Things you don’t want to happen to you when performing on stage: have something hurled at you from the audience, get bitten by a random bat, or discover that your pants have split open. But if fate decides that you simply must endure one of these indignities, may it be suffering a wardrobe malfunction, and may you handle it with as much good humor as country star Lainey Wilson did over the weekend. She was playing the Faster Horses Festival in Michigan last Saturday, when her people watching offstage realized the precarious state of Lainey’s pants. Lainey, for her part, had no idea what was going on. Or as she told the crowd when she re-emerged after a quick change: “You just about got a REAL show!”
Lainey Wilson had a star-worthy recovery after suffering a wardrobe malfunction in the middle of a live performance.
The country music star was headlining the Faster Horses Festival in Brooklyn, Mich., on Saturday, July 20, when the incident occurred. The three-day event kicked off one night earlier, with Jelly Roll ending Friday night’s festivities with a performance on the main stage.
The “Watermelon Moonshine” singer sang on the same stage when she suddenly needed to step out of view of festival attendees, according to Whiskey Riff. As Wilson, 32, later explained to the fans who had gathered to see her perform, her brief detour from the front of the stage was necessary because her pants had unexpectedly ripped.
Those in the audience “just about got a real show. A real show,” the Grammy Award winner reiterated with a laugh in fan-captured video footage later shared by TikToker @wanderwithjenna.
“There’s a first time for everything, and I’m glad it was y’all that I split my pants wide open in front of,” she said, adding, “You can’t make that up.”
The “Heart Like a Truck” singer then admitted she might not have realized the problem with her wardrobe if members of her team who were watching her performance just offstage hadn’t noticed and flagged her down.
Wilson thankfully got the message and was able to change into a replacement pair of pants before giving fans a show they hadn’t been expecting. Even so, she admitted the wardrobe change mid-show was no easy feat.
“I’ll tell you what, try and put on some jeans when you’re sweating — it ain’t fun,” the “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” singer shared. “You gotta jump in them things.”
Oof, yeah about the struggle to get back into jeans once the show-sweat has started! Not that I’m entertaining the masses in my Levi’s; I speak from my mere humdrum life as a resident of NYC navigating the summer heat and humidity. Once the pants come off, they’re off for the day. So I would’ve switched courses entirely and changed into a dress instead, were I in Lainey’s shoes (or in this case, splitting pants). But really, this was about as seamless a snafu a singer could hope for, and Lainey modeled how to handle it like a champ. First lesson: have good people around you who’ll alert you when you’re on the verge of an accidental strip tease. Second, keep alternate clothing at the ready for sartorial emergencies. And perhaps most importantly, laugh about it! And invite the audience to laugh with you! To borrow and mangle a favorite phrase: If you can’t laugh at yourself, how in the hell are you gonna laugh at somebody else?
@wanderwithjenna Lainey Wilson’s pants split on stage at Faster Horses! #laineywilson #fasterhorses #fyp #wardrobemalfuncition #funnyvideos #countrymusic ♬ original sound – WanderwithJenna
Photos credit: Backgrid/MediaPunch, IMAGO/Faye Sadou / Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon