Kevin Morby at Troxy

>Kevin Morby

Liam Kazar

Troxy, 8 July 2026

I finally got to see Kevin Morby do a full band show and it was an absolute blast! Even in the sweltering heat he managed to put on a killer show at London's Troxy, showcasing his fantastic new album Little Wide Open and loads of old favourites too. 

I, of course, only got to see Morby live for the first time back in March at his Rough Trade instore but he was so good and so lovely that I instantly became a huge fan. I really wanted to go to his Troxy show but already had a ticket to see Sierra Ferrell the night before and wasn't sure if I could go. Thankfully the gods intervened as I entered a competition the week before on the Dice app and for some reason I just knew I would win and I'm happy to say I did! 

The tickets though were seats and I think the only time I've been seated in Troxy was years ago when my old job had an event there and so I was slightly disappointed with that aspect but what can you do when the tickets are free? Fortunately, thanks to lovely folks I know from going to lots to gigs, and some lax security, I was able to walk straight into the stalls with them no problem to a nice spot in front of the stage, so I never got to see those reserved seats! Hopefully someone got to enjoy them instead.

The stage looked amazing, with a large backdrop showing the cover of Morby's new album Little Wide Open, which is the view of the back of a van onto a field of sunflowers, and big artificial sunflowers standing proudly around the instruments. Later a roadie came on and put real sunflowers on Morby's microphone and around the stage too. I did think, wouldn't it be funny if I got a flower tonight too after receiving flowers at both the Sierra Ferrell and Tift Merritt gigs, but although he did indeed throw them into the audience at the end, alas it wasn't to be. I think that may be the end of my gig flowers but it was nice while it lasted!

It was a really hot day again and I probably looked completely bedraggled due to the heat but at least at the front of the stage it was a little cooler (Electric Ballroom still wins by far for air-conditioning though). Troxy is an old Art Deco cinema and it was completely refurbished about 20 years ago but sadly they didn't think to put in the best air-conditioning. Still the security were good offering lots of drinks throughout the show, which was very much needed.

Supporting tonight was a member of Morby's band, Liam Kazar, who I saw earlier this year playing with his sister in Jeff Tweedy's band at the Islington Assembly Hall.  Kazar is obviously a fantastic musician and guitarist, demonstrated by the fact that two such esteemed acts feature him in their bands, but I had never really heard his own music before, so I was definitely interested.

He looked quite smart in a grey suit jacket and jeans and he had a haircut since I last saw him with Tweedy. I also thought he had a bit of an Elvis Costello vibe maybe due to the glasses. He stood far left on the stage, quite far from his bandmates Cole Berggren  on guitar and Dom Billet on drums, who are also in Morby's live band, and a lot of the time seemed to be walking over to them as if he felt too far away to properly jam, but later I realised that these are the same positions they take when playing with Morby. I do think Kazar would have been more comfortable playing if he had been closer to them, at one point he even went right over to the drumkit and dropped to his knees to play a solo.

Music-wise, Kazur's songs aren't too far from Morby or Wilco (he's originally from Chicago too): he's a little bit indie, a little bit rock, a little bit country. Apparently he's quite jazz influenced but I must admit I didn't really hear that tonight. A lot of the songs were mid-tempo shuffles but he really came alive with the faster songs, like The Word And The War, which had a cool foot-tapping feel to it and an almost post-rock guitar riff.

Kazar did seem to take quite a long time between songs tuning up which I think lost a bit of his momentum at times but there were some lovely moments such as when he invited another Morby bandmember to join him, this time violinist Camellia Hartman, for the Silver Jews-esque Day Off, the upbeat Mission (which to my ears had a big Wilco vibe) and the song Shoes Too Tight, which ended with a beautifully dischordant guitar solo and the aforementioned moment when he dropped to his knees while playing. 

Overall, Kazar very much had a laid back vibe to his set and he wasn't too talkative. He did say though when he was over in March (presumably for the Jeff Tweedy shows), he had got caught in London due to the snowstorms back home in New York, where he's now based, and had to spend five days in a hotel waiting to get another flight! Every day he'd walk around London and get back to the hotel and the guy at the reception would ask him, "are you checking out? Did you get your flight?", so amusingly he dedicated the final song to him. Hopefully he got home okay this time!

After all the real sunflowers had been placed on the stage, the lights dimmed and the band (which also included the magnificently beared Cochemea Gastelum on saxophone, flute, and percussion) took their places on stage to the Link Wray song Black River Swamp, Morby following behind them, emerging wearing a black American football style jersey emblazoned with a big "0" on the front and slim black jeans: he looked very cool indeed (I actually think this look suited him more than some of the denim ensembles he's been wearing on this tour). He then strapped on a Fender Jazzmaster, with his name inlayed on the fretboard, and started the show with the Dylan-esque Natural Disaster from the new album, which started off gently and suddenly burst into beautiful noise at the end, with the whole band joining in and Kazur soloing away whole Gastelum played saxophone. It was a glorious way to start the show!

The first six songs were all from the fantastic new album and honestly, I think it pretty much was all the best ones, including the two singles Die Young and Javelin, which already sound like classics and already had people singing along. I know it was these songs that finally drew me in to the lure of Morby. 

He also played maybe the most epic song on the record 100,000, which starts pretty, like a gentle drive on a highway, and then begins to pick up speed and tension to a loud and beautiful build on loud guitars and saxophone, with Morby leaping around the stage. 

He countered this with the more country-tinged and reflective ballad All Sinners, with its references to Townes Van Zandt and the Gus Van Sant film My Own Private Idaho, it sounds beautiful and perfect in its setting of sunflowers. 

Badlands, meanwhile, is sure to become a future staple of Morby's set and brings to mind Tom Petty during his Wildflowers era. This is another that starts out almost like a folk song and halfway through the band joins in to turn full Americana tune, with some glorious harmonies between Morby and Hartman at the end as he optimistically sang "heaven is a place on earth," you really start to believe him. 

"Those were all songs from the new album," he told us, "now we're going to play some classics," he joked. Of course everyone cheered, but as a newcomer to Morby who loves the new record I was so glad he started the show with so many songs I've had in rotation recently, to me they were the "hits". 

Luckily the first of the oldies was the title track of This Is A Photograph, which began with the band making lots of noise before suddenly dropping into the groove of the song, which features Morby speak-singing the lyrics and again slowly building, with lots of violin and saxophone filling out the sound. 

For the song Five Easy Pieces, Morby actually put down his guitar and roamed the stage with his microphone and at one point jumped down off the stage and began singing to the crowd, pressed up against the barrier. He did this on the opposite side of where I was, so it was hard to see exactly what went on, but he threw the microphone up in the air in spectacular fashion to get it back on the stage before joining it himself after leaping back up.

I was actually surprised at just how energetic Morby was. Not because he's old or anything (he's only 38 despite having released eight albums now!), but because when I saw him at Rough Trade he was fairly stationary, which of course could probably be attributed to the fact it was a solo show on a small stage. But here at the Troxy he was pretty much bouncing around the stage whenever he didn't have to sing, walking from one side to the other, sometimes jumping even while playing guitar and of course shaking that glorious head of curls. He was hugely entertaining to watch, that's fore sure, plus every part of the front row got to see him up close at one point or another, as he moved around so much. 

The rest of the set was definitely full of lots of energy and there were so many great tunes, from Wander to City Music, while Rock Bottom was almost punk rock (and possibly one of the highlights of the set). It was also great to hear a full band version of Campfire, although I don't know if anything will beat hearing Katie Crutchfield (his partner who I didn't know was pregnant at the time!) sing it with him at Rough Trade earlier this year.

After the full swing of I Have Been To The Mountain (which indeed have Morby swinging his guitar as he sang) and some fantastically jazzy saxophone from Gastelum and some gospel-style backing vocals from the band, Morby finally got a chance to sit down when he moved behind the keyboards for the pretty sing-song of Destroyer (Kazar also got to have a little rest too). This lovely ballad ended with some more fantastic saxophone stylings from Gastelum and dreamy violin from Hartman. It was a lovely atmospheric and relaxed moment in the set (although of course it got more noisy and dischordant by the end) and allowed Morby to introduce the band too.

Staying in a mellow vibe, the main set naturally ended with the tender country sounds of the title track of Little Wide Open, which felt nostalgia and like a warm hug. I'm sure Morby prefaced this track with a little speech about the importance of being kind to each other but for the life of me I can't remember exactly what he said. I do know it went down well with everyone there.

For the encore Morby returned with an acoustic guitar and sang the warm, country folk of Dandelion, which again brought back memories of Tom Petty in his more acoustic, yearning moments. Carrying on in the same vein, the gorgeous Beautiful Strangers brought to mind Leonard Cohen featured Hartman singing part of the song and had some brilliant jazz flute at the end courtesy again of the multi-talented Gastelum.

He ended the show on the upbeat ode to his guitar, Dorothy, which I must say went down a storm with the crowd. In fact there were a group of girls behind me who were singing every word not just of this song, but many of the old favourites throughout the night. It brought home to me just how beloved Morby is.

Saying that, this show was obviously not sold out and I'm not sure why. I don't know if it was a much bigger venue that he usually plays or the heat kept people away, but the fact they were giving away tickets led me to believe it hadn't sold well. Downstairs though was definitely filled to the brim and there was a huge amount of love for Morby that's for sure. He also was a mesmerising performer on the bigger stage, so I can only think it was more down to timing and too many other gigs on, than anything else because he truly filled the stage with his personality and music and absolutely deserved to play the Troxy tonight.

At the end he threw out the real sunflowers from his microphone and we were all left with so many good feelings. It really was such an uplifting show that even the blistering heat of the evening couldn't destroy. I'm so glad I finally got to see him do his thing with a full band and the double punch of Sierra Ferrell the night before and then Morby tonight really was a delightful experience.