I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 22, 2024] Waxahatchee

My wife and I saw Waxahatchee open for Courtney Barnett six years ago.  I hadn’t remembered that I had seen her a few months earlier with her full band.

I’ve considered seeing her again since then, but I didn’t go back in 2022.  I was looking forward to seeing her a few months ago at the Fillmore, but the show turned out to be between two Pearl Jam shows and we couldn’t possibly do it all.

This show proved to be exactly the same as the two Fillmore shows just without the backdrops and stage props.

I was looking forward to this show because I thought I knew so much of her new album (and she played the whole thing).  I was surprised by how few songs I knew during this show.  In part because she didn’t really play any deep cuts (okay one or two, but none of her hits).

But I was delighted to hear “Can’t Do Much” (the only song of the night that I had seen her play before) and “Problem With It” which I forgot wasn’t actually a Waxahatchee song (it’s a song by Plains, which is Katie Crutchfield and Jess Williamson.

After playing a couple of songs from the previous album Saint Cloud, she told us about the new album and how she’d be playing the whole thing tonight.  This group of songs started with the wonderful “Right Back to It” and the even better “Bored.”

I didn’t know much else for a few songs, but as my wife said, her voice is so great it doesn’t really matter what she’s playing.

Katie playing guitar for most songs, but on a few she sang without an instrument.  She walked around the small stage a little, acknowledging the people ion the balconies, but mostly she sat in the middle of the small stage and seemed delighted with the crowd response.

She had a pretty large band with her.  Spencer Tweedy (Jeff’s son) was on drums.  Bassist Eliana Athayde kept things grooving and provided outstanding backing vocals.

Clay Frankel played lead guitar and sang backing vocals too.  He was great especially as the night wore on and he grew more and more animated.  Colin Croom was behind them playing guitar, pedal steel, harmonica and keys, too, I think.  There was one more person on stage and from where I was standing I only saw him once or twice.  Cole Berggren played keys and banjo (and more, I’m sure).

She told us her favorite new song was Crowbar, which makes me wonder why it wasn’t a single.  And then she ended the set with a trio of great tunes.  The Plains’ song “Hurricane” was followed by one of my favorite songs of hers “Lilacs.”   They ended with the title song of the new album which I didn’t know, but which rocked out and the while band clearly had a lot of fun playing it.

After a brief encore break, they came out for three more songs.  A “new” one (it was just released, but she’s been playing it or a while).  Then came 365, a crowd favorite and she ended with “Fire,” a terrific way to end this delightful set.

I wasn’t that excited by this year’s Philly Music Fest (I mean, how many bands that haven’t played the festival can there still be?) but it was great to be a part of it again, as I do love the festival and what they stand for.

φ Tigers Blood (2024)
¥ Saint Cloud (2020)
⊗ Great Thunder EP (2018) [EP is her rerecording of songs from a previous band]
♣ Out in the Storm (2017)
‰ Ivy Tripp (2015)
§ Cerulean Salt (2013)
≅ American Weekend (2012)