REVIEW: Kacey Musgraves "Middle of Nowhere" Tour
My sincerest apologies for the long delay in getting this review out! I was struck down for almost 3 weeks by a mysterious, intense bacterial infection, but not to worry, I'm back and better than ever!
This review is going to be good.
Really, really good.
Really, really, REALLY good. ;)
I'm not even sure how to begin describing the ethereal, enlightening, practically bipolar-manic-adjacent experience that was the Kacey Musgraves "Middle of Nowhere" concert experience at TD Garden. Everything from the technical aspects (the stage, the lighting, the effects, the blocking, the stage carousel, the use of fireworks), the design (the broken down trailer facade, the disco testicles, Kacey's outfit and hair, the color scheming, the theming), the setlist structure (absolutely no notes, perfectly paced), even down to the interludes and chats with the audience (Kacey was funny, charming, relatable, and made the show feel grand at times and intimate other times), felt intentional, perfectly planned, and perfectly executed.
Kacey Musgraves technically got her start in 2007 by coming in 7th place on the reality show competition Nashville Star, but really, she first broke out on to the scene in 2012 with her smash hit single Merry Go Round. It was the first of many early signifiers that Kacey was destined for greatness. I find that, typically, new artists tend to stick to songs about love and heartbreak, which are topics that have the most fodder and material to write about (and are the most popular since they are almost universally experienced and discussed). Kacey instead chose a different path - Merry Go Round is a song about wanting and dreaming for a better life, but choosing to settle for the one you already have and being too afraid to take a leap of faith. It's a song about a different kind of heartbreak, one that is not so openly discussed. Looking back, it was a refreshing theme for a song to take on at the time; 2012 was a year full of party anthems and breakup ballads, so it's cool to reflect on that time and see an artist who was just starting out in her career already forge her own path.
"Just like dust we settle in this town" - Kacey Musgraves on Merry Go Round
Kacey has always been a person who did her own thing on her own time and in her own way, and has never apologized for it. It's what makes her so great and is what will make her fame and legacy stand tall. Artists who aren't afraid to try new things, fail (looking at you Deeper Well album. Love you Kacey but sorry that album was a little bit of a snooze!), but stay true to themselves are destined for immortality. Look at Charli XCX! She's been constantly reinventing herself for practically a decade while managing to maintain her own sound and brand, and only gets bigger and more popular as the years go by.
Anyway, back to the tour. I was so blown away by every aspect of the show! From the stage, the lighting, the pacing, the setlist choices, Kacey's outfits and set pieces (looking at you Disco Testicles), everything meshed so well together that the show accomplished what I think is any live performance's greatest goal: it made me love the album 'Middle of Nowhere' more. Let's get into it, shall we?
Strengths
Oh boy, where do I even begin? My friends and I were lucky enough to be upgraded to the pit, so we were no less than 3 feet from Ms. Musgraves for a majority of the show. This upgrade gave me the opportunity to truly appreciate how every single aspect of this show was clearly and meticulously planned, mapped out, and executed to a degree of perfection that can only be compared to a Picasso oil painting.
I've been to over 50 arena shows at this point in my concertgoing career, and so many times I have noticed that artists and their touring companies do not know how to perform to an arena. What do I mean by this? Many times, I have seen artists perform on stages that were too small, utilize sets that were not grandiose, or try and create the feeling of intimacy by making themselves smaller, which I think is counterintuitive to a successful arena show. If you are an artist performing at an arena, your goal is to make your show as BIG as possible, even during the quiet parts; at no point do you want anyone in the audience to feel like they can't see or understand what's going on. The best example I can think of achieving a true intimate atmosphere the right way is when I saw Maggie Rogers in 2024. She did a fantastic job at performing an acoustic version of One Direction's The Night Changes during her show. She made the venue and performance feel intimate by setting herself in the middle of the arena with nothing but a grand piano, a single spotlight on her, and every screen on her stage highlighting her face and body as she performed the song. She did not make herself smaller to achieve this intimate feeling; rather, she focused on the emotional aspect of the song (especially since this was a couple of days after Liam Payne had died). Even nosebleed tickets have become outrageously expensive, and when you go on an arena tour, you don't want to risk alienating your fan base by performing a show that appears small and unimpressive. ANYWAY, I bring this up because Kacey Musgraves has been one of the few performers I have seen that KNOWS HOW TO PERFORM TO AN ARENA! Every single aspect of this show felt grandiose, epic, large, expertly crafted, and overall BIG!! I think arena shows are supposed to feel epic, and Kacey more than delivered on that front. There were so many pros to this show that I decided to list them out instead of incorporating them in a more professional writing manner:
(1) Her stage setup was one of the best I have ever seen in an arena. Her stage was a 360 degree rotating platform with a country trailer backdrop and a section that allowed her to stand and rotate around the stage. On the floor, I couldn't see Kacey if she was ever on the other side of the stage, but that's a limitation of being in the pit, so I would not count that as a "negative"; she was able to effectively place herself in multiple positions and never be out of sight for a large majority of the arena audience; she kept the show fresh by picking multiple locations on the very large stage to stand and perform. The stage also featured a 360 degree screen, which allowed nosebleed seats to see her and her band at any angle, which I think is a HUGE pro. The 360 stage allowed for so many dynamic movements and placements, and made the show so much more interesting to watch and look at. Even the raised star that was on the stage had screens on the sides, adding to the stage effects and enhancing the mood that Kacey was projecting during whatever song she was singing.
(2) I've said this before, but I never fault singers for using pitch correction on tour, because I understand that for concerts, expectations have become unrealistically high: one wrong note would make audiences forget about the other 100 minutes of perfect execution. It was obvious, however, that Kacey was not using any pitch correction tools on her microphone: she sounded incredible and natural. Kacey doesn't have a massive singing range in terms of octaves, but she doesn't need to have a big range: her voice is as smooth as butter, and every single note that she sang was executed beautifully. She sounded almost exactly like she does on her recordings; I could tell that she was not using pitch correction, however, because there were some moments where her voice sounded slightly off (not in terms of missing a key or sounding bad, but in the sense that her voice sounded just a little different than her recordings). This just added a level of impressiveness to her show that I have rarely seen or felt in arenas. A lot of times, artists rely on backing vocals too, to carry their voices forward. Kacey did not have any backing vocals (that I could tell, at least); she performed completely with her own voice, which is a challenging thing to do.
(3) Her entire performance told a beautiful story of going back to your roots and rediscovering yourself, perfectly mirroring the themes on her album Middle of Nowhere. All the visuals, stage blocking, and lighting effects made perfect sense with every song she sang. Sometimes, it feels like performers add effects or visuals for nothing other than pure spectacle, but that was not the case here. Every moment felt intentional and masterfully tied into each song she performed.
(4) Her stage effects greatly enhanced the show. One example I can think of that highlights this pro is the use of a rotating disc that was built into the stage. Kacey would stand on the disc and rotate around the stage while singing some of her songs, allowing the entire arena to see her in all her glory. A lot of times, artists can struggle to block their movements correctly, leaving a portion of the audience unable to see the performer for most of the show. I got the sense that this was not the case for her. I also thought that building in a screen that circled the entire stage was a smart move; at no point did no one in the arena seem to not see or be able to tell what was going on during the show. This links back to my biggest pro, which is that the stage setup was one of the best I have ever seen in an arena.
(5) As we all know, Dolly Parton unfortunately passed away recently, with tributes pouring in like a waterfall both online and in person. Kacey did a magnificent job honoring Dolly Parton, adding in her 2019 mega-hit Rainbow to her setlist, which was a wonderful surprise, as well as singing a cover of Here You Come Again. I'm getting tears in my eyes just thinking about that beautiful moment of the show.
(6) I always love when artists take a beat to directly address the audience, and Kacey did this with aplomb. Multiple times during the show, she would pause and provide small anecdotes about each song before she would sing them, make an offhanded joke, or even poke fun at herself (I would be remiss not to mention the comically large disco ball testicles that she sat on and sang Rhinestoned, a song about getting stoned and rebounding with a broken man after having a different man break your heart). She just felt so... real. I don't quite know how to describe it. Maybe it was because I was so close, but during the acoustic portions of the show, I felt like it was just me and her in a room by ourselves, Kacey singing to me as if I were the only other person in the world. It's a level of intimacy that is hard to achieve at a huge show.
(7) The setlist. The setlist. THE SETLIST. The setlist was perfectly paced and balanced throughout the show. Kacey did an excellent job assembling the songs that allowed the mood to shift from upbeat to solemn to joyful in a natural way.
I can think of so many more pros, but honestly, it would take me a while to get them all jotted down, and I'm working on a tight deadline here!
Weaknesses
Friends, I'm going to be so honest with you: I really cannot think of any cons/weaknesses from the show. Everything flowed so well, felt so natural and organized, and overall, I just had a really good time. I think the only, VERY SMALL weakness I can think of is that being in the pit, there were times where Kacey would rotate around the stage and I couldn't see her anymore, but this was mostly fixed by the fact that there was a 360 screen that wrapped around the entire stage, making her visible digitally if not physically. That also might just be a small price to pay for having the luxury of being so close to her and the stage.
I'm contemplating on if this is a real weakness or not, mostly because as I type this, I'm trying to decide if I want to give this show 5 stars out of 5. I want a 5 out of 5 to be COVETED, and rarely given out. The only thing that I can think of that's holding me back from giving this a perfect 5 is that a majority of the show did not feel revolutionary. I know, I know, that is so f**king pretentious of me to say, but I feel like a true 5-star show is something that completely changes my perspective on how arena shows operate, and is used as the new bar to compare all other arena shows. Right now, that bar is Rosalia's LUX Tour, which is the best arena show I have ever attended, hands down. Kacey's Middle of Nowhere tour comes extremely close to rising above the bar that Rosalia set, but doesn't quite cross it. What I will at least concede is that Kacey's show completely changed my thinking on what is possible for a stage setup if you are creative enough.
Final thoughts
This is absolutely one of the best shows I have attended in 2026 so far. Everything felt so beautifully executed and planned, and never once did I get bored or check my watch to see how close we were getting to the end of the show. The ONLY reason I am not giving this a perfect 5-star review is because the show did not quite pass the bar that Rosalia set when I saw her in June of this year.
This show has earned its 4.75 out of 5.
