When tickets went on sale for Morgan Wade’s No Signs of Slowing Down tour back in September, nearly every show sold out in under a minute. That explosive demand led to many dates moving to larger venues and even adding second shows in several cities. If Saturday’s sold-out First Avenue stop (originally booked at the Fine Line) was any indication, all that hype was more than warranted.

Joining Wade on this leg of the tour was Nashville-based country outfit Nate Fredrick and the Wholesome Boys, whose debut self-titled EP just came out on March 3. An established singer and songwriter in his own right, the Wholesome Boys is Fredrick’s first foray into playing with a band. While the project has only been around since last summer, you’d never know it from seeing them play live. Throughout their energy-packed thirty-minute set, you’d swear they’ve been together for years rather than months.

In addition to Fredrick on vocals and guitar, the quartet consists of lead guitarist Frank Patrick James, bassist Andrew Foreman, and drummer Dylan Miller. Foreman and Miller’s rhythm section is rock-solid. The two often settle into a groove and stay there while James wails away on a solo, or Fredrick’s distinct mumbly baritone delivers introspection and melancholy.

On the surface, Fredrick and the Boys sound like a straightforward country music act. But listening more closely introduces elements of blues, funk, soul, rock and roll, and even jazz. Fredrick himself plays a Gibson 355, a guitar much more closely associated with blues and early rock and roll than country music. At times, the band’s energy was more akin to a punk rock show than a country gig as Foreman and James thrashed around the stage while Miller hit the skins with unbridled intensity.

Soulful at times, twangy at others, and constantly grooving, Nate Fredrick and the Wholesome Boys set the bar extremely high for the night. That said, Morgan Wade breezed past that bar shortly after.

As Wade’s showtime drew near, the house lights dimmed. Nine Inch Nail’s “Closer” began loudly pulsing throughout the room while strobe lights chaotically illuminated the darkness. Guitarist Clint Wells, bassist Johnny Sword, drummer Ethan Luck, and keyboardist Don Eanes filed onstage and took their places. The music and lights cut suddenly, shrouding the room in darkness again. As the lights shone back on, Wade proudly walked onstage, strapped on her massive black and white acoustic guitar, and approached the mic. Showing reverence to the stage she was on, Wade sported a white Purple Rain t-shirt, black leather tights, and chunky, black platform boots that would surely make “Closer”-era Trent Reznor beam with pride.

Wasting no time, she began strumming the first few chords of “Don’t Cry,” one of the standout tracks on her debut album, Reckless (produced by Sadler Vaden of the 400 Unit). Her raspy, leathered soprano kicked in, and from that point on, she had the entirety of the sold-out room hanging on her every word. Wade’s voice is sharp enough to leave a mark, but there’s also an undeniable beauty in its grit. While it’s undoubtedly one of the many elements that captivated fans on Reckless, it’s even more striking when heard in person.

Following “Don’t Cry,” Wade ditched her guitar to focus on hitting the requisite high notes of “Last Cigarette.” Before going into the title track off of Reckless, she briefly addressed the crowd for the first time with a sly smile and endlessly charming Virginia drawl. 

“How y’all doin’ tonight?”

Throughout her hour-and-a-half set, Wade played nearly every song in her catalog. While her discography may not be as deep as some of her contemporaries just yet, lyrically it goes far deeper. Frequently singing about her past struggles with alcohol and her own mental health on her journey to sobriety, Wade lays bare her darkest times. 

By far, the biggest highlight of the set was the back-to-back block of “The Night” and “The Night (Part Two).” The pair of songs is a brutally honest and deeply vulnerable glimpse at the daily battle to resist the temptations of the bottle, even after several years of sobriety. While the two songs are obviously incredibly important to Wade, they’re seemingly just as meaningful to her fans. At times during the “The Night” block, the crowd overwhelmingly outsang Wade. The cacophony of voices made First Avenue feel like one of the much larger venues Wade will surely headline on her next tour.

While her songs are often lyrically heavy, Wade’s performance on Saturday was anything but. Wade and her band took every opportunity to inject some light-hearted fun into the set, often in the form of covers or tacking on a few bars of other songs at the end of her own. 

Midway through the set, she belted out her rendition of fellow smokey-voiced chanteuse Miley Cyrus’s “Bad Karma.” The song was a great interpretation that honored the original while incorporating Wade’s own style into it. As the song ended, the band broke out into a few bars of Stone Temple Pilots’ “Plush” to keep things interesting. A spectacular medley of the Outfield’s “Your Love” and Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” further lightened the mood.

Following the medley, Wade’s band left the stage, allowing her to play a couple of songs on her own, but not before assigning the crowd some homework. (“Now y’all are gonna leave here tonight and go home and spend until April 2 voting for me for CMT’s Breakthrough Female Video of the Year.”) During the first of two solo songs, “Kelley’s Drive” from her Acoustic Sessions EP, Wade’s voice worked overtime, though she never lost control of its rawness. Up next was an acoustic version of “Met You” — or rather, a half-acoustic version. Midway through, the band rejoined Wade onstage to finish strong.

“Thank y’all so much. We got one more for you. I hope that next time we’re here, y’all come on out. We appreciate y’all so much.”

Now for anyone even remotely familiar with Wade’s catalog, there’s only one song that makes sense to end her set with: her smash hit and lead single off Reckless, “Wilder Days.” Once again ditching her guitar to focus on the high notes, Wade grabbed the mic to deliver the one word that only she and she alone can sing with the proper bite.

“You tell me every single secret in your MIND.” The emphasis that Wade puts on the word “mind” is enough to make anyone crumble. When heard live, it packs even more of a punch. As the song continued, the crowd sang along louder and louder with each passing line. Eventually, Wade and the band cut out, leaving only the 1,500 voices of the sold-out crowd to scream out the final chorus.

As the last few notes of “Wilder Days” rang out, Wade walked offstage and down to the barricade to take photos with fans and sign autographs. To fill the space, her band ripped through Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” with Sword stepping up to handle vocal duty. Finally, with all selfies taken and t-shirts signed, Wade left while her band played a few bars of Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy.”

Wade first graced the First Avenue stage opening for Memphis country punkers Lucero in November 2021. Reckless had been out for about eight months at the time, and “Wilder Days” was just beginning to appear at the top of many year-end lists. Now, midway through her first headlining trek and with a sophomore album due out later this year, Wade is living up to the tour’s name and showing no signs of slowing down.

Setlist

Don’t Cry

Last Cigarette

Reckless

Alanis

When the Dirt All Settles

Matches and Metaphors

Fall in Love With Me

The Night

The Night (Part II)

Bad Karma (Miley Cyrus cover with Stone Temple Pilots’ “Plush” outro)

Mend

Run

Take Me Away

Northern Air

Your Love/Jessie's Girl (The Outfield/Rick Springfield covers medley)

Kelley's Drive 

Met You

Wilder Days