Courtney Marie Andrews at St Pancras Old Church

Courtney Marie Andrews

St Pancras Old Church, 28 October 2025

It was an absolute joy to see Courtney Marie Andrews again after four long years and playing such an intimate and beautiful venue as St Pancras Old Church. It was also a special night because we got, not one, but two sets, the first focusing on only new material and the second giving us lots of old favourites, and what a treat it was!

It's been a while since I've seen a concert at St Pancras Old Church. I did remember it was rather small (unsurprisingly this show sold out in minutes), but I didn't expect there to be a big queue when I arrived. That said, Courtney Marie Andrews is so beloved by her fans I really shouldn't have been too shocked. I still managed to get a second row seat (or pew, this is still a working church after all) and the cosy, warm atmosphere was already evident even before she took to the stage.

For other shows on this short UK tour Andrews has had support acts but when she promptly appeared at 8pm and took her place in front of the altar (there isn't really a stage in a small church like this), she told us that because this show was a bit more special (the whole tour, she said, was playing more out of the way places in small venues, which has led to discovering some interesting and "strange" places), she was going to do something a little different by playing two sets: the first she wanted to try out new material, if we didn't mind (of course not, how exciting!), and the second she would play older material that we'd all know (and she certainly delivered on playing lots of songs we love!).

Andrews herself looked incredibly sweet, wearing a pinafore dress and ankle socks, with her hair in a big plait draped over her shoulder. Weird to think it's now eight years since I first saw her live but it's always been a fantastic experience to catch her in concert, and even though she can definitely play much bigger places these days, I felt extremely lucky to catch her once again in such an intimate setting.

As I didn't know most of the material in the first set, I can't recall too well all the new songs that were played, but most came from her upcoming new album Valentine, which is out in January and most were accompanied by Jerry Bernhardt on electric guitar and sometimes on piano (who I'm reliably informed is also Andrews' romantic partner too, which accounts for their obvious chemistry on stage). Of the few I can remember there was one called Best Friend, a very sweet song told from the perspective of Andrews as a child. While there was another called Outsider, which featured the heartbreaking lyrics "Outsider, I wanna be an outsider, it's too painful looking in."

Another was a gorgeous ballad, played by Andrews on piano, that seemed to be called Pendulum Swing, and Bernhardt took over on the keys for a heartfelt song she told us was written on New Year's Day, called You Left Me Standing In The Rain (I think the evocative title probably gives a good feel of that one!) It doesn't appear to be on the new record but hopefully it will be recorded for the next one, because it's a beauty.

She did explain that some of the songs were not on the new record and it was rather tantalizing to hear these hidden gems, leftovers from other records, but crazy too because they all sounded so good. At the same time it was lovely to get a preview of Valentine. One of my favourites was a really gentle, country-esque ballad called Magic Touch, which was a plaintive tune that sounded like a lost friend "her heart is as big as a Western sky." An absolute tearjerker.

She ended this first set on the single Cons & Clowns, which already sounds like a classic, with its uplifting and moving chorus, "It's a scary world full of cons and clowns, lot of bad people who will tear you down, not me, no way."  This is the first time I've heard it live and it absolutely gave me chills. It's clear this will become a live favourite.

Then Andrews and Bernhardt took a brief break (I'm getting too used to having a break between sets now, with this and the Gillian Welch & David Rawlings show last week!) but she quickly returned and immediately launched into a much-loved old favourite, Irene.  

There was lots from Honest Life, Old Flowers and May Your Kindness Remain but interestingly nothing from her last record, Loose Future (she may be fed up playing songs from it I suppose) but it was lovely to hear old friends like Rookie Dreaming, This House (which she dedicated to her late dog, who is mentioned in the song, which immediately endeared me even more), It Must Be Someone Else's Fault, Break The Spell and Table For One, among others.

The highlight of the night for me though, came when she played Near You. I always remember hearing this song for the first time when she played it at Bush Hall back in 2017 and I was so wowed by it, I immediately went to the merch table and purchased the single she had for sale. Tonight she explained that she wrote it aged just 18 on her acoustic guitar, in her car, in a parking lot of a venue that wouldn't allow her in due to her age. It once again absolutely floored me, it was so powerful and moody and beautiful. I think it may well be her best song, and that is really saying something. Once again, it was incredible to hear her gorgeous vocals and how they soar and swap and almost break at times with the emotion, and other times, rise up into the rafters of the church as she crooned and sometimes belted the words "I'm not asking for the moon," building up to an intense and moving guitar solo courtesy of Bernhardt, before slowing back down to almost a whisper at the end. It never fails to give me chills, just stunning.

Andrews finally explained that she wasn't going to go through the pretense of going off stage in order to do an encore and was just going to play one final song, which turned out to be the hopeful and inspiring, May Your Kindness Remain, which was the perfect sentiment to finish the show and send us off into the night, and I'm pretty sure everyone there left with a smile on their faces.

Probably because this whole tour was so low-key, Andrews herself manned the merch table and was so sweet and lovely to everyone, signing albums and books (including her new volume of poetry, Love Is A Dog That Bites When It's Scared), and even art prints of her paintings, and happily taking photos with people who wanted them. I did pick up her book and got it signed and so was so warm and lovely, it was such a nice way to end the show. She thought she recognised me, but although I've been to many of her shows, this was my first time meeting Andrews, although we do share a birthday so maybe it was a Scorpio bond! Whatever it was, Andrews won my heart yet again and I can't wait to hear her new album Valentine and catch her live again!