Two songs into her Thursday set, Kacey Musgraves stood center stage, flanked by guitarists wearing their Halloween best, and addressed the crowd at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.
“I heard this is a party town,” she said. “I hope you stand up to it.”
The crowd — 650 strong, said Andrew Holzapfel, director of the Ohio University Campus Involvement Center — mostly obliged, standing for the majority of her 18-song set.
Musgraves stuck mostly to her guns, performing summer single “Blowin’ Smoke” early in her set and her other singles “Merry Go ‘Round” and “Follow Your Arrow” later in the show.
Her set list was dominated by tracks from her March release, Same Trailer Different Park, but she also ventured outside her own music, putting a twang to Weezer’s “Island in the Sun,” a different spin on The Cardigans’ “Lovefool” and Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart,” which she helped write.
And in case her bandmates’ kooky costumes didn’t provide enough Halloween spirit, Musgraves belted a spirited rendition of “I Put a Spell on You,” as seen in Halloween-favorite film Hocus Pocus, while scattering glow sticks and candy from a plastic cauldron midway through her set.
Aside from taking away $18,000 in contract fees, Musgraves also used the performance to test a pair of new songs: clap-along crooners “High Time” and “Rainbow,” which she said was inspired by a horoscope reading.
Kara Oberholzer, an Ohio University media management master’s student, said was seeing Musgraves for the third time because her “song content is so relatable.” She said she was also impressed with Musgraves’ new material.
“I heard a few (new) songs on YouTube, but they’re much better live,” she said.
Rayland Baxter, a flannel-clad Nashville singer-songwriter, opened the show with a six-song set interspersed with wisecracks about everything from his old guitar to his wily twice-removed uncle and the contents of his styrofoam cup.
Both Musgraves and Baxter, who have played a dozen shows together this fall, took time after the main act to meet with fans and sign autographs.
“Doing so many different genres in here, it’s always very interesting to see how they interact with audiences,” Holzaepfel said. “It feels like country artists go that extra length to provide a good show, whether it’s the production value or the way they interact with their fans.”
@Jimryan015
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