Willow Avalon at the Union Chapel

Willow Avalon

Cloe Wilder

Union Chapel, 2 November 2026

I've been dying to see her live for a while and after missing her a few times now I finally got to see the wonderful Willow Avalon, the up and coming country sensation from Georgia,  and it was even more fun than I imagined! She really is something special and she even wore a special Union Jack dress for the occasion. 

Her first UK show was a tiny one and sold out before I had a chance to get a ticket, so I was thrilled when she announced a headline show earlier this year (upgraded from the Islington Assembly Hall to the Electric Ballroom) but then my heart sank when I realised it clashed with the David Byrne show I already had a ticket for. I even considered selling my Byrne ticket to go to the show but eventually I thought I probably won't get many more chances to see the Talking Heads legend so decided against it (and it was a great show so I'm glad I went).

Luckily for me then that Avalon announced a short European tour for the autumn and, even better, the show was at one of the best and most beautiful venues in London, the Union Chapel. I arrived early, as from the little I've experienced of country artists here in the UK, they tend to have very dedicated followings and I wasn't wrong, as there was already quite the queue when I arrived despite it being very cold and a little rainy.

But it was worth the wait as I got my usual spot at the front and settled in to see the support act, Cloe Wilder, a young country singer from Florida who it turns out is just 20 years old and has her proud (and honestly quite trendy looking) mother sitting centre in the front row filming much of her set on her phone.

Wilder arrived on stage looking like a sparkly prom queen in a white satin low cut dress adorned with ruffles and sequins, while her microphone was covered with pink flowers and a neon sign baring her name glowed behind her. 

She began singing a breathy pop song with a big chorus called Boardwalk, throwing back her head and her long curls to belt out "I get my cards read on the boardwalk cause I want to understand what kind of man could leave me this lost!" Although she had a drummer (who I couldn't really see at this point) and a guitarist, there was also a backing track playing, giving the song the full pop treatment. I personally would have preferred it if she performed without the backing track as she clearly could sing and had musicians backing her (and a few songs she even played guitar herself) but it was clear she was going for that big pop sound for her London debut.

The second song, Lucky Me, was more upbeat with a driving rhythm and featured a chorus where she sang "Cause I'm nineteen, and everybody loves you when you're nineteen" while strutting around the stage looking super glam. It was at this point I realised this girl was clearly raised on Taylor Swift and there was a little girl in the front row dressed in sequins, who was raising her hands and beaming, who clearly was in heaven. It sort of hit me then that Wilder wasn't really for me but there obviously lots of youthful pop and country fans who will adore her. 

In the middle of the set she did a cover of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, which she sang well, but confirmed we were firmly in the modern pop side of country. When she announced she was about to sing a new song called Five Years, for a second I got hopeful it was a cover of the old David Bowie classic, but it turned out to be a tale of all her young friends dealing with heartache back in Florida, that had Billie Eilish or Olivia Rodrigo big ballad vibes.

Wilder is definitely hugely talented though, very pretty with a great voice and a good stage presence and it was clear the crowd loved her. I enjoyed her set as it was different to the usual sad indie music I'm usually listening to but it was definitely for a younger more pop audience than me.