After six months of anticipation and a two-hour car ride, we arrived at the Ethel Cain concert fiercely determined to secure good seats. Our hopes were shattered when we found an endless line of concertgoers snaking around the parking garage. Just as we were about to resign ourselves to the long wait, we spotted an employee with a megaphone directing line-dwellers to throw themselves over a concrete barricade. We blindly followed suit and found ourselves in the very front, an opportune position to acquire the seats of our dreams.
Cain graced our stage at the MegaCorp Pavillion in Newport, Kentucky, Saturday, April 25. The show was a stop on her Willoughby Tucker Forever Tour for her sophomore album titled “Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You.” The concept album follows the fictional persona Ethel Cain (Hayden Anhedönia) and her tumultuous relationship with her one true love, Willoughby Tucker.
Our fellow attendees got the memo for the concert’s dress code. Everyone around us was sporting leather boots, lacy white dresses, camouflage patterns, graphic tees, rosaries and chunky belt buckles. Each outfit perfectly evoked the visuals of “Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You,” effectively bringing Cain’s narrative to life.
We found our seats in the very front of the lawn, lucky to be some of the first people in the venue. In spite of the itchy grass poking our legs, we were happily situated in our spot and soaked up the spring weather while waiting for Cain to appear. All was right and well in the world until two bozos plopped down on the concrete barrier directly in front of us. Fortunately, the couple moved to seats below where we were seated and did not obstruct our view of the concert.
The song we were most excited to experience live was the album’s lead single, “Nettles.” The song dropped on June 4, 2025, and from that day onward it soundtracked our summers. Hearing it performed live was transcendental: not just because of the immersive environment it was played in, but because it felt like a closure to our senior year. The angelic note changes during the post-chorus gave the song an extra layer of resonance, leaving us with tear-stained cheeks by the song’s end.
When the opening piano chords of “A House in Nebraska” sounded through the venue, we erupted in excited screams. We had not realized the song was on the setlist, so hearing its striking first notes took us both by surprise. “A House in Nebraska” was undoubtedly one of the most memorable songs of the night; hearing the fervid guitar solo performed live is the closest either of us have come to believing in a higher power.
These songs, however incredible, would have lacked the same impact if not for the mesmerizing lighting design of Cain’s set. Emotional pull plays a big part in Cain’s songwriting, so the thematic lighting and effects allowed us to truly step into her narrative. During “Gibson Girl,” the stage flashed a deep purple, evoking the song’s sensuous atmosphere; during “Punish Demo II,” white streaks emitted from the wings in a circular motion, creating a hypnotic effect that mirrors the track’s eerieness; during “Ptolemaea,” the lights flickered with every beat before blazing red, exaggerating the tension and eventual release of the song. Each lighting choice felt perfectly tailored and intentional for the respective tracks.
The live experience of “Ptolemaea” was memorable for more reasons than one. Both the captivating lights and Cain’s raw performance intensified the build to the song’s iconic crescendo, during which she turned the microphone to the audience and invited us to scream. Our screams were long, dramatic and anguished. Afterwards, our voices were hoarse and our heads throbbed. The collective eruption from the crowd felt deeply cathartic—it was a much-needed relief after a stressful senior year.
The storytelling and worldbuilding conducive of concept albums makes hearing them live ideal; Cain’s “Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You,” was not just written to be listened to, but experienced. The immersive nature of the lighting design, poignant note changes and overall harmony of the crowd imbued new meanings into the songs we have heard countless times before. The concert was a profoundly transformative experience that is guaranteed to replay in our minds whenever one of Ethel Cain’s songs shuffles on.
Published and digitized May 2026.
