Nikki Lane can set fire to a stage, and she did just that on March 2nd at Music Hall of Williamsburg as part of Highway Queen tour. On the tails of her new record, also titled Highway Queen, Lane and her band has been maintaining a rigorous show schedule. But nevertheless, the energy was high and Lane sounded better than ever. Decked out in a bedazzled white suit, custom-made for her and covered in sparkling dice and guns, Lane gave us throwback, over-the-top Opry vibes. She busted her set wide open with her album’s title track, making certain there’s no mistake about it – she’s the queen of the road and we came to see her play.
But before we saw her play, we saw two excellent sets from openers Jonathan Tyler and Brent Cobb. The former also plays guitar in Lane’s band, but showed a more serious side in his soulful, quieter set, while Cobb and his incredible band blew the audience away with their polished, arena-sized performance. You heard it here first (or maybe you didn’t, but it bears repeating): Brent Cobb is not an opening act. It’s a wonder he isn’t the talk of the town in Nashville. His band brought his stellar 2016 record Shine On Rainy Day to life with a classic, sun-drenched 70s country rock style. Performing songs like “Country Bound”, “Solving Problems” and “Down in the Gulley”, Cobb brought the house down.
By the time Lane appeared, the crowd was warmed up and ready for her to finish what Cobb started. Her voice sounded better than ever on newer tunes like “700,000 Red Necks” and “Jackpot”, and older ones like “You Can’t Talk to Me Like That” and “Love’s On Fire”, which she did as a duet with Tyler. Lane even shed her bandmates for a quieter set that included a gorgeous, pared down version of “Good Man”. She regaled us with stories of her Brooklyn-dwelling days, during which she was inspired to write “Man Up”, a song about a guy who’s not up to snuff. Safe to say, her return to her old neighborhood was a lot better this time around.
