Orville Peck, Nikki Lane and Emili Nenni at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco

The meteoric rise of masked country crooner Orville Peck shows no signs of slowing down. With a new album (Stampede) fresh onto the airwaves, an ambitious tour found Mr. Peck stepping up to headline the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, over twice the capacity of his last visit to the Bay in 2022.

The evening kicked off early with performances by Emily Nenni and Nikki Lane who set the perfect tone for the evening in front of a packed house. The appreciation for their sets was genuine but it was clear from the antsy-ness up front as the headlining set approached that the San Francisco love runs deep for Orville.

Taking the stage with a wave before striding up to the mic with a simple, “I’m Orville Peck,” the band wasted no time jumping right into “Big Sky” off of Peck’s debut album, Pony, his deep vocals soaring through the massive hall as the San Francisco crowd hung on every word. Relative to his 2022 visit, Peck seems to have found more confidence on the stage, even eschewing the “chin fringe” which had become such a large part of his identity. Whether it was handing out roses to the little buckeroos in the crowd or sharing his favorite bar in the Castro, Peck is as authentic as someone wearing a mask can possibly be.

While 2022’s Bronco dominated the setlist, it wouldn’t have been the “Stampede Tour” without a healthy dose of the new material. including Ned Sublette’s “Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other” which Peck covered in a duet with the legendary Willie Nelson (not present). The 90 minute set ended with a cover of “Unchained Melody” and “Bronco,” leaving the crowd sated until his next visit.

Alt-country, cow punk, whatever you want to call it … a gay punk rocker singing country tunes certainly shatters the genre’s stereotypes wide-open, opening it up for a new set of fans that may not have previously felt accepted. One look at the Bill Graham crowd and you would have seen an incredibly diverse crowd brought together by great music.

Bigger room, bigger production, but what has remained unchanged are the three rules of an Orville Peck Show: 1) it’s okay to cry, 2) sing along … even if you don’t know the lyrics, and 3) please dance along. And that’s exactly what San Francisco did!

Setlist