“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you”, Americana songstress Brandi Carlile smiles, pointing upwards across a sea of bleach-blonde quiffs, seemingly the uniform for Carlile fans in tribute to her own signature do. She’s speaking, of course, to old pal and collaborator Sir Elton John, who from his regal point of espial for a moment looks a bit like the Queen, though the illusion fades when his enormous dangly earrings catch the light. “I’m nervous though”, Carlile says, “this is the first time he’s ever been to one of my shows.”
2025 has been quite the year for Carlile. Her album release with Sir Elton was lauded his best work of the 21st Century by Rolling Stone; she’ll be playing a prime time slot on the Pyramid Stage next Saturday afternoon at Glastonbury; and she’s just embarked on her bumper Lost Time Tour of Europe, the first date of which was an expectedly barnstorming show on Friday night.
None of this success on UK shores should come as a surprise either. With 11 Grammy’s to her name, it's hardly a fish out of water story. Her releases over the last two decades have deftly hopped from Americana to bluegrass folk to modern country. She’s received her plaudits too, from the loftiest echelons of American music royalty, most notably from the Queen of Country herself, Dolly Parton.
On the night, Carlile is dressed to the nines. Looking like the love child of Horses-era Patti Smith and Kurt Cobain, she wears an immaculate pinstripe suit, narrow tie, and black-and-white tasseled loafers. But she lets her singing do the talking, flexing her stunning range—from raspy, cigarette-stained lows to soaring highs.
Her vocal chops shine on a cover of her former collaborator Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You, more than doing justice to the high priestess of folk’s inimitable timbre. Another cover comes at the end of the night: Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees, which closes with an affecting call and response of the refrain “it wears me out.”
Carlile commands the stage and her audience like the seasoned pro she is. Sprinkling the set with anecdotes and stories, from her time working with Sir Elton to her two daughters, the youngest of which “went through a Republican phase" (she is seven years old), a fact met with a chorus of boos—all in good jest I might add.
She runs an extremely slick operation too, which can largely be attributed to the bomb-proof chemistry that’s apparent between the band. The lead guitar and bass duo of the Handseroth twins, whom she has played with since the beginning of her career, may look like Breaking Bad’s Salamanca cousins, but play like the Allman Brothers.
Their rendition of Who Believes in Angels?, is particularly strong, favouring a stripped back arrangement. With Carlile leading, moving backing harmonies are provided by the twins and Chauntee and Monique Ross—AKA the StringSistas—that would surely make even David Crosby’s moustache tremble—god rest his soul. Fan favourites of The Story and Grammy award-winning The Joke both pack suitable punches.
Occasionally, the group’s slickness gives an over-rehearsed quality to the performance, which jars slightly with Carlile’s genuine emotion on stage. But a vigorous duet from the StringSistas during an interlude, giving time for Carlile and the twins to run up to Sir Elton’s box, has the feel of a genuine jam session and makes up for previously overpolished parts of the show.
Despite the entire crowd silently urging Sir Elton to join Carlile and the twins’ acapella version of Beginning to Feel the Years from his box, the bonafide legend remains resolutely glued to his chair. Oh well, worth a try.
The show ends with Party of One, an emotional number that finishes off my neighbour, and most of the audience, rendering the room red-eyed and blowing their noses when the lights fade up at the end of the show.
On a night that felt occasionally like a testimonial to Sir Elton, Carlile showed why she has been so highly regarded in the US for such a long time. With Glasto next week and more dates in Manchester and Birmingham, her UK invasion has only just begun.
