Project Description

Kacey Musgraves

Oh, What A World Tour

@ The Tivoli, Brisbane

10/05/19

(Live Review)

Reviewer: Tammy Whitelaw

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What a crazy ride the past 12 months must have been for Kacey Musgraves.  From releasing her critically acclaimed third album ‘Golden Hour’ in March last year, to winning the Grammy award for Album of the Year in February.  Kacey’s career has gone from somewhat of a ‘Slow Burn’ to a full-blown wildfire.

Having just days earlier walked the red carpet of one of fashion’s biggest nights – the Met Gala (something she described as like being in the Great Gatsby), Kacey jetted 20+ hrs across the globe to bring her ‘Oh What a World’ tour to Australia.  Marking her first full headlining tour of Australia (she was last here in 2015 for CMC Rocks) Kacey has garnered a much bigger following in Australia since her first visit.  Tonight, Kacey brings her own unique brand of Cosmic Country to the sold-out crowd at The Tivoli.

Canadian act Bahamas is in the support slot tonight.  Signed to Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records label, Bahamas impresses with his smooth soulful voice and incredible guitar skills.

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Opening with ‘Slow Burn’, the lights shining behind her like rays of sunshine, Kacey nails every single note.  The control in Kacey’s voice during the chorus of ‘Slow Burn’ sounds as perfect live as it does on the album.  The whole crowd joins in for the opening verse of the song “Born in a hurry, always late, haven’t been early since ‘88”.  Thankfully, Kacey is on time tonight, and we are blessed with an almost 2-hour long set.

The stage curtains draw back to reveal a large screen, serving as tonight’s backdrop.  Themed visuals play as we’re taken on a journey through the ‘Golden Hour’ album with ‘Wonder Woman’, ‘Butterflies’, ‘Lonely Weekend’ and ‘Happy & Sad’.  As special as it is hearing all these new songs, my favourite part of the evening is definitely the “Yee-Ha moment”.  The banjo and pedal steel take centre stage on older tracks ‘Merry Go Round’, ‘High Time’ and ‘Family is Family’.

It can often be quite challenging for some artists to break down the walls of traditional “genres”, especially in country, but Kacey does it with such ease.  Golden Hour was a massive crossover success – making its way to the pointy end of many a “Best Albums of 2018” list.  Also, how many country acts have ever had the chance to play Coachella?  A recent milestone moment in Kacey’s career.

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In her adorable Texan accent, Kacey jokes about how long it took her to get here.  “Why did ya’ll have to float so far away? You guys are so antisocial”.  Sharing with the crowd her distaste for some of our wildlife “I better not see a damn Cassowary down here”.  “I’ve also just learnt about Huntsman Spiders.  How many of ya’ll have seen a Huntsman Spider?”.  Kacey’s jaw dropped as every  member of the crowd raised their hand.

After taking the time to introduce her band, the set is rounded out with the remaining songs from ‘Golden Hour’ – ‘Love is a Wild Thing’, ‘Velvet Elvis’, ‘Space Cowboy’ and ‘Rainbow’.  Leaving the stage briefly, the band return for an encore of ‘Follow Your Arrow’ which gets the whole crowd singing along.  Kacey ends the set with her country-disco hit ‘High Horse’ (a song that’s made its way into many a Drag Queen’s repertoire).  It’s the perfect song to send the buzzing crowd off into their weekend.

The only thing I could have hoped for tonight is a few more songs from her back catalogue.  In saying that though, her set was perfect.  Getting the opportunity to hear the entire Golden Hour album played live was a real treat.   The crowd really should thank their lucky stars they were able to see Kacey in an intimate theatre venue like The Tivoli.   Something tells me she’ll be upgrading her venue size next time she visits our shores.  The Dime store cowgirl is now a bonafide country queen.

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After tonight’s show, Kacey has well and truly cemented a loyal fan-base she can keep coming back to.  Let’s just hope the Cassowaries and Huntsman Spiders don’t keep her away for too long.

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Check out Tam Schilling‘s gallery of the show here

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