Tyler Childers and his longtime backing band, The Food Stamps, made their debut at New York’s storied Madison Square Garden on Tuesday evening.
Although Childers and the band have been busy all year checking off notable arenas on their global Mule Pull 2024 Tour, an MSG debut is reliably a red-circled date on any rising star’s calendar. In an unusual turn of events, however, that date recently got bumped a day earlier thanks to the arena’s still-standing New York Rangers, who will continue their NHL Eastern Conference Finals hunt on Thursday night at the Garden.
Despite their two-night stand’s playoff switch from Wednesday/Thursday to Tuesday/Wednesday, Tyler and The Food Stamps were no less ready to meet the moment when they took their places at MSG. The stage was adorned by rounded, glowing tiers of risers to show off the sizable ensemble, assorted lamps to give the cavernous space an intimate ambiance, and an ever-shifting video wall behind the band that helped transport the crowd into the world of each vividly written selection.
While the sounds filling the Garden over the course of two-plus hours drifted from honky tonk hollerin’ to Appalachian fiddlin’ to country soul-bearing to emotive gospel organ to moments of hair-raising rock improvisation, the focus of the evening returned time and again to the appreciation of loved ones. Well, that and mules—though when Tyler Childers is involved, you can probably go ahead and put mules in the “loved ones” category, anyway.
From a crowd-sung “Happy Birthday” in honor of Childers’ mom to the lovingly detailed, auctioneer-style introductions for his band of brothers, the many heartfelt anecdotes about his beloved wife (the night’s opening act, Durham, NC electronic duo Sylvan Esso, had been the soundtrack to the couple’s courtship, he explained) to the scores of canoodling couples in the crowd taking advantage of this optimal date-night scenario in the Big Apple, the evening was consistently colored by the power of companionship.
That feeling remained even when The Food Stamps briefly cleared out midway through the show, leaving Childers alone with an acoustic guitar and a microphone. The songs he played during the solo interlude were among the most powerful of the night, each one landing thoughtfully within the evening’s thematic atmosphere: the serene, Sunday-morning romance of “Shake the Frost”, the hard-learned paternal guidance at the core of “Nose on the Grindstone”, the generational love, loss, and nostalgia that illuminates “Follow You to Virgie”… they all spoke to the common thread of worthwhile company that ran the performance. As he serenaded the hushed arena crowd, his smoldering side-eye—a signature of sorts—conveyed just how deeply he felt the words he was singing.
To round out his solo interlude, Childers brought out some actual company in the form of beloved Muppet Kermit the Frog, who riffed about his rent-stabilized NYC pad (a lily pad in Central Park, that is) before trading verses with Tyler on “Lady May” (yet another fan-favorite ode to his wife and frequent muse) and leading the full-scale Food Stamps ensemble through The Muppet Movie classic “Movin’ Right Along”.
Tyler Childers w/ Kermit the Frog – “Lady May” – 5/28/24
Tyler Childers & The Food Stamps w/ Kermit the Frog – “Movin’ Right Along” (The Muppet Movie) – 5/28/24
Tyler Childers & The Food Stamps will keep movin’ right along in due time—the Mule Pull 2024 Tour is due to roll on through the summer and beyond—but they’ll savor the good company at Madison Square Garden for one more evening on Wednesday before they do.
Below, view the setlist from Tuesday’s Tyler Childers show at Madison Square Garden, view photos via Emma Delevante, and watch a selection of fan-shot videos from the evening via Matt Frazier. For a full list of upcoming Tyler Childers tour dates, head here.
Setlist: Tyler Childers | Madison Square Garden | New York, NY | 5/28/24
Set: Creeker, Tulsa Turnaround (Kenny Rogers), Percheron Mules, I Swear (to God), Country Squire, Rustin’ in the Rain, All Your’n, Purgatory, Cluck Ole Hen, Space and Time (S.G. Goodman), Happy Birthday to You [1], Shake the Frost [2], Nose on the Grindstone [2], Follow You to Virgie [2], Lady May [2] [3], Movin’ Right Along (The Muppet Movie) [3], In Your Love, Old Country Church (Hank Williams), Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? [4], Whitehouse Road, Two Coats, Honky Tonk Flame, Way of the Triune God, House Fire, Universal Sound, Heart You’ve Been Tendin’
Notes: Performance featured The Food Stamps as the backing band except where otherwise noted.
[1] For Tyler’s mom.
[2] Tyler Childers solo acoustic.
[3] with Kermit the Frog.
[4] Snippet, served as backing music for band introductions
View this post on Instagram
Tyler Childers & The Food Stamps – “All Your’n” – 5/28/24
Tyler Childers – “Shake the Frost” – 5/28/24
Tyler Childers & the Food Stamps – “Whitehouse Road” – 5/28/24
Tyler Childers & The Food Stamps – “Old Country Church” (Hank Williams) – 5/28/24
Tyler Childers & The Food Stamps – “House Fire” – 5/28/24
Tyler Childers & The Food Stamps – “Universal Sound” – 5/28/24