“It was right after senior year
just before the summer disappeared
we went a-riding them old farm ruts
hanging out on the gate of his truck
we threw a blanket 'neath the sunset
being brave as 18 gets
we gave each other more than our hearts
with the help of a mason jar.” – Watermelon Moonshine - Joshua Kear, Jordan Mark Schmidt, Lainey Wilson.
The sun was high in the summer sky as fans flocked to Rod Laver Arena for Louisiana star Lainey Wilson’s second sold-out Melbourne concert on her latest Australian tour.
Females, adorned with cowboy and cowgirl hats and beefy boys in western gear, led the charge to the arena that filled up fast like Luke Combs 2025 concerts.
It was no surprise that pioneer RRR-FM country show host Denise Hylands, celebrating 50 years on the station and 30 years as host of TWANG, was among the early birds after interviewing opener Oklahoma oriole Kaitlin Butts for Twang.
Adam Hatzis – a DJ on community station Nu Country FM when it broadcasted from a caretaker’s cottage at the Larundel psychiatric hospital and later at Beer Can Hill in Northcote and the Paris, Texas, end of Collins Street – was also among early arrivals.
Patrons may not have sipped on Lainey’s watermelon moonshine but there was plenty of beer, gin and spirits on sale with softer drinks and food delicacies for fans after the doors opened at 7 pm for three hours of cool country music from the stage and dynamic dancing in the mosh pit.
This experience was highlighted by the amazing light shows on three huge video screens behind and on both sides of the stage.
Kaitlin Butts From Tulsa, Oklahoma, To Melbourne
“Why do they think up stories that link my name with yours why do the neighbours gossip all day behind their doors I know a way to prove what they say is quite untrue here is the gist, a practical list of don’ts for you don't throw bouquets at me don't please my folks too much don't laugh at my jokes too much people will say we're in love.” - Oscar Hammerstein-Richard Rodgers.
Oklahoma oriole Kaitlin Butts dug deep into her childhood music inspired by the Oklahoma musical to punctuate her opening set.
She also credited her parents for encouraging her music while she was at secondary school in Tulsa.
Kaitlin fronted her quintet, featuring a fiddle player, drummer, guitarist and bassist, keyboards and pedal steel, with her own selection of guitars.
Butts reached back to her fourth album My New Life Starts Today for Roadrunner and People Will Say We’re In Love featuring her Flatland Cavalry singing spouse Cleto Cordero who joined her on stage as the audience sang along.
She name-checked Steve Earle’s Goodbye Earle and quipped she was not advocating murder before she ignited the audience with You Ain’t Gotta Die To Be Dead To Me that she has reprised on her new EP The Yeehaw Sessions.
The singer detailed the online trolling she suffered after her songs were streamed on social media.
Kaitlin also performed Bang, Bang My Baby Shot Me Down, Hunt You Down Dressed To Kill, Too Much Ain’t Enough, The Middle and You’ll Be Alright and urged fans to enjoy the life we have been given before revealing she was honoured to be touring with Flatland Cavalry and Lainey Wilson.
Flatland Cavalry From Midland And Lubbock
“Padre's cashing in that overtime
charcoal grill, Friday night
styrofoam cooler stocked cold and light
just getting by
watch his young ones run round the yard
on the tail end of a week worked hard
raise a toast to the stars and a can up to the sky.” - Getting By - Jason Nix & Cleto Cordero.
West Texas band Flatland Cavalry showcased their Lone Star State honky tonk roots when they hit the stage as they followed the classic Miles And Miles Of Texas over the P.A. system.
The sextet formed in Lubbock in 2012 after singer-songwriter Cleto Cordero and drummer Jason Albers met in college at Midland.
They opened their set with livewire love song On And On and followed with Getting By from 2021 disc Welcome To Countryland – the third of their five albums – that began in 2016 with Humble Folks.
There was no need to be humble for the band featuring fiddler Wesley Hall who lit up the love lava of One I Want and their cover of Fleetwood Mac hit Landslide.
It was no surprise when Kaitlin Butts joined the band and her singing spouse Cleto for A Life Where We Work Out from their debut album.
Equally accessible was Some Things Never Change, marital saga Never Coming Back and fitting finale Stomping Grounds.
Adam Gallegos keyboards were draped with a Lone Star flag – he also enriched the band with versatility on organ, mandolin and banjo.
It’s no surprise the band’s music has been featured in Twisters and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Paramount’s Yellowstone, Landman in both season one and season two with Getting By and Netflix’s show The Ranch.
Lainey Wilson Wild West Whirlind Hillbilly Hippie
“F250 with a daisy on the dash
God, guns, country bumper sticker on the back
throwback bell rangin' britches fit like a Friday night
mama's got chicken popping in the Crisco
daddy prays for rain, so the green money grows
green money
barefoot barbed wire boondocks 'til I tie-dye
hillbilly hippie right down to the bone
a little Mississippi
whole lotta rolling stone
all peace and love up until I ain't
Willied up with a whiskey drank.” - Hillbilly Hippie - Jeremy Bussey, Terri Box, Lainey Wilson.
Lainey opened her show in dramatic style with her Whirlwind hit.
The band played the intro while a large glowing red hot horseshoe projected images inside of a storm brewing. Flashes of dark clouds and lightning appeared with wild horses galloping and then a silhouette of Lainey as she made a grand entrance to the stage emerging directly underneath the horseshoe.
Wilson highlighted her western regalia with a blue cowboy hat, black vest and bellbottoms.
“Are you ready to have a good time,” Lainey asked her capacity crowd.
She followed with Hold My Halo and Kaitlin Butts joined her for Good Horses that featured galloping horses in the three-screen video.
Lainey introduced Devil Don’t Go There by saying “you make me feel like I’m home, so far from home. Melbourne is such a great place.”
She added ‘the party’s just getting started” as she urged fans “all turn on your cell phones and light it up,” as she segued into her Watermelon Moonshine ballad.
Lainey and her band ignited Country’s Cool Again with Wrangler Jeans on the video screens with pictures of Lainey and her band in jeans as Sav Madigan added fiddle.
She followed with Keep Up With Jones featured Aslan Freeman and Kevin Nolan on short guitar solos.
Madigan played electric piano on the intro of theatrical lullaby Somewhere Over Laredo inspired by the classic Somewhere Over A Rainbow by Judy Garland from the movie The Wizard of Oz.
Wilson was elevated into the air on a large mechanical pedestal wearing a long white drape blowing behind her.
During Peace, Love and Cowboys, Lainey plucked a young girl Ella from the audience and invited her up on stage, gave her a cowboy hat and announced Ella as “cowgirl of the night”.
Wilson declared her love of Australia and said how she loves Australian accents with a joke about her own southern accent.
The band ignited heavy country rock song Hang Tight Honey that enabled Lainey to showcase her energy, confidence and charisma.
During Hillbilly Hippie she went into the crowd high-fiving fans on all sections of the ground floor of the arena.
The band then left the stage and three bench seats were set up front near the audience.
Lainey sat on the bench seat and spoke to the crowd about growing up in a small country town Baskin of only 170 people where her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was a farmer living a humble life.
She reminisced how as a young girl she loved listening to stories on country radio and knew she wanted to tell stories and be a country singer when she grew up.
Lainey illustrated this with solo performance of Whiskey Coloured Crayons.
Cleto Cordero then joined Wilson on stage for an acoustic cover of the Flatland Calvary song Meantime.
The band returned to the stage and sat with Lainey as they performed Counting Chickens as she joked about having five chickens in her band.
She introduced band members to fans before playing an acoustic version of Can’t Sit Still.
“This is one of my favourite ways to play, just sitting around jamming and playing music together”.
Lainey then performed her biggest hit Things A Man Oughta Know and confessed it wasn’t planned to make it on the album but its huge success was a nice surprise.
They ignited the tempo for Wildflowers And Wild Horses and Bell Bottoms Up.
Her version of Call A Cowboy was illustrated by a video featuring rodeo cowboys on horses.
She followed with Bar In Baton Rouge and the ballad 4x4xU as the crowd waves their arms high in the air.
Lainey finished her show with Heart Like A Truck after saying “I’m having the time of my life. Australia you’ve got a heart like a truck.”
She thanked fans and her band – Sav Madigan – fiddle, banjo, pedal steel guitar, acoustic guitar, electric piano, Matt Nolan – drums, Kevin Nolan – lead guitar/dobro, Tommy Scifres – bass and Aslan Freeman – guitar.
The fans responded with gusto before heading to their trucks, Utes, cars, trains, trams, buses and motor bikes.
Their joyous camaraderie as they hit the road was a vast contrast to the woes of the world suffered way across the oceans in nations plagued by wars and other violence.
Review by David Dawson – Producer – Nu Country TV
Photos – Brett Schewitz
