In a word, last night’s Kacey Musgraves concert at TD Garden in Boston was awesome.
She opened the show with “Cardinal,” the first song from her latest album, Deeper Well. It’s my favorite song on the album and in the live format it had more energy and color than it does on the record. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely track on the album. But the beats on the album version are barely audible, Deeper Well being a very acoustic and light sounding album that’s probably more in the folk vein than the country sound she started her career with. But live the song was punchier and had more gusto accordingly.
Kacey did at least half of the songs from the new album last night, including “The Architect,” “Lonely Millionaire” and “Sway,” the later of which had the whole audience swaying from side to side from the moment it started to the moment it finished. Actually, the moment the lights went out before Kacey hit the stage, 99 percent of the people in the Garden stood up and we all remained standing throughout the entire show. Even though I had a sore back and neck, I was still happy about this. Last weekend when I saw Motley Crue, virtually everyone in the crowd remained seated for the entire show, which is certainly not something that would’ve happened at any Motley Crue show even 10 years ago. Perhaps it’s a sign that Motley Crue’s fans are largely in our 50s and 60s now or maybe their performance was just so lackluster that people just didn’t get that immersed in it.
I would guesstimate that the average age of Kacey Musgrave’s fans is about 25 years old. She debuted in 2012 and was surely one of the first country artists that many of her fans ever loved. On her first two albums, Kacey had a very sarcastic way of writing songs that was often hilarious and I think that comedic aspect is what allowed her to captured young fans who normally probably wouldn’t have been listening to country music.
Of course, Kacey essentially ditched the comedy aspect of her music a few albums back with her massive breakthrough album Golden Hour. To that end, Golden Hour at times had more of an electro-country vibe than any traditional country music vibes. There were even songs that were more in the electronic pop vein. To that end, her 2022 album Star-Crossed was literally an electro-pop album for the most part. And it just so happens to be my favorite Kacey Musgraves album. But she only performed one song from it last night, the woman-scorned track “Justified.” One of the best songs from Star-Crossed, to be sure, but I was hoping she would perform several songs from the album.
Luckily for Kacey Musgraves, her fans still listen to her new music when she releases it. With a lot of artists, by the time you get to your fifth or sixth tour, many of your fans no longer want to hear new music from you. They get too consumed by their desire to feel nostalgic to want to hear your new material. But at least half the songs Kacey performed last night were from her new album and I’d dare to say that almost everyone in the arena knew all the words to them and sang along with passion.
The other album she did several songs from was Golden Hour, but considering how hugely successful the album was, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised even if I was hoping for a few more tracks from Star-Crossed. Songs from Golden Hour that she performed included “Lonely Weekend,” “Happy And Sad,” “Space Cowboy,” “Golden Hour” and her set closing “Rainbow,” which is the final song on the Golden Hour album.
Only one song that Kacey performed last night was from either of the two comedic albums I mentioned, “Follow Your Arrow,” a song about doing whatever floats your boat, at least when it comes to romance. “So make lots of noise / Kiss lots of boys / Or kiss lots of girls, if that’s somethin’ your into / When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight / Roll up a joint, or don’t / Just follow your arrow wherever it points, yeah / Follow your arrow wherever it points,’ she sings. Or, rather, I should say that EVERYONE sang, being that you couldn’t spot anyone in the crowd who at least didn’t sing along to the chorus of this one.
In terms of being a spectacle, the stage had a hill on it behind which was a massive video screen that sometimes displayed the lyrics to her songs as if the crowd was at karaoke. Above the video screen was a gigantic rectangular screen that also displayed video. And in addition to the two jumbotrons pointed at the front of the crowd, there were two additional jumbotrons pointed at the sides of the crowd so that those in the upper balconies could see what was going on, too. Furthermore, there as a circular stage in the center of the floor that also looked like a grassy hill and Kacey headed over to it during the middle of the show and performed several songs from there before returning to the main stage.
There were other lovely details concerning the stage and special effects but I won’t tell you what because I’m not trying to ruin things for anyone here.
Tonight Kacey is performing her second of two sold out shows at the Garden and if I had the money I would be going again tonight. It’s definitely one of those wonderful shows you wouldn’t mind seeing two nights in a row.
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