Waxahatchee-kentish-town-review

Waxahatchee at Kentish Town Forum review | Katie Crutchfield shines on a night of emotional mastery

Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield delivers a stunning show at Kentish Town Forum, marrying emotional depth with flawless musicianship.

by Jessica Wrigglesworth |

It’s hardly Katie Crutchfield’s first rodeo — the Alabama born artist has been making music as Waxahatchee for over a decade—but her headline show at London’s Kentish Town Forum comes at what feels like a pivotal moment in a long and varied musical career. Having broken through to a wider audience with her fifth album Saint Cloud in 2020, in March this year she followed up with Tigers Blood – a record which saw her take her earnest, country-tinged songwriting up yet another notch, to widespread critical acclaim.

This is Crutchfield’s first full-band show in London since Saint Cloud’s release (she played a solo show last year), and the crowd is rapt, ready for a singalong. Starting the set with Tigers Blood opener ‘3 Sisters’, Crutchfield’s range, both vocal and emotional, is immediately evident. When the song kicks into gear and her four bandmates join her, they establish a comfortable rhythm which is no less emotive for being immaculately rehearsed.

“Take my money I don’t work that hard” she sings in the opening line of the night’s second track ‘Evil Spawn’, a statement that couldn’t seem more false given the clear amount of effort that’s been put into crafting not just these songs, but the delicately impactful way they’re staged live.

The setlist spans almost the entire tracklist for both Tigers Blood and Saint Cloud, with some choice cuts from Plains—her country duet album with Jess Williamson—thrown in for good measure. Hardcore fans might be disappointed at the exclusion of her first four records, but aesthetically there’s not much room for the grit and grunginess of those earlier releases.

Much has been written about the impact Crutchfield’s sobriety (she quit drinking in 2017) has had on her musical output, and while she’s quick to point out she never had a serious problem, the two records she’s written since feel like they come from a place of stability and self reflection which permeates every line. 

There’s a quiet confidence to Crutchfield’s stage presence, and despite a distinct lack of stage banter, she is totally compelling as a performer, gracefully striding across the stage with her acoustic guitar and flawlessly belting out what feels like a greatest hits set despite only featuring songs from the past few years. “I’ve been really looking forward to this one let me tell ya!” She says to the crowd in a rare moment of interaction, sitting at the foot of the stage. As they sing every word of recent single ‘Right Back To It’ at the top of their lungs, it’s clear the feeling is mutual.

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