It’s safe to say Carly Pearce is practically an honorary Brit at this point. Since making her UK debut at C2C in 2018, she’s been a regular on this side of the pond, including her headlining Hummingbird tour in 2025 as well as performing at the Grand Ole Opry 100th anniversary celebrations last autumn. Now, the Kentucky native, Opry member and CMA and Grammy Award winner is back with her Inside The Dream tour, which included headlining the second night of this year’s Highways Festival.
After an intro playlist that included Lady A’s ‘Champagne Night’ and ‘Here For The Party’ by Gretchen Wilson, Pearce arrived on stage with her four piece band and opened with new track ‘How Long’. It’s a driving, rock-influenced number where Pearce tells a returning ex where to go and showed off her smooth honeyed tones perfectly. She followed that with the stomping ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ and ‘Next Girl’ with its upbeat twang, setting the tone for an evening that ran the gamut of emotions and was full of her dulcet vocals.
Throughout the night Pearce took the opportunity to showcase the new music she’s been working on, whether that was the honest wordplay of ‘Church Girl’, or the slinky ‘If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay’, her recent single with Riley Green. I particularly loved the new song she’s premiering on this tour, ‘Same Circus’, with its dramatic intro and vivid imagery of ferris wheels and rodeo cowboys that paired brilliantly with the richness and resignation in Pearce’s delivery.
That said, there was also plenty of room for older material including the smooth, slick ‘Easy Going’, the bittersweet ‘Should Have Known Better’ and a powerful one-two punch of ‘We Don’t Fight Anymore’ and ‘Never Wanted To Be That Girl’. Pearce is great at tapping into those more challenging emotions and she proved she can absolutely deliver by herself on those songs. The highlight of these for me though was her stripped back performance of ‘Every Little Thing’, with a simple piano accompaniment as the crowd lit up the Royal Albert Hall with their phones and she wrung out every last drop of feeling in the lyrics. She also threw in a few covers, including a quirky blend of ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac and Olivia Dean’s ‘Nice To Each Other’ as well as a rendition of Dolly Parton’s classic ‘Jolene’ which she paired with her own song, the swinging, cheeky ‘You Can Have Him’.
One thing which really stood out to me was the strength of Pearce’s connection with the audience. She seemed to wave at almost everyone in the audience at some point, and had a huge grin on her face as she cracked jokes about how “Instagram is about as real as my hair” and bantered with the crowd before her performance of the bittersweet ‘Dream Come True’, as well as telling stories about her grandparents’ influence on her sound ahead of ‘Fault Line’, which she described as a modern answer to George Jones and Tammy Wynette songs (and which included a huge note at the end!). You can tell she really loves the UK fans and that feeling is mutual, particularly based on the response to the feisty ‘Truck On Fire’ where she could be seen mouthing ‘wow’ as the crowd rose to their feet and sang along.
Pearce closed the main show with a soaring rendition of ‘I Hope You’re Happy Now’ before taking a short break ahead of her two-song encore. She began with an acoustic performance of new song ‘Happy For Myself’, a yearning wish for fulfilment which didn’t so much tug the heartstrings as yank on them, and followed that with a passionate speech to younger fans in the front row where she told them not to question their worth, before her performance of ‘What He Didn’t Do’. The delicate strength of her vocals really works for this song and it was the perfect note to end the night on.
Overall Carly Pearce delivered a dream of a headline set that dazzled the Royal Albert Hall and showed why she’s so beloved by UK audiences. She was clearly having the time of her life as she strutted and spun around the stage, and highlighted her lush vocals as well as the depth of her catalogue and how she’s grown with new music. The only thing I would perhaps have liked would have been one more of her ‘fun’ songs, but I’m really excited for this next record, and I can’t wait to see her back in the UK soon – hopefully based on her track record we won’t have to wait too long!
Setlist: 1. How Long 2. Rock Paper Scissors 3. Next Girl 4. Easy Going 5. Should Have Known Better 6. We Don’t Fight Anymore 7. Never Wanted To Be That Girl 8. Dreams / Nice To Each Other (Fleetwood Mac / Olivia Dean cover) 9. Fault Line 10. Every Little Thing 11. If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay 12. Church Girl 13. Truck On Fire 14. Same Circus 15. Jolene (Dolly Parton cover) 16. You Can Have Him 17. Dream Come True 18. I Hope You’re Happy Now Encore: 19. Happy For Myself 20. What He Didn’t Do Show date: 16 May 2026
