Kacey Musgraves at the Roundhouse

Kacey Musgraves

Madi Diaz

Roundhouse, 14 May 2024

It's been almost ten years since I last saw Kacey Musgraves live, at the Royal Albert Hall, back in 2015. It feels like a lifetime ago and Musgraves has actually soared in that time, as I predicted back then, releasing four more acclaimed albums, including her latest, Deeper Well, which came out earlier this year.

One of the reasons I haven't seen her live since then is mainly due to the fact she's so popular she can play much larger venues than even the Royal Albert Hall, plus I must admit I wasn't enamored with her more pop direction on her previous record, the divorce-themed Star-Crossed. But her fantastic new record, Deeper Well, is a return to the folky-country sound that won my heart in the first place and maybe because it's a much more intimate-sounding album, Musgraves announced much smaller shows including two nights at the legendary Roundhouse, which of course sold out straight away.

I was desperate to go and so settled on the first tickets that came up, which sadly for me were seats on the balcony, but seeing they were nearer to the stage and fearing I wouldn't get a ticket otherwise (annoyingly standing tickets did appear after I had already purchased my ticket), I settled, figuring it would be a new experience, as I've never seen a show at the Roundhouse from the balcony before and if nothing else it would be nice to have a guaranteed place.

I have to say I would never do it again, as I felt really removed from all the action and way too far away, and while this was still a special show and I got to see it from a different perspective, what I wouldn't have given to be down in the crowd, among the loving and singing audience, rather than stuck seated between a little girl and her parents on one side and an old, unimpressed couple who left early, on the other. 

That said, it was still a great show and it started with an opening set from singer-songwriter, Madi Diaz, who is a great friend of Musgraves, so much so she even appears on Diaz's last album. Tonight Diaz performs alone and is greeted with cries of "Happy Birthday!" and she admits that, yes, it is her 38th birthday today. Someone in the audience even gifts her a "MILF" t-shirt and the crowd at one point spontaneously bursts into song, singing Happy Birthday to her, which is a rather lovely, warm moment.

I must admit I wasn't familiar with Diaz's music but to me she sounded like an older, wiser Phoebe Bridgers, with smart, cutting lyrics, switching between a fuzzy electric guitar and an acoustic for a more singer-songwriter vibe, with songs about ex's, crying in public and even one about her dad (he wanted her to remind everyone he wasn't actually dead). 

One song (Think Of Me) she defiantly sang "I hope you fuck her with your eyes closed and think of me". I'm glad the little girl who eventually sat next to me hadn't arrived yet! I enjoyed Diaz's set but I do think I would have appreciated it more in a smaller setting or had I been closer to the stage. Sadly, as much of set was very low lit, I didn't manage to even get a photo but from a distance, she looked cool. It would be interesting to see her with a band, she definitely has a gutsy vibe that would make her a great frontwoman.

Unusually for a support act, Diaz got a fantastic reaction and was warmly received, but the crowd were definitely there to see Kacey Musgraves, and there were plenty of cowboy hats and western shirts in the audience to prove just how up for a night of country they really were. The lights went dim and her eight-piece band took to the stage beginning the song, so that Musgraves could make her starry entrance to huge cheers, armed with her acoustic guitar, for the folky spectral tale Cardinal.

I mean, she looks incredible, every bit the star, with her long, straight dark hair and slim-fitting two-piece outfit, comprising of a crop top and a long skirt with a split in the back, looking like a more modest but more modern Cher. Her voice also sounds so clear and lustrous. I've always felt Musgraves has a more gentle and appealing voice than some of the more showy, powerhouse singers, and it's part of what I love about her: she never oversings yet is still so emotive and evocative. Tonight she rises above her huge band and hits the rafters. It's a much better setting in a venue like this and her charisma and presence fills the place beautifully. It's also nice the way she interacts and chats with the crowd, even playfully stealing one of the cowboy hats at one point (she returns it, don't worry).

As I had hoped, a good chunk of the set was given over to Deeper Well, with no less than 11 of its 14 songs played tonight. In fact the first five songs were all from the new record and I actually wondered if the whole show was going to be just new tracks (which to be fair, I would have been perfectly okay with). One lovely moment during these songs was when she sang Sway and the entire crowd swayed with her and it's true from my vantage point this looked pretty cool (which I wouldn't have seen if I had been down in the crowd).

After these five songs she says, let's go back and we get some of the best tracks from one of her best albums, Golden Hour. Interestingly, aside from a stripped down version of her breakthrough song Follow Your Arrow from her first album, she doesn't play anything from those first two more country albums. I saw her on the tour for Pageant Material so got to hear a lot of those songs live that time round and I didn't see her on the Golden Hour tour, so it is pretty exciting to hear so much tracks from that record and to be honest, they fit in with the new material incredibly well.

I did wonder if she would skip the previous album altogether, it is afterall a divorce record and more pop than the others, but there was a sort of disco moment near the end when she played Justified, Breadwinner (from that record) and High Horse, the disco-country hit from Golden Hour. The crowd loved it and sang along to every word but it took me out of the vibe a little (although there were enormous balloons released during this part to distract anyone not digging the disco).

Musgraves also brings Madi Diaz out on stage and gets everyone to sing Happy Birthday to her again, which everyone willingly does and in reward we get the live debut of their song together, Don't Do Me Good, which is on Diaz's latest record, and the two sound great together and clearly have great chemistry too.

One of my highlights comes just before this, when the discoball lowers and Musgraves sings one of my favourite songs on Deeper Well, Anime Eyes and it's crazy how many people already know the words to this new track, and, well, most of the songs from the new record, which has to be a good sign.

Musgraves herself is also very funny and often teases the audience and responds to things shouted to her. At one point she is going to dedicate a song to someone who is celebrating their 21st birthday, until lots of others start claiming its their birthday too, and she gives up laughing. She also tells a funny story of how she went solo sightseeing in a remote part of Ireland at the start of the tour, falling off her bike and not getting her potential "meet-cute" with a charming Irish lad and instead only constantly bumping into the same American couple. Then after succumbing to the lure of a fish and chips stand at the side of the road, later that night found herself with a bout of food poisoning which somehow, despite not being contagious, appeared to spread among her band, with most having suffered it. "And the surprise of the night, is you're getting it too, it comes free with your ticket," she jokes. After someone shouts something about the Spice Girls, she gushes how much she loves them, and excitedly tells us, "I met Sporty Spice the other day and I almost shat myself!" It is funny how much she swears in real life too.

After balloons, disco balls, even a shower of confetti, and of course lots of stories and songs, she tells us that we are just getting just two more songs, "and I'm not going to lie to you, there's no encore, I don't believe in them" (be still my punk rock heart, I always appreciate bands and artists who do away with this pretense), one of which is maybe my favourite Kacey song of all time, Slow Burn, which was incredible to finally hear live, and then, to end things, she says, on a positive note, a lifting cover of Bob Marley's Three Little Birds, which includes a little snatch of her song Easier Said at the end.

This really was a sparkling, magical night because there is something so lovely and luminous about Kacey Musgraves. So even though I wasn't in the greatest place in the venue, I still feel lucky to have been briefly in her presence and to hear so many of her songs shine live.