_The Lexington, London
_April 14, 2026
Three chairs and a beer keg sit on the stage, ready for two sold-out nights of folk-cum-country-cum-cabaret with Canada’s The Burning Hell and New Jersey’s Carsie Blanton, and I’m not sure the audience knew what they were in for…
I first saw The Burning Hell way back in 2016 at The Sebright Arms, and I think they’ve firmly entrenched themselves as my most-seen band since. Their mix of comedy and poignancy sits somewhere between Cake and They Might Be Giants via The Moldy Peaches. I went into this gig not knowing much about Carsie, apart from a few clips I’d seen on everyone’s favourite short-video platform. But god damn was I about to be blown away.
The Burning Hell and Carsie Blanton teamed up on an album this year, Everything is Great, after meeting 18 months ago at a gig near the former’s home base on Prince Edward Island in Canada. The result is 13 beautifully crafted socialist protest songs that won’t fail to put a smile on your face while also making you vigorously nod in agreement.
Tonight’s gig is split into two sets: the first is the aforementioned collaboration, and the second half sees both sides take turns with their own songs, with impromptu jams and harmonies from the other side. The entire thing almost feels like a cabaret, with semi-scripted bits, hilarious anecdotes, and big sing-alongs with the crowd. Everything about the setup feels like it shouldn’t work for an absolutely rammed Lexington, but I’m pretty sure I saw ear-to-ear grins from the entire crowd for a full two hours.
A large part of this comes down to the buckets of charisma that everyone on the stage has, combined with more musical and songwriting talent than four people should legally be allowed to have. Matthias and Carsie both have a way of holding an audience in the palm of their hands, with both Ariel and Joe providing timely little asides and one-liners to move it all along. When they all dive into a song, it’s like magic unfurls before your eyes, whether it’s a rousing number like ‘Peace and Freedom’ or ‘The Robots vs Mrs Patel’, or something soft and delicate like ‘Little Flame’ or the utterly gorgeous cover of Malvina Reynolds’ ‘I Don’t Mind Failing’.
While I already knew that I loved The Burning Hell, I couldn’t quite believe how utterly spectacular Carsie Blanton is. From the ridiculous fun of ‘Ugly Nasty Commie Bitch’ and ‘Elon Musk’, to the delicacy of ‘The Little Flame’ and ‘The Future’, she has a way of turning the state of how shit the world is at the moment into the most precious, beautiful songs, sitting somewhere between country, folk, and even jazz. What struck me most, though, is that even though these songs clearly come from a place of anger, despondency, and disbelief with the state of the world, they’re packaged in a way that both inspire change and bring hope.
She’s a masterful storyteller, aided by her co-conspirator Joe Plowman on bass and backing vocals. I can’t remember the last time I went to a gig and so thoroughly fell in love with one of the acts.
It’s time to oil the guillotines.
Setlist:
- Everything is Great
- Price of Eggs
- Stafford Beer
- Canadian Flag
- Peace & Freedom
- Fascists Are Good
- Private Equity
- Hoist the Guillotine
- Minor Characters
- Hello Comrade
- No Peace
- Another War
- My Home Planet
- The Future Is You and Me
- The Robots vs. Mrs. Patel
- FBI
- Ugly Nasty Commie Bitch
- Dirty Microphones
- Cool Kids
- Yes Chef
- Elon Musk
- The Rich Stuff
- Rich People
- The End of the End of the World
- Be Good
- Fuck the Government, I Love You
- I Don’t Mind Failing (Malvina Reynolds cover)
- Little Flame
- Never Work
