Kacey Musgraves Has the Balls to Go All-Out at Bridgestone

Kacey Musgraves at Bridgestone Arena, 9/28/2026
Photo: Kristen Drum

Kacey Musgraves has never been one to do things halfway. The genre-bending country luminary brought her Middle of Nowhere Tour to Bridgestone Arena Sunday and Monday, turning the home of the Predators into a glittering fever dream complete with a live horse, fireworks, a pair of anatomically correct disco balls and a surprise special guest. For all its excess, the spectacle felt unmistakably Musgraves, a natural extension of her signature full-send flair.

Flatland Cavalry at Bridgestone Arena, 9/28/2026
Photo: Kristen Drum

Country-Americana champions Flatland Cavalry supported both Nashville nights, putting their own Northwest Texas stamp on a show otherwise flavored by Musgraves’ spin on East Texas sounds. Fiddle player Wesley Hall kicked off Monday’s show with a mellow, soothing opening note from a corner of the star-shaped stage, cueing frontman Cleto Cordero to dive into the opening verse of “Gone,” the examination of a life in motion that opens the band’s latest LP Work of Heart (released in March, it gets a special expanded edition Oct. 2). Later in the set, Cordero brought out country powerhouse Kaitlin Butts for a husband-and-wife duet on “A Life Where We Work Out,” a song with a related theme that FC recorded with Butts for their 2016 album Humble Folks — the group has been singing about figuring out what’s important in life and focusing on it for at least a decade. They finished up with a rowdy rendition of “Stompin’ Grounds” followed by a full-band a cappella rendition of the Hank Williams classic “I Saw the Light.”

Following a five-minute countdown on a big analog clock while AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” blared over the speakers, Musgraves made a fittingly flamboyant entrance. There were smoke, flames and fireworks (which seemed to be carefully calibrated to go off safely inside), and a side stage was set with its own weathered-looking watering hole that looked like it could be in the titular middle of nowhere. The singer emerged through the window of the bar, singing her appraisal of Western cosplay “Everybody Wants to Be a Cowboy.” She briefly showcased a saddled-up palomino before strutting down the hay-strewn catwalk to the main stage to perform “Dry Spell.”

“I love Nashville on a Monday,” Musgraves said. “It’s a little sparkly, it’s a little country, it’s a little bit gay.”

Soon after, she made use of the rotating stage to bring her catalog classic “Merry Go ’Round” to life. A little later, she tucked her microphone into the top of her sparkling Lurex jumpsuit to take a line-dance break during the chorus of “Uncertain, TX” before descending a flight of stairs and circling the floor while singing a cover of Texas Tornados’ “(Hey Baby) Que Paso.”

Sparks showered during “Golden Hour” and glitter glimmered during “Loneliest Girl.” Then during “Rhinestoned,” the mirrorball scrotum Musgraves has made famous on this tour descended from the ceiling. As one must do in such circumstances, she took a seat, strapped herself in and took to the air on her shining steed.

“This is the kind of shit that happens when nobody tells me no,” she joked. “Give it up for this crew. Nobody handles my balls better. Nobody!”

Once she returned to the stage, Musgraves moved along to the sultry verses of “Mexico Honey,” complemented by a few provocative dance moves as the stage was bathed in tropical pink and green hues. Before moving into the final stretch of her set, Musgraves voiced her affection for Music City, her home since 2008.

“This place absolutely changed everything about my life,” she said. “The people I met, the songs I wrote. … This place has this unparalleled creative community, and I would not be who I am without them.”

Color photo of the artist wearing a casual Western outfit including cowboy hat and boots, seated in a photo studio but with the studio infrastructure visible.

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Next came “Middle of Nowhere,” followed by a performance of her Golden Hour standout “Slow Burn” amid jets of flame. As the night began to wind down, Musgraves ramped up the energy with a boot-stomping whistle-along to “Follow Your Arrow” under rainbow strobes, and George Strait’s “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” complete with more fireworks.

Before she departed, Musgraves teased one final trick up her sleeve: “You guys stay put. I gotta go get somebody, hold on.”

As the band vamped on the modern country classic, none other than Ronnie Dunn ascended to the stage, representing one-half of one of the most enduring duos in country music. The guitar and lilting pedal-steel notes of Brooks & Dunn’s stone-cold classic “Neon Moon” floated from the P.A. and Musgraves joined him to make it a duet. She was delayed briefly by a quick change into a button up, wig, facial hair and sunglasses from the excellent cosplay bit she did as Dunn earlier this year at Robert’s Western World — this time alongside the real deal himself.

After a lengthy ovation, both Ronnies descended the stairs and trekked back across the runway, bringing Musgraves’ final night in Nashville on this tour to a suitably absurd close.