Orville Peck at Chateau Ste. Michelle

We arrived at Chateau Ste. Michelle on the rainy Wednesday afternoon to catch one of our most anticipated shows of the season. It was our first time at an Orville Peck show, and we were thrilled. Walking into the venue you could see fans were not letting the rain bother them as many dressed in their best cowboy outfits to match the theme. The freshly started Stampede tour has just kicked off supporting Peck’s third record released in August.

Daniel Pitout aka Orville Peck is best known as the masked country singer who is also said to be in talks for a Broadway play soon. Peck who trained as a ballet dancer while growing up in South Africa has also studied acting before launching his music career.

The five-piece band took the floor wearing all black and cowboy hats matching each other as Peck stood out wearing an all-blue suit and cowboy hat with his black mask. The show started with “Big Sky,” and “Turn to Hate,” and as the rain continued but that didn’t stop Peck taking his jacket off leaving his muscular arms visible in his white tank top. I’m pretty sure someone yelled, “Yes, daddy” to this.

Before “Hexie Mountains,” Peck mentioned that this was his favorite song from his second record, Bronco. He shared that he wrote it during a bad time in his life which he was depressed and that this was the first time he spoke about his mental health. Last year he was in a bad place again and had to cancel his tour to take care of himself and now he was in a much better place. He thanked everyone for standing by him and understanding that he needed to cancel and was grateful for them waiting and coming to this tour.

His guitarist Emily Rose started off “How Far Will We Take It?” as Peck joined in for the second verse and made the song really stand out. All the songs were mesmerizing, and his band was very talented. The simple production fit perfectly with the show as the retro lamps beautifully lit up the space along with the simple sign in the back reading his name intertwined with a snake design.

Peck in no stranger to the area as he lived in Vancouver, BC while recording almost all of Pony nearby at Gulf Island and was signed to the legendary Sub Pop. Before “Drive Me, Crazy,” he asked the crowd if there were any truckers present and someone in the back replied and he dedicated the song to them playing the piano.

Peck mentioned how honored he was that Willie Nelson agreed to sing a song with him on his latest record. This was the lead single off of it and a cover of Ned Sublette‘s, “Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other.” A highlight was “Kalahari Down,” a song he’s written about missing his home and always being away.

When the band returned for their encore Peck had changed into his signature fringe mask which people associate with his persona. This mystery of what a person can really look like under the mask and after a while learn to focus on just the music is something intriguing about Peck. As time passes, he reveals a little more of his face and we wonder if it will ever come off. He has made this uniform a part of his whole artistic personality and it really suits it well. The band played “Bronco” as their last song and the sold-out crowd gave it their all one last time. Orville Peck is an artist you want to see to understand the hype around him. This was an amazing set and the music was good.