Waxahatchee’s ‘big night’ put Tigers Blood on full display in Uptown Theater’s tour launch

April 25, 2024

Andrew Dodderidge,

Waxahatchee. // photo credit Andrew Dodderidge

As expected, Katie Crutchfield’s longtime partner Kevin Morby made an appearance towards the end of Waxahatchee’s lengthy 24-song set last Thursday at Uptown Theater.

“Give it up for Katie on her big night!” he exclaimed. The sentiment was warmly received, likely because it was the same thing everybody else was thinking.

Six records in, KC’s-own Crutchfield, now in her mid-30s, has found her sweet spot. 2020’s Saint Cloud met the world with consensus critical and audience acclaim right at the onset of the pandemic—an album cycle that played heavily on her recent course for sobriety. Fast forward four years later (almost to the day), Tigers Blood features an eerily similar response.

Crutchfield has been headlining since the days of fourth record Out in the Storm, but not to this extent. Packing in Uptown Theater, although a regular occasion at the historic KC venue, is no easy feat, and it’s a sign of an artist taking the proper steps for a healthy sort of growth. Playing for around 50 people in ‘17 to nearly selling out 1500 capacity halls is a testament to her vigor. Crutchfield did clarify that she never turned down playing larger venues, but I don’t think there would have been a problem having this at The Midland.

Good Morning. // photo credit Andrew Dodderidge

Australian lo-fi group—with over a million monthly listeners on Spotify—Good Morning took the stage for a 45-minute intro act before Waxahatchee. The core duo of Liam Parsons and Stefan Blair were met with a six-piece, which felt reminiscent of the new days of Black Country, New Road—not so much in sound, but in appearance, with members rotating vocals and instruments, one on keyboard and violin, another with saxophone and guitar.

After around nine cuts from a rotation of the group’s five LPS, Waxahatchee was next. The first three tracks from new release Blood were the first on the menu, followed by Saint Cloud hit “Can’t Do Much.”

Saint Cloud—recorded by Brad Cook on Merge—was her first record written in Kansas City, and the first one to break the top five on the US Folk Albums for Billboard. Inspired heavily by Lucinda Williams—whose “Side of the Road” is a common cover for Crutchfield—Bonny Doon guitarists Bobby Colombo and Bill Lennox contributed heavily to the drastic change in sound and overall scope and success of her work.

Touring across the world all the way through August in support of her third collaboration with Cook—including one with her side project Plains—this time on Anti-, Tigers Blood was the mainstay of the night, with all 12 songs finding their way into the mix. Blood was written during a “hot hand spell” two years back—a record that has more in common with her earlier work, but with the kind of songwriting you’d expect coming off her 2020 launching.

MJ Lenderman, of Wednesday fame, recorded takes on every track on Blood—a theme that Crutchfield may play with for the distant future. Although it could’ve been recorded by most session musicians and still sound this swell, Lenderman features on backing vocals on multiple cuts, including hit single “Right Back to It.” Without Lenderman, and likely many of the studio contributors not present at the show, the resulting six-piece held down the stage like it was nothing, playing two dozen cuts exclusively from Tigers Blood, Saint Cloud and Plains’ I Walked With You a Ways.

Plains cut “Problem With It” followed next, then “The Eye” and “Hell” from Cloud, before the hot single featuring Lenderman reared its head. The night was one of those rare occurrences where you don’t know what’s coming, because it’s the first show of the tour, yet each and every song you expected finds its way into the night.

Before going into “Lone Star Lake,” she prefaced the track by asking if everybody knew she was from Kansas City, a surprising revelation for some people behind me, titling the Blood track after the lake in the state of Kansas. A very nice security guy let me capture the moment from the side of the stage.

You swerve to hit a dead deer
A girl like that would bore you to tеars pic.twitter.com/O7dtj3V5g4

— Andrew Dodderidge (@yooooooooRIPPSH) April 19, 2024

Crutchfield’s longtime partner-in-crime Morby—who grew up in Overland Park and brought her back here—came out during the encore, after she finished the initial set with “Tigers Blood” and “Fire,” to perform a cut that the duo released back in June of 2018 on indie label Dead Ocean—a cover of the Jason Molina track “Farewell Transmission.” The lengthy seven-and-a-half minute song was sprawling, with much of the vocals duties taken on by Morby, before the night ended with “365” and Cloud’s “Fire.”

In a recent interview with The Forty-Five, Crutchfield stated that four years is a perfect length between releases. The ultimate question: Will there be another stylistic pivot with her 2028 release? An interesting thing to ponder. Right now, we’re living in her world—one where all her ideas, all her introspection, and all her charm are taking the city, and the country, by storm.

Andrew Dodderidge was there to capture the night in full:

Waxahatchee:

Waxahatchee setlist:

3 Sisters
Evil Spawn
Ice Cold
Problem With It (Plains cover)
The Eye
Hell
Right Back to It
Burns Out at Midnight
Bored
Lone Star Lake
Crimes of the Heart
Line of Sight (Plains cover)
Witches
Crowbar
Ruby Falls
The Wolves
Hurricane (Plains cover)
Lilacs
Tigers Blood