“When I was writing and making this album, I wanted there to be a Gospel sort of sense to it, a lot of the lyrics talk about faith, so to bring it here…into a church…feels utterly amazing. As I walked out onstage and saw all of you, I was like, Oh, yeah, take us to church…on a Wednesday!” Elles Bailey addressing the congregation at converted church Saint Luke’s in Glasgow as she brings her latest album (and her best to date) ‘Can’t Take My Story Away’ to life.

There is a moment, later on, as ‘Help Somebody’ opens, when a single spotlight picks the Bristolian songstress out as she sways in time to the music. Maybe it’s the subject matter about showing compassion and faith, and helping each other out, but it feels almost spiritual. The venue, complete with stained glass windows, pulpit, and a pipe organ display dating back to the early 1800’s, plays its part—the immaculate sound for one. The stars are aligning tonight for Elles and her amazing band (which has now swollen in size thanks to the addition of a brass section and multi-instrumentalist Demi Marriner), and even the most cynical of cynics would be hard-pressed to dispel the idea that there is something special in the air.

Having a hand-picked opening act also helps, as it brings a sense of community and mutual support with it. For this tour, Elles reached out to American roots-soul-blues vocal powerhouse Caitlin Krisko and her husband, Aaron Austin, from Caitlin Krisko and The Broadcast, to not only open the shows but also set the tone.

Anyone who has caught Elles Bailey live before knows that she always promotes the opening act, often watching on from the crowd (Morganway a few years back springs to mind), but tonight Elles pulls off a masterstroke by taking to the stage and sitting down to read from a book, in true Tom Hardy on CBeebies style. Her story emphasises how much she loves Caitlin’s music and how it deserves to be heard in rooms like this one tonight, and to counteract the fact that Caitlin and Aaron are playing acoustically, Elles subtly adds that she knows that “…you are the kind of audience that leans in, and listens…”. Voilà, in one full swoop, the dreaded bar-chatterers are put on warning, and to be honest, not a peep is heard from the crowd in between songs. At the merch desk after their set, even Aaron commented on how respectful the crowd was in between songs. Re-sult.

Described by Rolling Stone as “…arguably one of the best kept vocal secrets of the Southeast…”, Caitlin Krisko has one of those voices that could be employed to deliver bad news and make the recipient forget about what they have just been told. Powerful and soulful enough to stop a charging Bull Elephant at 50 paces, she is the aural equivalent of coming home to a roaring fireplace on a cold day. Hearing her in this environment without a stack of Marshalls is special.

Newlywed, Caitlin and Aaron are spending their honeymoon in the UK performing on a mix of support slots and headline shows, and the set is full of choice cuts mostly pulled from recent EPs, 2025’s ‘Keepsake’ and 2024’s ‘Blueprint’. Stripped back doesn’t have to mean without power. Songs such as the opener ‘Let It Ride’ still have the swagger from the full-band studio version, while moments from earlier in Krisko’s career, such as ‘Blue Heron’ from 2020, reign in the original for more of a Led Zeppelin III feel (great solo from Aaron on the latter, really laidback and free). And to mix it up, how about a stop-you-in-your-tracks version of Ray Charles’ ‘Drown in My Own Tears’ performed “…in the spirit of my favourite vocalist of all time, Miss Aretha Franklin…”. Expect a new full-length album soon, with a welcome return to these shores with the full band. Genuinely, an act not to be missed. On tour in the UK until April 7th, all dates can be found HERE.

Elles Bailey has a knack for making it look effortless. And that is a rare commodity. No over-reaching, or using a few extra notes where they are not needed. She lets the songs breathe and come to life naturally. The point in question could be the title track to ‘Can’t Take My Story Away’, which also doubles as the set opener. Eschewing the need for a more traditional high-tempo set opener, Bailey opts for this slow-burning, swaying gem that, with the addition of a brass section, packs an almighty Stax-like punch. Proof indeed that not everything needs to be played full steam ahead to draw the audience in.

As you might expect, with an album as strong and varied as ‘Can’t Take My Story Away’, the 17-song setlist leans heavily towards the new album. In fact, the same three songs that open the album also open the show; the title track, followed by the (ahem) rootsier ‘Growing Roots’, and the good-time feel of ‘Better Days’ (one of the songs that greatly benefits from the horns), which is in honour of Bailey’s much-missed friend Matt Long, who sadly passed away in 2024. With Bailey telling the crowd before ‘Growing Roots’ kicks in, “Three years in the making, tonight Glasgow, ‘Can’t Take My Story Away’ is yours…”, it’s obvious that she is proud of her latest creation, and goes far beyond the time-honored tradition of “Yeah, the new album is my favourite…honest”.

As Bailey alludes to from the stage, ‘How Do You Do It’ was a bit of a “wildcard” and wasn’t supposed to be on the new album, until Demi Marriner heard it and told her that she had to put it on the album, “So, it’s all Demi’s fault, but I’m so glad as it’s one of my favourite songs to perform live from the new record…”. This highlights the band ethos surrounding Elles Bailey. It’s not just her and a bunch of nameless, faceless hired hands that know their place (thinking of the guys in Chris Daughtry’s band right now, who never moved all the way through his recent set on tour with Alter Bridge), this is a BAND. And with players of the calibre of Joe Wilkins (guitar), Jonny Henderson (keyboards), Matthew Waer (bass guitar), and Matthew Jones (drums), then it is a bloody good band. Paul Jordanous is on trumpet and brass arrangements, and Sophie Stockham-Brown on saxophone, complete the impressive lineup.

Joe Wilkins has been nominated for ‘Matt Long Instrumentalist Of The Year’ at this year’s UK Blues Awards, and it’s easy to see why. His playing is exceptional. Especially on moments such as ‘Constant Need To Keep Going’ where his slide playing has all the qualities of Ry Cooder, and his solo on the show-stopping ‘Let It Burn’ is enough to make the hardest bastard around cry. Full of weeping tones and dazzling licks, Wilkins will take some stopping at the awards in early April.

Caitlin Krisko and The Broadcast are also nominated at the awards, for ‘International Artist of the Year’, and Caitlin returns to the stage tonight to lend a hand on a gorgeous cover of Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Love Me Like a Man’ that kicks up the dust during the latter stages of a set that starts to add more deep cuts, such as ‘Deeper’ which benefits from a lush keyboard sound from Henderson. Putting together the setlist brought many headaches. What to drop? How to get that perfect mixture of new tracks and dust off those from years back, and the result is pretty much perfect. Nobody could have any complaints with beauties like ‘1972’, ‘Angel’ (complete with trumpet solo), or ‘Leave the Light On’, which features Joe Wilkins letting fly for a guitar solo that, for a brief moment, has a guy near the front breaking out his air guitar. It’s all good, Sir, you are amongst friends here.

One of those nights where everything clicked into place, and of those nights where you really had to be there. The tendency might be to think of moving up to larger, Academy-sized venues, but those are cold, soulless venues that can suck the life force out of a crowd and make the gap between performer and audience seem unassailable. These songs, that voice, and that warmth, need venues like this one tonight.

Review – Dave

All images – Dave Jamieson