From a stage draped in moss and ferns, Kacey Musgraves rang in The Pinnacle’s opening night Thursday with dreamy, whimsical, high-energy performances of songs both old and new. After performing two-sold out shows at Bridgestone Arena in December, Musgraves gathered with a more intimate crowd — a mere 4,500 people — who filed into Nashville’s newest music venue in Midtown’s Nashville Yards.
“This is a whole new place to come in Nashville to enjoy music,” Musgraves told her fans. “This is a really fun opportunity to come back and play for the hometown crowd.”
Friday’s show, supported by Nickel Creek and Lord Huron, kicked off a two-nighter capping the stellar singer’s world tour
Amid sounds of thunder and crickets in her woodland-themed setting, she took the audience back in time to the start of her career more than a decade ago, performing songs like “Somebody to Love” and “Dandelion” from her early albums Pageant Material and Same Trailer Different Park. Later in the night, she played the song that arguably put her on the map as an artist — “Merry Go ’Round,” an ode to small towns everywhere.
“This next song is kind of the first thing that I got to say to the world,” Musgraves said of “Merry Go ’Round.” “I remember being told that it was just absolutely not going to work. It was just too depressing. It was just going to go down in flames. And I was like, ‘Honestly, I guess that’s fine. I’d rather just go down in flames for something I really believe in.’”
Green, gold, pink, blue and purple hues illuminated the singer during each song, each color mirroring her emotions as she sang.
While most of Thursday’s set list spanned Musgraves’ 12-year-old discography, one new song — “She’s My Bitch,” a tribute to her dog Pepper, who sat backstage — made its live debut. Musgraves sang tenderly: “She’s black and white / All ride-or-die / More bark than bite / She’s my bitch.”
As she sat on a stool in front of the swaying crowd, Musgraves opened up about the background of one of her recent songs, “The Architect,” which she said came in part as a result of the 2023 Covenant School shooting and her own questioning of her spirituality.
The singer-songwriter’s fifth LP is out this week via Interscope/MCA Nashville
“It’s not just that event,” she said. “It seems like a daily occurrence when there are things that happen, just making me really question if there really is a God. … I had this title in my back pocket, and I didn’t know how to write it. I didn’t know what it would say.”
The latter half of the night showcased the star’s wit and charm with a cover of “Neon Moon” by Brooks & Dunn and the live debut of her 2021 song “Easier Said.” She ended the latter saying, “Justice for Starcrossed” — the album featuring that track.
As soon as Musgraves sang the opening line of “High Horse,” beach balls dropped from the ceiling and confetti filled the room for the most dynamic, high-energy performance of the night. She closed the show with “Deeper Well,” the title track from last year’s album. “I found a deeper well,” Musgraves sang. “It was right here in Nashville the entire time.”
