If there’s any justice in the world, Kacey Musgraves would be the biggest pop star in the world within the next year. On her latest album ‘Golden Hour’, she proves herself to be a songwriting tour de force, no matter what label you slap on her.
The accompanying tour reveals much of the same: namely, that Musgraves is a pop superstar moonlighting as a cowgirl – and what harm. Her band wear matching Mountie-inspired get ups – complete with glittering shoes – as she sashays in front of an enormous prop fan flooded with the colours of a sunset. It’s Wild West meets L.A. meets the expanse of Musgraves’ sun-soaked mind.
A show can be a visual treat, but it still needs to hold up when it comes to how it sounds. While she may not boast the widest range in either genre, she delivers her vocals with enviable clarity. The exchange of vocal loop-de-loops for simple melodies and gloriously vibrant lyricism is a welcome one on tracks such as Velvet Elvis. Although appearing more nervous when confronted with the newer material – often touching her hair self-consciously and tugging at her mic – it’s never static or uncomfortable.
Musgraves succumbs to the audiences glowing appraisal during Keep It To Yourself, slackening her grip and allowing herself to relax. Despite the intense hype surrounding ‘Golden Hour’, the crowd is still appreciative of the occasional hoe-down from her earlier albums. Merry Go Round sees fan and artist duel off in the most pleasant sing song witnessed in the Olympia Theatre for a very long time.
As the set nears its end, the band close in on the centre of the stage to perform the tour’s title track, Oh What A World: the harpsichord accompany it threatens to transport the crowd to another dimension. Musgraves has a way of describing life with fresh eyes, bringing poetry to life, while still being able to bust out a jazzy cover of NSync’s Tearin’ Up My Heart with touring partner Soccer Mommy.
Kacey Musgraves exposes the magic in the everyday with her performance; the godless humanity that exists in us all. Through her music, she floods the stage with colour and light, delivered with grace as always – pure joy from start to finish.