to say that seeing Waxahatchee almost ten years after the first time was an absolutely delightful affair, everything about this show was lovely, from the cool, appreciative and kind audience to the joyful performance, Katie Crutchfield's incredible voice and her killer band.

Despite the show being sold out, it was super unusual and extremely refreshing to roll up to the gig near the doors opening time, walk in and find a good spot in front of the stage. It felt like a world away from the disappointing Stevie Nicks show and definitely made me realise that smaller but equally loving shows like this is really where my heart is.

The support act was a slender and pretty singer-songwriter from Kansas City called Anna St. Louis. She looked like she could have been singing folk music back in the 1970s and her set was definitely a mellow but lovely one, and despite during the quieter moments the fact that the audience talking at the bar were clearly audible, she still went down well with the crowd. Accompanied by just the pedal steel player from Waxahatchee, Cole Berggren and for a couple of songs, Colin Croom on guitar and backing vocals, it was clear she was firmly a part of the Waxahatchee camp (she is signed to Crutchfield's partner Kevin Morby's record label). 

Apparently at other shows she has been covering Fleetwood Mac's Say You Love Me, which I would have obviously gone crazy to hear, but tonight she offered up another cover, which I didn't recognise. Still it was a quiet and beautiful set and St. Louis is certainly an artist I'm looking forward to hearing more of.

When Waxahatchee took to the stage (to the song Here I Am by Dolly!) they did that thing where the band all take their places and start playing the song (3 Sisters in this case, the opening track of new album Tigers Bood), before Katie Crutchfield herself walked on stage to cheers. She looked fantastic, with her hair longer than I've ever seen it and a red crop top, high-waisted jeans, silver boots and a trucker cap: a look very similar to the one she is sporting on the front cover of the new album in fact. The trucker cap didn't last long, as halfway through the song, Crutchfield, walked to the edge of the stage and launched it into the audience. Someone very lucky went home with a nice trucker cap at the end of the night!

This was a very different show to the one I saw years ago, which was a fantastic celebration of 90s-style alternative guitar music I thought at the time. Since then Crutchfield really has embraced her country side and her last two albums as well as her collaboration with Jess Williamson, Plains, have been full-on Americana songwriting and hugely successful at it too.

Given this change in direction, not surprisingly Crutchfield ignored her more noisy first four albums and concentrated on her last three releases. It was particularly nice too because the 2020 album, Saint Cloud, came out just before Covid shut everything down so we didn't get a chance to hear those songs live, while the Plains tour never reached these shores, so I was more than happy to finally get to hear so many of these songs live (including three tracks from the Plains album and all 12 songs from the new record!).

Crutchfield switched from walking freely around the stage with her microphone, to strapping on her guitar, throughout the show and it was lovely the way she made sure to come to the edge of every part of the stage so everyone could see her. She also sat down at the edge of the stage for one song, Crimes Of The Heart, making it feel much more intimate affair.

Her band was absolute fire, aside from the aforementioned Croom and Berggran, it was fun to watch the nimble-footed and fingered guitarist Clay Frankel (who apparently is also in the bands Twin Peaks and Grapetooth) and he also did a great job singing the parts MJ Lenderman sings on the bittersweet Right Back To It (easily one of the highlightsof the record and of the night). Then Eliana Athayde provided a cool, steady rhythm and lots of smiles on bass, while Spencer Tweedy (yes son of Jeff Tweedy!) who I had previously seen play drums in his band with his dad, Tweedy, was superb too and it was pretty great to see him out doing his own thing. 

Ending on the plaintive Tigers Blood, Crutchfield's voice ringing strong and clear through the Forum, it ended with the whole band jamming away Neil Young style with a lovely rousing finish. Oh course, the audience cheered and even though they had already played 21 songs (in contrast to the measly 14 songs we got from Stevie Nicks earlier this month), the band triumphantly returned and treated us with a brand new song called Much Ado About Nothing, that once again had Crutchfield roaming the stage, swinging her long wavy locks and singing a yearning soaring chorus. It's incredible how easily she has gone from indie queen to a country songwriter of the caliber of Lucinda

Williams. 

Then 365 showcased Crutchfield's incredible voice, with minimal backing from the band (just Frankel on acoustic and Tweedy playing a little percussion from what I remember), and the Saint Cloud track Fire, ended things on a hopeful and high note, with maybe the poppiest and most joyful song of the night, as Crutchfield prowled the front of the stage, reaching out to the crowd, her voice reaching the rafters, singing "I could iron out the edges of the darkest sky". She then thanked us and left us as she started, with the band continuing to play as walked off the stage. 

What an absolutely sunny, positive and spirited show this was, it certainly put my faith back in music and made me remember just why I love going to see live music so much, which was particularly needed after the disappointment of the Stevie Nicks show. So thank you Waxahatchee, I can't wait to see you live again!