After making its debut last year with a triumphant headlining set from Kip Moore, this weekend Highways festival returned to London’s Royal Albert Hall on an ever bigger scale. Now spanning two days and a slew of extra activities (including Late Night Sessions with UK country stars Kezia Gill and Remember Monday and the sold-out Songwriters Round), the eight artists performing on the main stage came from all aspects of the country genre and showed just how diverse a style it really is.
We were lucky enough to be there for both the Friday and Saturday night shows and got to witness some fantastic performances in the process. Read on to find out what we thought…
Day 1
After host Baylen Leonard promised us an evening of ‘hillbillies and cowboys’, duoBOWEN YOUNGkicked things off with a stripped-back acoustic performance. They mainly focused on tracks from their recent album ‘Us’ (a favourite here at EF Country), including the joyous, uptempo ‘Water To Wine’, the delicate and moving title track – which they introduced with the story of how they met – and ‘Aurora’ which saw an acapella intro before bursting into a stomping melody that saw Clare spinning about the stage. I also adored their cover of Beyoncé’s ‘Halo’, which saw Brandon take the lead and hit some seriously impressive notes! They closed with ‘To The Bone’, a beautiful, delicate love song that was full of warmth and affection and showcased their lush harmonies really well. It was a great way to kick off the night and their joy at being on the Royal Albert Hall stage was utterly radiant.
Next up wasTanner Usrey, who’s been gathering a lot of buzz since the release of his record ‘Crossing Lines’ last year. Walking on to Led Zeppelin’s classic ‘Whole Lotta Love’ with his four piece band, he was a complete showman from the off, holding his hand to his ear to get the crowd to cheer louder and encouraging them to get on their feet as well as carrying his mic stand aloft. He showed off his powerful rock voice throughout his set, particularly on tracks like the driving, 90s grunge-esque ‘Give It Some Time’ and ‘Beautiful Lies’, a bluesy, shuffling number which saw the crowd getting their phone lights out, as well as his blistering cover of the Faces’ ‘Stay With Me’. He closed the set with ‘Destiny’, with its echoes of Primal Scream’s classic ‘Rocks’, and whipped the audience into a frenzy with his epic guitar solo! It’s safe to say he won over a lot of new fans and I predict he’s destined for big things.
Shane Smith and the Saints, another recent favourite of ours, took the stage next, with a set drawn from their critically acclaimed album ‘Norther’. From the atmospheric, fiddle-heavy ‘Adeline’ – which saw Shane show off some impressive vocal belt – to ‘The Greys Between’, a sea shanty-esque tune thatmanaged to somehow be rollicking and mournful,they were musicallyincredibly tight and hadfantastic energy throughout. I particularly lovedtheir take on Levon Helm’s ‘Hurricane’ and the fierce energy of ‘All I See Is You’ which saw Tanner join them for a singalong. Closing the set, they finished with the dramatic ‘All I See Is You’, which had a great sense of theatricality about it that felt like it echoed back to 80s rockers. They were like the best Irish folk rock pub band you’ve ever seen, and I mean that as the highest compliment. If you’re anywhere near Glasgow tonight do whatever it takes (within reason) to get a ticket for their Oran Mor show – it promises to be very special indeed.
That might have seemed like a hard act to follow for headlinersThe Cadillac Three, but as anyone who’s seen these guys live before will know they always deliver. In a jam-packed set they rattled through tracks from across their long career, featuring everything from the crunchy ‘Tennessee Mojo’ – which saw Jaren getting down into the audience for the intro – to ‘Double Wide Grave’ and ‘The Worst’ from their latest record ‘The Years Go Fast’ (the latter of which featured dramatic yells and a huge note from Jaren!), via the funk of ‘Head Over Wheels’ and Jaren almost rapping on ‘Tabasco and Sweet Tea’. Elsewhere, the likes of ‘Hard Out Here For A Country Boy’ and ‘Bury Me InMy Boots’ got the audience clapping and dancing along, whilst they reflected on their experiences of touring the UK before Jaren’s powerful solo version of ‘Running Red Lights’. They were all absolutely absolutely mesmerising to watch too, whether that was Jaren spinning around the stage and tossing his head during ‘Peace Love and Dixie’ or dancing along to ‘Blue El Camino’, as well as Neil whipping up the crowd with his drum solos and Kelby’s impressive, wailing steel guitar. After the one-two punchy of ‘American Slang’ and crowd singalong ‘White Lightning’, they finished with a raucous, passionate rendition of traditional set closer ‘The South’ before shaking hands with the audience as they left the stage. It was a brilliant end to the night and left me very excited for day two! (Although I still want to know which of them put brown sauce in their coffee thinking it was liquid brown sugar and liked it…)
Day 2
Opening day two on the main stage was CanadianWilliam Prince, who’s no stranger to the UK or indeed this festival (he performed at the songwriters’ showcase last year). He showed his rich, soulful vocals in his acoustic set with tracks from his 2023 project ‘Stand In The Joy’, including the bittersweet ‘When You Miss Someone’, ‘Tanqueray’ (which he dedicated to the London audience) with its spoken word snippets, and the nostalgic ‘Young’ with its reference to Metallica cover bands. I particularly loved ‘Easier And Harder’, a bright love song which he dedicated to the late John Prine. He was the perfect start to the show and eased the crowd into another evening of great music.
Continuing the Canadian takeover of the early part of the evening,Josh Rossdrew huge whoops and cheers from the audience as soon as he stepped on stage. Opening with ‘On A Different Night’, where he encouraged the crowd to get their hands in the air, he had great stage presence from the off, waving to audience members and playing up to phones, as well as hitting a huge note at the end! Elsewhere, the crowd fully enjoyed singing along to the likes of ‘Red Flags’ and his version of Goo Goo Dolls’ ‘Iris’, as well as joining in with tracks from his recent EP ‘Complicated’. He closed the set with an acoustic version of his breakthrough single ‘Trouble’, which had the crowd on their feet and applauding thunderously by the end. It was truly a star-making moment and I’m sure he’ll be back here in much bigger venues soon (especially after the release of his new song ‘New Me’ in a couple of weeks).
By far the award for the best outfits of the weekend went toThe War and Treaty. In their black and gold ensembles, Michael and Tanya absolutely dazzled on stage – and they had the vocals to match. ‘Hey Pretty Moon’ was a particular highlight,with both of them showing off their incredible range (somebody please cast Tanya as Effie in a Dreamgirls revival because she would do an amazingversion of ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’), as well as their acapella rendition of ‘Hey Driver’, their recent collaboration with Zach Bryan. I lovedtheir banter on stage too, whether that was before dramatic new song ‘A Big Mistake’ – which included an incredible final note from Michael – or their cheeky, playful performance of ‘Hit The Road Jack’, before closing their set with ‘Leads Me Home’ and its utterly gorgeous harmonies. They absolutely took us to church and got a standing ovation for their troubles, and I honestly could have sat there and listened to them all night.
Closing the show – and the festival – was the one and onlyBrett Young. After walking on to Cody Johnson’s ‘Til You Can’t’, he and his four piece band kicked off with ‘Sleep Without You’. It had the crowd up and dancing straight away and that’s where they stayed for the next 90 minutes as Young rattled through a jam-packed set of his hits. Songs such as ‘Like I Loved You’ and ‘Back To Jesus’ had the audience in fine voice accompanying his smooth, soulful delivery, and there was a lovely sweet quality about his delivery of tracks like ‘Dance With You’, ‘Lady’ and ‘You Ain’t Here To Kiss Me’, Although Young himself billed it as ‘a lot of love songs and a lot of breakup songs’, there were still moments where he showed a different side, including the slinky ‘Uncomfortable’ and the playfulness of ‘Catch’ and ‘Ticket To LA’, as well as his covers of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Stick Season’ by Noah Kahan, which saw him throw his arms wide open to encourage the audience to join in – not that they needed much help to be fair! I also loved that he brought his crew out to perform on ‘You Got Away With It’ before closing his main set with ‘In Case You Didn’t Know’ and telling a couple who got engaged ‘see I told you I’d make your night better!’ That fun and sense of humour was really nice to see and I’d have liked a little more of it in the set. He wrapped things up with ‘Used To Missing You’ and the soaring ‘Here Tonight’, and it finished things off on a truly uplifting note. (Also, I admire the ‘big dad energy’ of him having a nice sit down in a comfy chair during his band introductions…)
Overall Highways delivered a strong weekend that showcased the sheer range of acts that modern country music encompasses, as well as highlighting some of the best talent in the genre today. With star-making turns from the likes of Shane Smith and the Saints, Tanner Usrey and Josh Ross, as well as the excitement of new music to come from The War and Treaty and two thoroughly entertaining – yet very different – headline sets from The Cadillac Three and Brett Young. I’ll be interested to see what happens with it next but it’s definitely come on leaps and bounds since last year, and there’s plenty of promise to build a really great addition to the UK’s country festival line up.
Performance date: 17th/18th May 2024
