Wilson was polished as a new penny, with a voice reminiscent of Dolly Parton and a stage presence of someone who’s been doing this for 40 years.
Wilson was polished as a new penny, with a voice reminiscent of Dolly Parton and a stage presence of someone who’s been doing this for 40 years.
It is no wonder that Lainey Wilson’s show is called Whirlwind, because that is exactly what she is. She is a force of nature in sparkles and fringe, and she blew through the Xfinity Center with her Whirlwind World Tour Saturday, Oct. 11 —actually, a bit more like a tornado.
From the time she opened with “Whirlwind” off her 2024 album by the same name, to the time she sat down with her bandmates three-quarters of the way through the show, she never stopped moving, twirling or swinging her signature fringe. And nobody swings fringe like Lainey Wilson.
She sailed smoothly from Whirlwind to “Hold My Halo” off her 2022 album Bell Bottom Country, then she spun back to Whirlwind for a duet of “Good Horses” with her opening act, Lauren Watkins. It was a lovely mix that sounded as if the two had been singing together forever.
Wilson slowed down a whisker for “The Devil Don’t Go There” and the popular hit “Watermelon Moonshine,” which this time had her harmonizing with a crowd of 10,000.
Wilson also urged the crowd to light up their cell phone flashlights during the song, which totally abolishes that organic feeling, when the crowd does it on their own when moved by a song — but it was still a pretty sight in the cool night. A little unseasonably cool for Wilson, who said she’d just left Nashville, where it was 95 degrees, but was loving autumn in New England.
Wilson coached the crowd more than once on how to wave or clap or react to a particular song, but it seemed to be more about participation than bravado.
She is a showman. Polished as a new penny, with a voice reminiscent of Dolly Parton and a stage presence of someone who’s been doing this for 40 years.
She isn’t shy and never hesitates, but she’s not a commander. With her glittery purple cape, leather halter top and her other signature style, bellbottoms, she is a natural, completely at ease in the world she inhabits, and she wants everyone to join and have as much fun as she’s having. And her band — they are definitely having as much fun as Wilson.
With Aslan Freeman on lead guitar, Matt Nolan on drums and at one point washboard, Kevin Nolan on guitar, dobro and piano, Tommy Scifres on bass and Sav Madigan on, well, everything — violin/fiddle, guitar, a little banjo and backup vocals — that band is fierce, playful and wildly in sync with Wilson.
