Kacey Musgraves has been one of country music’s most enchanting artists, known for her ability to be real, vulnerable and speak her mind.
As an artist, Musgraves isn’t afraid to step outside of the box, writing songs like “Follow Your Arrow” back in 2013 in support of cannabis and the gay community, which country radio wasn’t used to hearing. In 2019, she released the four-time Grammy-award winning Album of the Year Golden Hour, with singles “Slow Burn” and “Butterflies,” where Musgraves reflected on her own “golden hour” in her personal life, from falling in love to marriage and her rising music career told through a psychedelic-infused sound. In 2021, Musgraves released the passionate pop-infused post-divorce album Star-Crossed, where she reflected on the toxicity of being a “breadwinner” and navigating the “hookup scene.” This year’s 2024 release of Deeper Well sees Musgraves going back to her country folk roots in an era of seeking peace, healing and grounding — the theme for her Deeper Well World Tour.
The singer brought her Deeper Well World Tour to the KIA Forum in Inglewood, CA, for two nights on Oct. 3 and 4, where she reflected on the course of her career and played songs in homage to some of her career’s greatest hits.
She opened with Deeper Well album opener “Cardinal” to Golden Hour‘s “Butterflies” and back to Deeper Well‘s “Sway.” She then went into “Golden Hour” and “Lonely Weekend.” Her opening songs seemed somber, mellow, and reflective. Personally, the jumping from album to album and paying tribute to some of her greatest hits seemed too early in the set, whereas I would have loved for Musgraves to jump fully into Deeper Well, bringing us into her world of healing and finding peace, and then going into her throwback songs.
As Musgraves entered the stage, featuring a round mountain slope that turned into a planet during her set, she rang true to her “spaceykacey” name. During “Cardinal” we saw her lie down and be levitated in the air by the song’s end, calling back her music video. In “Too Good To Be True,” Musgraves opened up to the audience about the fears of falling in love again after being hurt. As one of my favorite moments of the show, she sweetly sang with her acoustic guitar: “Please don’t make me regret / Opening up that part of myself / That I’ve been scared to give again / Be good to me, and I’ll be good to you / But please don’t be too good to be true.”
The visual production for her show was stunning, dreamy and beautiful. Most of her show played like a filmed concert, with visuals to each song matching the lyrics and vibe, from butterflies in “Butterflies” to golden hour hues in “Golden Hour” and dramatic greens in “Jade Green.” Lyrics from “Happy & Sad” were displayed, and she left a lonely text of “Lonely” in the background to “Lonely Weekend,” with a meme of Kermit the Frog looking out a rainy window-glass during the song’s bridge, causing a chuckle in the audience.
Throughout Musgraves’ set, her command of the stage and ability to speak directly to her fans was a feat. Her voice and instrumentation sound brilliant and beautiful live, no doubt. (…)
View the rest of my review on blurredculture.com.
beauty within 