Carrie Welling & Kasey Williams (2nd May 2024, Hengelo)
After I recently chatted with Carrie Welling about her tour through Germany and the Netherlands, I was happy to be able to cover the first stage of the tour as a concert report. The debut show took place in Hengelo in the Netherlands. Like the whole some two week tour, Carrie Welling has thereby joined forces with Kasey Williams, an artist she rather typically is touring with. The first
This posting comes with 537 major size pictures as part of the concert gallery.
Cafe de Cactus – About The Venue
Cafe de Cactus is a music cafe (also: Muziekcafe De Cactus) on the Northwest edge of Hengelo. The city close to Enschede and the Dutch-German border is a rather picturesque and functional one. The venue is a small venue, which is, however, having a quite impressing booking. Cafe de Cactus is only opening for concerts and private events. I absolutely loved the place and the staff. From Hengelo Main Station, it is about a ten minutes walk. All Hengelo sites and the main shopping area are in short walking distance.
Welling & Williams – About The Artists
If you follow Flyctory.com, you already know quite a bit about Carrie Williams. Apart from the Spotlight interview I posted the same week as the concert in Hengelo, I also introduced you to her music in an interview in December 2020. The US-American country singer-songwriter is very active on social media. In the interviews, we for example chatted about her Patreon community. She is just about to release a new album, which has partially been funded by the Patreons and a Kickstarter campaign.
Kasey Williams is originally from East Tennessee. She is not only a musical artist, but also works as an actor and comedian. In 2014, she released her self-titled debut EP. However, it took her until 2023 until the next major release. The seven track Solid Ground is marketed as an album, but could also be seen as another EP release.
Welling & Williams – The Show
The evening kicked off a bit later than announced. Hengelo had some festivities during that week, including a fun fair, so that this really lead to some additional audience. Carrie Welling took over stage duties first at about 20:45 – this will alter during the tour, however. There were maybe some 30 to 40 people in the Muziekcafe de Cactus, which was very convenient for photography. The audience loved her performance. A major part of the set was driven by the High Heels & Heavy Things album. For example, the first songs included Good to Me, Happy First or Settle Me Down. However, there were also new songs in her set.
As Carrie stated with an ironic smile, I let the audience decide on the setlist. If the setlist is bad, it’s your fault. Regarding that, the audience must have been excellent and Welling presented a really entertaining mixture of songs. The closing song of her 45 minute performance was Queen from her 2015 The Edge EP. The people asked for an encore, but that was due to happen later.
A Lovely Performance by Kasey Williams.
After Wellings’ set, there was a short break, to relax and re-stock your drinks reserves in the beautiful Cafe de Cactus. Kasey Williams introduced herself by You will learn a lot about my messed up relationships. She also presented a new song, but her set was majorly inspired by her recent album Solid Ground. For example, she presented West Virginia and the very emotional and beautiful Mama, which also deals with her mother’s dementia. It was a really entertaining mix of tracks. Listening to her straight storytelling was absolutely beautiful.
Her set closed with the energetic State Law. While it initially felt that the evening had come to an end, the two artist performed a final song together as an encore. The food-praising Taco Rap (Welling and Williams asked the audience to think about bitterbollen instead, as tacos are not that popular in Europe was definitely a highlight of the evening and lead to many smiling faces, when the show closed short before 23:00.
Welling & Williams – The Gallery
Here are 537 major size pictures of the show. They are located in the concert gallery:
Welling & Williams- My View
I loved this evening featuring two lovely singer-songwriters. The atmosphere in the venue is absolutely lovely. If you are around and there is a show, I definitely recommend it. The songs were versatile, truthful and entertaining. Carrie Welling and Kasey Williams definitely deserve some more listeners during the next two weeks of her German-Dutch tour. You find the tour dates in my tour date overview.