1 of 3 2 of 3 Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up for our free newsletter . “Vancouver—it’s been a long time,” Katie Crutchfield says.
“But we’re going to make up for lost time.” The Alabama-raised, Kansas City-based artist—better known by her music-making moniker of Waxahatchee—is at the Orpheum to tour her latest album, Tigers Blood , which she assures the audience that she and her band will be playing tonight in full. Wearing a red mini dress and silver ankle boots (plus a Kansas City ball cap that she throws into the audience during her opening song: the stinging “3 Sisters”), Crutchfield proceeds to put everyone in attendance under her Americana spell.
But first, Brooklyn band Woods warm things up, performing its brand of easy-listening folk-rock. There isn’t much talking—only keyboardist (and occasional hamonica player) Kyle Forester and multi-instrumentalist Jarvis Taveniere say a few words throughout the set. Lead singer Jeremy Earl, wearing a pair of slides that look like they have been weaved by a wood nymph, doesn’t address the crowd once, which feels a little strange—especially given that opening acts generally want to charm the crowd into looking them up on Spotify later.
But the music is good, with each member of the five-piece exuding serious instrumental chops. Of course, no talking equals no time-wasting, and Woods speeds through its set so fast that it ends up with a few additional minute.