Venue:
Islington Assembly Hall
Date: 30/07/2026
I think this was the London headline debut for the Balkcom sisters and I’m fairly sure they won’t be playing in a venue this size again any time soon. It was already moved from the 450 capacity Bush Hall to the 950 capacity Islington Assembly Hall and it was a rammed (and very hot!) sell out.
The show was well paced and it was clear the band was having fun which always makes a show more enjoyable.
The only low about the evening was that the sound was absolutely awful. The more delicate harmonies and instruments (particularly fiddle and slide guitar) were drowned by the drums. It did improve a bit towards the end but the best bits was when they were singing without the drums at all.
The Castellows are what I know as a Spotify band as that’s the sole way I have been introduced to them. That means that all their tracks carry an equal weighting so it’s interesting when my favourites are everyone elses too. It was great that Hurricane turned out to be one of the best singalongs of the night so I wasn’t out of place singing my lungs out!
The covers are well chosen, one of the other crowd favourites was their cover of a 30 year old Gretchen Peters song.
The audience:
A good age mix and there was a very good natured atmosphere even though it was fairly rammed and everyone was dripping!
Can someone tell any tall people that wearing a cowboy hat make you seem taller…and the wide brim doesn’t help either!
It made me think..
I was lucky to be there.
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