The Staves

Imagine the tone of Laura Marling, the harmony of Fleet Foxes and the atmospheric beauty of Bon Iver. The result? An acoustic trio from Watford vying for greatness in an already crowded folk scene. But they’ve done it. Emerging out of their stage presence and sisterly bond is a witty bunch of talented guitar-driven vocalists.
The band hit up folk-lovers across Canada and the UK in 2012 as a support act for Bon Iver. They are clearly able to hold their own, confidently joking and often swearing throughout anecdotes shared between songs. Their debut album, Dead & Born & Gown, followed later that year and was greeted with well-earned praise after years of performing in their local Watford pub, the Horns.
Impressive track Wisely and Slow is cappella song that has captivated fans like Tom Jones as they grow and develop across radio, TV and festivals. Other favourite tracks to perform include Winter Trees and The Blood I Bled and Eagle Song is straight from their American folk-rooted influence.
The Staveley-Taylors, Milly, Jessica and Emily, have been enjoying success since signing with Atlantic in 2011 and we can expect to see much more of them with their 2014 highlight being 6 Music Festival in March - a truly captivating watch!

Loved their opening act, the harpist Mikaela-- incredibly talented musician and I'm pretty sure that she is a unicorn or some variety of mermaid. The Staves are also incredibly talented and it was a pleasure to get to see them perform! The only thing that was kind of a bummer was that they've fallen back and relied so heavily on computer generated sounds and aren't doing much of their acoustic music anymore; kind of broke my heart actually. They closed with one of their older acoustic pieces and that brought tears to my eyes; I was so happy! The show itself was still very good, but like I said, they're beginning to move away from the music that I used to enjoy and into more of an electronic sound. The only other thing worth mentioning is that they did tend to take a lot of time between pieces as there was a lot of instrument switching, and because they relied so heavily on a loop device that needed prepping before each song. 8/10.

The Staves are an insanely gorgeous, mesmerizing trio of artists to listen to and to watch. The camaraderie they display amongst themselves + interaction with the audience brings a more vibrant level of entertainment to the concert-goer's experience. The opening act was their funny (and talented) keyboardist, which shows both the supportive + selfless nature that is the Staves; as sisters, they share, collaborate, harmonize and sing backgrounds for one other. The audio sounds even better live, and the harmonies reach an even purer level of unison + perfection.

Only complaint: they do not come to New York City/America often enough. This was a special treat; an intimate event that blew my mind. There's nothing that will top sipping on a beer from Brooklyn Brewery in the back of Brooklyn's coolest record store as these three girls rock out and welcome the audience into their family sphere, if even just for an hour or two.

I just signed up for SongKick and would never have known about The Staves's presence in the U.S. had I not had this app. I a - d - o - r - e The Staves and was incredulous when I got the notice that they'd be at Rough Trade. I immediately bought the tickets and was shocked at the reasonable price. The Rough Trade was a perfect, intimate concert venue for The Staves and the night was like a trip to Eden for me. Emily, Camilla and Jessica Stavely-Taylor sang songs from their new recording, If I Was. The compositions are so piercingly honest and beautifully crafted and the sisters' blend of voices, so pure and interlocked, penetrated this heart, that's for certain.

The Blood I Bled was the first song of the night -- awesome -- the sisters sang the whole album. It was exceptional, and then as an encore, Wisely and Winter Trees. Honestly -- I was transported.

This is the third time I have seen The Staves, every time has been memorable mainly for the music but also for the surroundings - Cambridge Folk Festival during a huge thunderstorm, at the Village Underground in Hoxton and now the wonderful Wilton's Hall in London. Whoever books their venues should be congratulated. Very special surroundings to hear their wonderful new album. Their musicality, their harmonies and banter all add to a wonderful night out. Truly magical in places. Possibly overwhelmed by the drums in a couple of places.

If they enjoyed their night half as much as I did, they had a great night. I would recommend anyone to go and see them.

I was passing through Dublin last weekend and I felt like hearing some live music, but wasn't in a "traditional Irish folk music"mood. I saw that this band was playing, listened to a few songs, and thought they sounded ok-to-pretty good. But with God as my witness, they are 100x better live than on record. The show was fantastic, the band was great. In one song I was thinking "this drummer is incredible" and then once the song was over.. someone shouted "the drummer is incredible." Anyway. They are very, very good.

Simply...WOW!! The Staves are just awesome. I took my 9 Year Old Daughter and my wife to the show last night and it was epic. Their voices are angelic and they put on a great show. We could have listened to them all night. Cannot wait until they come to Southern California again! The Troubador is a great venue. I really appreciated the fact that the security team allowed us to get our Will-Call tickets without losing our place in line. Very cool.

Thank you to the Staves for being so great.

The first gig in the tour, second time we have seen them and I think they are getting better with a greater catalogue to choose from.

The concert wasn't without a technical hitch which actually added something to the evening, it gave them something to laugh about....showed there warm humour.

The harmonies were absolutely spot on!!

A five star review from me...all my favourite tracks with one exception...Facing West.

I'll be back when they come around again.

WOW. Just WOW. These girls have such incredible voices. I saw them supporting Florence + The Machine at Manchester Arena, and they sound even better live than they do on their albums. They played quieter songs such as Make It Holy and more uptempo songs such as Black & White. Incredible.

The Staves, supporting Florence + The Machine @ Manchester Arena
Friday 18th September 2015

I've seen The Staves before and they did not disappoint this time. New songs mixed with ones that I knew, all beautifully arranged. Their voices are spectacular and charisma is elegantly present. The impact on the audience was obvious when a woman next to me was brought to tears. Music at its best and made even better by such an intimate venue.