Kacey Musgraves pays tribute to Dolly Parton in Boston while stage catches fire

It was quite an eventful Friday night at TD Garden in Boston, where Kacey Musgraves stopped by on her Middle of Nowhere Tour. The show was marked by two standout moments: a moving tribute to Dolly Parton, who passed away on August 25th at the age of 80, and a small fire that broke out on the stage rigging above her head during the show.

The fire was apparently caused by pyrotechnic effects similar to sparkler fireworks, and it started right after a performance of "Golden Hour," a song that happens to contain the lyric "You set my world on fire." Fan video showed flames visibly burning above the stage. Musgraves responded with an impressive amount of self deprecating humor. "That looks bad," she told the crowd. "I have way too much hairspray to be standing under that shit." She went on to say that she had spent a lot of time alone while making her latest album, which had given her anxiety. "So does that," she joked, glancing up at the fire. "I only like pyro when I know what the hell's going to happen. Does anyone have a bedazzled fire extinguisher anywhere?" The fire eventually went out on its own and the show continued without further interruption. Musgraves completed a 23 song set.

At least as impressive was the tribute Musgraves paid to Parton, who died on Monday and whose passing sparked an outpouring of grief from artists including Reba McEntire, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Jack White, Harry Styles, and Ella Langley. Musgraves had not been performing her Golden Hour ballad "Rainbow" on the current tour, but she added it specially that evening. She told the crowd that the central idea of the song, namely that you have to accept rain in order to see a rainbow, had come from a "wise person," before revealing she was talking about Parton. Photos of the country legend were shown on the screens behind her. "Let's all sing this together for her memory," Musgraves said to the audience. That was followed by a cover of Parton's crossover hit "Here You Come Again" from 1977, with the crowd singing along.

The choice of exactly these two songs carried extra weight. In 2019, Musgraves performed "Rainbow" at the Grammy Awards and afterward sang "Here You Come Again" alongside Parton and Katy Perry as part of an all star tribute to the country icon. Seven years later, both songs returned, this time as a final farewell. After Parton's passing, Musgraves wrote simply on social media: "This really hurts."

The Boston show was the second week of the Middle of Nowhere Tour, which kicked off a week earlier in Chicago. There, Musgraves made an impression by hanging from a giant disco ball during "Rhinestoned." The tour continues with two nights at Madison Square Garden in New York, starting August 31st.