Kacey Musgraves
Photo: Jacklyn Krol/Recording Academy
Kacey Musgraves Takes Over Lollapalooza With Intimate After-Show & Golden Hour Festival Set
Imagine waiting three hours before a festival opens to only then sprint to a stage to wait another eight hours for your favorite artist perform. Now imagine that same arena headliner in an intimate concert setting with less than a thousand diehard fans. That is exactly what Kacey Musgraves fans were treated to at Lollapalooza 2019.
Musgraves took the Chicago festival by storm this past weekend with not one, but two performances: an intimate after-party show and a “golden hour” festival set.
The GRAMMY winner’s first stop was an after-show at Chicago’s Metro the night before her big festival appearance. The intimate gig took place right down the street from her husband, Ruston Kelly, who was performing at a Lollapalooza after-show of his own alongside The Revivalists. He also performed during the festival on the BMI stage. Musgraves and Kelly were two of only three country acts on the festival’s official lineup for 2019.
METRO • @lollapalooza late-night after show pic.twitter.com/uciDMAhsa1
— K A C E Y M U S G R A V E S (@KaceyMusgraves) August 5, 2019
Musgraves' fans held light-up roses and donned pink cowboy hats for the occasion. Their enthusiasm was clear, with some fans waiting outside the venue for up to nine hours prior to the doors opening. Seconds after she was scheduled to begin her set, the crowd began to chant her name.
Guitar in hand, she walked out onto the stage illumiated by shinning red and golden lights. The crowd started singing “Slow Burn” while she strummed her guitar for the instrumental intro.
Though her arena shows are spectacular and provide A-grade production value, this was a glimpse at Musgraves and her band in their in her element, einviting fans to revel in her performance in a stripped-down atmosphere. For her part, Musgraves was all smiles, seeming thrilled to perform for a select number of super fans and telling the audience that the venue was going to let her play as long as she’d like.
In all, she played eighteen songs during the show, including covers of The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize?” and Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.”
Musgraves is all about the interactions during her live shows. She encouraged fans to high-five and introduce themselves to the people standing next to them. She even took the time to interact with each member of her band and give them each a shining standout moment during the show. The night ended with “High Horse” and a highly satisfied audience.
The next day, Musgraves took Lolla's main stage during the “golden hour.” With one strum of the banjo, the crowd cheered along, somehow knowing which song was next. The first several rows of fans once again sported cowboy hats, and some even made custom signs and posters for their heroine.
Her voice resonated through the sea of people and left fans in awe. She once again opened with “Slow Burn,” a somewhat unorthodox pick for an opener, as most performers opt for starting things off with a high-energy, fast-paced song. Throughout her shortened setlist she walked fans through different feelings and emotions while having each song connect with the last and moving the fans along through a journey of sorts.
Musgraves took a moment to stop and speak to the live audience and at-home viewers about the state of our world and recent terrorism. She thanked the “brave” fans for coming out to a large scale public event.
"I can't even believe that we're having to process the s-h*t that's happening in the last twenty-four hours,” Musgraves exclaimed, referencing the two shootings in Texas and Ohio over the festival weekend. She admitted she doesn’t know the answer to the violence, but that something needs to be done.
“Maybe somebody will hear us if we all yell together to say, 'Somebody f***ing do something,'" she said. Musgraves and the crowd screamed the phrase together before she performed her heartfelt song “Rainbow,” which speaks to getting through the storms and finding the brighter side in life.
During her set, she asked the crowd to wish her mother, Karen, a happy birthday. Karen was at home in Texas watching her daughter’s Lollapalooza set on the live-stream.
GOLDEN HOUR AT LOLLAPALOOZA pic.twitter.com/TTPiwXzg89
— K A C E Y M U S G R A V E S (@KaceyMusgraves) August 5, 2019
Musgraves finished her set with the upbeat fan-favorite “High Horse,” and walked off the stage barefoot, an epic finale.
Though both of Musgraves’ setlists were similar, the shows were night-and-day different when it came to interaction, production and the overall experience. One constant was Musgraves’ talent and passion for music. Musgraves knows how to put on a show in any setting and make it worthwhile and memorable for fans, whatever the situation.
After winning the GRAMMY for Album of the Year in 2018, Musgraves proved that her music may be at home in the country genre, but she can transcend genres and resonate with any type of music fan. There’s no telling what Musgraves will do next, though she’s become a household name and now, with her standout Lollapalooza double-header, an all-genre festival headliner.
