Kacey Musgraves Brings the Middle of Nowhere to Target Center

There are concerts you go to because you like an artist, and then there are concerts that feel a little like coming home. For me, Kacey Musgraves has always been that place. After seeing her through nearly every chapter of her career, from Same Trailer Different Park to Golden Hour and beyond, I walked into Target Center on September 22 already knowing I was in for something special and Kacey somehow still managed to surprise me. I’ve loved seeing how the production has changed with her over the years to match that chapter of her life as she takes us through it by song.

Opening the night was Carter Faith, whose warm, country-leaning sound was a fitting introduction to an evening that would ultimately feel like a love letter to the genre. A definite one to watch as she continues to bring her talents out on the road. Eventually the lights drop a countdown begins and Kacey emerged for “Everybody Wants to Be a Cowboy,” singing from the trailer house piece of the set in the background, immediately setting the tone for her Middle of Nowhere era. The new songs “Dry Spell,” “Abilene,” “Uncertain, TX,” “Horses and Divorces” and the title track fit seamlessly alongside fan favorites like “High Horse,” “Merry Go ’Round,” “Butterflies,” “Golden Hour” and “Slow Burn.”

But what made this show feel different was how fully Kacey leaned back into her country roots. Middle of Nowhere is a love letter to Texas, and her connection to her roots. With pedal steel, accordion and line dance influences woven throughout the record, those sounds translated beautifully live on stage.

Of course there was plenty of that unmistakable Kacey flair. She has always had a way of making a massive arena feel intimate, like we’re all in on the inside joke. Rings of fire flaring up around the stage, the platform itself spinning and changing directions to bring Kacey out closer to her fans, and an LED butterfly flapping its glowing wings around the stage during her song of the same name. Whether she's delivering a devastatingly beautiful ballad or getting thousands of people to scream every word of “Follow Your Arrow.” By the time she closed with George Strait’s “All My Ex’s Live in Texas,” and felt like a perfectly placed wink to everything that brought her back to country music in the first place.

For someone who has watched Kacey evolve through so many evolutions, seeing her embrace this version of herself felt especially meaningful. She never really left country behind. She just took the scenic route and brought us along for the ride. A thank you to Kacey for creating a safe and welcoming place for people to come and experience lifes happy and sad moments.