Live Review: Waxahatchee and Merce Lemon | Electric, Bristol | 10/06/25
Described as a generational talent in the indie folk/rock/country world, Waxahatchee (AKA Katie Crutchfield) makes a pit stop in the UK for a handful of sold out shows between her European festival hopping over the summer, joined by indie folk upstart Merce Lemon.
Merce Lemon
Tonight’s sold out show is already apparent, the Electric’s dance floor and balcony are already jam packed full of punters anticipating tonight’s headliner. Merce Lemon takes to the stage amongst some audience chatter and delivers a delightful forty five minute set of quaint country/americana leaning indie folk rock. Performing as a four piece lined up at the front of the stage, they get straight to it blasting through various cuts from their 2024 album Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild alongside some unreleased material and a stunning cover of indie-folk legend Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s ‘I See A Darkness’.
Everything sounds fantastic, if a little quiet, but it lays a solid and enjoyable foundation for the night to come. Soulful country rock influenced melodic guitar solos are woven between the heart on sleeve lyricism and intimacy of Merce’s songwriting. The final three-piece of ‘Backyard Lover’, ‘Foolish and Fast’ and title track ‘Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild’ give the best impression possible and makes a point that Merce Lemon is worth catching live and definitely one to keep an eye on for a bright future ahead of them.
Photo Credit: Taya Llewellyn
Waxahatchee
Becoming quite well known in the folk and country scene for a few years now, Waxahatchee started to gain heaps of attention last year in the UK off the back of her newest (and rightfully) critically acclaimed album Tiger’s Blood. The six piece band walk onstage to Dolly Parton’s ‘Here I Am’ to rapturous applause, wasting little time and kicking off the set with the first three tracks from Tiger’s Blood, ‘3 Sisters’, ‘Evil Spawn’ and ‘Ice Cold’. Even from the opening three tracks the set is already a stunning experience, the backing band’s sound is incredible sounding tighter than on album and having lovely little live flourishes, Katie’s voice is one of the highlights of the project anyway, but live is something else entirely. There are a few moments of genial crowd interaction, but for the most parts the spaces between tracks are saved for instrument changes (which there are quite a lot of, from steel lap guitars, keys and banjo’s, to harmonica’s and guitar changes), eventually packing twenty four songs into the ninety minute set.
The setlist weaves between Waxahatchee’s two most recent albums (Tiger’s Blood and 2020’s Saint Cloud) and chucks in a few covers for good measure, two of which (“Problem With It” and “Hurricane”) are taken from Crutchfield’s 2022 country-pop side-project with Jess Williamson, Plains. It’s a non-stop pace, ‘Can’t Do Much’, ‘Problem With It’ and ‘The Eye’ fly by with adoring reactions before a seismic cheer heading into Tiger’s Blood lead single ‘Right Back To It’, clearly the song that triggered a lot of tickets to shift (and al to of them, as there is barely an inch to move between members of the crowd packed back to the cloakroom). When all is said and done, you basically got two whole album sets with almost all of Tiger’s Blood and the majority of Saint Cloud getting a chance to shine to the delight of the audience. The set flies by beautifully, KC is either singing with a guitar in hand or performing as just a vocalist, but its clear that the whole band are enjoying every chance they get to play live.
An additional cover is placed towards the end of the main set, Canadian singer-songerwriter Kathleen Edwards’ fan favourite ‘Six O’Clock News’, followed by Waxahatchee fan favourite ‘Lilacs’ having a massive singalong and finishing the main set proper with the title track from Tiger’s Blood. A little breather is taken before the final cluster of tracks making up the encore; Katie declares “This is a new one” before showing off unreleased single ‘Next To Me’, also featuring the only hiccup of the night with a comical and innocent mis-timed count in before starting the song properly. ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ and ‘365’ work perfectly to start winding down the energy before closing out the night with the anthemic and heartfelt ‘Fire’, the crowd are left satiated and stunned on what could easily be considered one of the best sets of the year.
It may seem overblown referring to someone as a ‘generational talent’, but Waxahatchee attains that moniker with ease if tonight is any indication of a regular performance from the artist and her backing band. This is an air of authenticity alongside deep-seeded intimacy to the performance which is so sorely lacking these days. As a long time fan, it is a delight to finally see Waxahatchee get the flowers she deserves after a string of phenomenal projects. Sure, it would have been nice to get some deeper cuts from a few older albums, but its nitpicking details from what is otherwise an unbelievable headline set and a well deserved celebration of one of alternative country/folk’s brightest stars.
Photo Credit: Taya Llewellyn