In town to perform in the round at the Highways Festival at the Royal Albert Hall, Katie Pruitt played a show the previous night at Hoxton Hall in East London. The venue originally started life as a music hall in 1863 although it was occupied by the Quaker movement for most of its life. Partly because of that, it has retained its old structure with a high stage and two balconies around three sides of the room.
Pruitt was last in the UK with her band, but this show was solo acoustic. She bounded out to rousing cheers from assembled fans. After a brief introduction, she opened her set with a song about a dangerous ex – ‘Grace Has A Gun’. As she finished, she spotted a fan crying and stopped to check if they were OK (they were). Just moved by the music. There is definitely a bond between Pruitt and her fans, reflecting one another’s experience and creating a mutually supportive space for one another. They’re tight.
She followed with the emotional ‘Normal’ leading into the assertive ‘White Lies White Jesus And You”. It’s interesting to hear how the acoustic performances present the songs as compared to the band versions from the records and the previous tour. In essence, Pruitt’s dynamism more than compensates for the extended instrumentation. She reverted to her first album for ‘My Mind’s A Ship (That’s Going Down)’ and then told us she’s making a new record and introduced one of its songs, ‘Blackout’. The lyric is about being there for someone you might have feelings for at times of need. I wondered whether recent climate-related events in Nashville might have informed this. It goes down very well.
Pruitt talked of her relationships with family and coming-of-age issues in ‘Blood Related’, and after addressing unwanted attentions in ‘Wishful Thinking’ returns to the theme with ‘Jealous Of The Boys’ where the writing is so evocative of Pruitt’s childhood, you can almost see her as a “tomboy” girl as she sings it.
‘Standstill’, the closer from “Mantras” is next up before we get another new song ‘Disaster’ mulling the uncertainties of starting a new relationship. Right on cue, she brings out her new girlfriend, Karalyne Winegarner of power pop band Flight Attendant, who have spent two months touring in Europe. Clearly delighted to be back together, the two deliver a pretty raunchy take on Chappel Roan’s banger ‘Casual’. The set then reverted to the emotional theme with ‘Worst Case Scenario’ and a defiant and raucous ‘Loving Her’.
The audience had no intention of going home and called Pruitt back for a double encore of ‘Georgia’ and ‘Out Of The Blue’.
Earlier, we had a support set from Henry Grace backed by Brian Love on guitar. Grace, who is British, spent his twenties in California and released his debut, “Alive In America” in 2022. He played around six songs which went down well with the Hoxton Hall crowd.
Pruitt is an exceptional performer and songwriter and a superb live performer. This show was definitely one of the live music highlights of 2025 so far.
