I get ahead of myself, bracing for a bombshell

Back to a great venue.

Every December, I listen to The Guardian's 50 best albums of the year - and, for the most part, I despair at how anyone could consider them tolerable, let alone the best of any year. However, every so often, they turn up an artist who hits the spot for me - and Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crutchfield) had Saint Cloud in the '20 list which I grew to like after some initial problems with her voice and Tigers Blood in the '24 lists which I liked a lot. So when I saw she was over here touring to promote Tigers Blood, I decided I'd make the trek down to Hammersmith to check her out live at the Eventim Apollo.

I'd missed what the support act were called and they certainly weren't going to give me any clue as their three guitarists and drummer shuffled on - they certainly didn't stride on with confidence with a "HELLO LONDON!". But whatever they might lack in stage presence, they make up for in skill with some lovely singing, harmonies and guitar playing. It was kinda Gothic South rock - I was reminded of Ethel Cain, but it's more upbeat than her. The lead guitarist was particularly good - she was making some impressive sounds, even if there were times it appeared she was having trouble standing up.

I suspect nerves might have been involved because after about four songs, we had our first banter from the singer who timidly announced "this is our first time in London" - and that was pretty much it for audience interaction until the end (of a generous 45 minute support slot) when she FINALLY told me who they were. Unfortunately, she said it so quietly I completely missed it - but of course the internet was happy to tell me she is Merce Lemon and I'll certainly be checking out her/their other stuff at some point. The other thing that impressed me was the last song where the drummer decided he had enough of drumming and picked up a guitar to join in with the rest - some people are just too talented.

After the break, Waxahatchee decided they couldn't be outdone on the stringed instrument front and so they strode onstage with confidence with FOUR guitar players, a banjo player and a drummer. And their sound isn't a million miles away from Merce, but with the addition of Katie's very distinctive voice - it sounds like the sort of voice that would involve a lot of effort to sing in, but she made it all look very effortless while also strumming along with all her guitarist mates. And they were a very tight unit - I'm afraid I missed all their names (I think it was Elliana that was providing some gorgeous harmonies) but they're all very skilful. My favourite tracks were "Can't Do Much" and "Right Back To It" but she pretty much played all of her last two albums and they all sounded great. I didn't recognise the obligatory cover which was Kathleen Edwards's "Six O'Clock News" but it fitted in well with the general vibe.

A couple of observations about the audience - there was a very wide age range with, as I heard someone put it from my seat in the circle "the oldies up here and the young 'uns down there". But, considering she only really broke through in '20, there were an awful lot of oldies about - why, some were even older than me! The other thing to report is something that super annoyed me - I was sat behind some who both had big hair AND was a head bobber. If you've got big hair, keep that head still, lady - I'm sure the person behind me was annoyed at how much I was moving my head, and so on all the way to the back of the venue

But, apart from this minor inconvenience (and I generously don't blame the band or the venue for the big haired lady), it was a great evening with both acts impressing with great songs performed impeccably to a very appreciative audience - I loved it.