Ella Langley Wilmington Setlist & Recap: The Dandelion Tour on the Cape Fear

A river on one side, a sold-out lawn on the other, and Ella Langley in the middle of it. The Dandelion Tour rolled into Live Oak Bank Pavilion in Wilmington on Friday, June 26 -- one night after Salem -- with Dylan Marlowe and Laci Kaye Booth opening again, and the outdoor room on the Cape Fear gave the whole night a looser, summer-evening feel than the arenas out west.

What jumped out right away: she switched up the front of the set. Wilmington got logged on setlist.fm in full, so for once we are not piecing this one together -- this is the order as it ran.

The Wilmington setlist

1. "Hell at Night" (with BigXthaPlug)
2. "Froggy Went a Courtin'"
3. "Dandelion"
4. "I Gotta Quit"
5. "Bottom of Your Boots"
6. "Country Boy's Dream Girl"
7. "girl you're taking home"
8. "20-20"
9. "You & Me Time"
10. "Last Call for Us"
11. "Here for the Party" (Gretchen Wilson cover)
12. "Broken"
13. "Somethin' Simple"
14. "Butterfly Season"
15. "Speaking Terms"
16. "Be Her"
17. "you look like you love me"
18. "Loving Life Again"
19. "Choosin' Texas"
20. "weren't for the wind"

The moments worth talking about

The opener is the headline. Instead of cold-starting on the title track the way she has most nights this run, Ella came out swinging on "Hell at Night," the BigXthaPlug crossover -- a country-rap punch to kick off a riverfront show is a choice, and the floor was up before she sang a note of her own catalog. Then she dropped into "Froggy Went a Courtin'," the old traditional, which is about as far from a stadium opener as you can get and somehow worked as a wink before "Dandelion" finally landed third.

The middle leaned into the record. "Country Boy's Dream Girl," "Last Call for Us," and "Speaking Terms" all made it in -- deeper cuts she does not play every single night -- which is the kind of thing a logged setlist is good for catching. Gretchen Wilson's "Here for the Party" still does its job mid-set, getting the lawn loud right before the back half tightens up.

And the close is the close. "Be Her" lands late and the crowd answers, "you look like you love me" brings the duet energy, and then it is "Choosin' Texas" into "weren't for the wind" to send everyone home. That last one is still the loudest singalong of the night -- the band could cut out entirely and the Cape Fear would finish it.

Were you there?

Were you on the lawn in Wilmington Friday night? We want the stuff the setlist does not capture -- how the BigXthaPlug opener actually hit live, whether Dylan came back out for the duet, the small moments between songs. If you were there, tell us what we got right and what we missed. The best fan accounts end up right here. Join the Ella Fellas newsletter and we'll keep you in the loop on every stop.

Next show

The headlining run takes a breath here, and Ella jumps back over to the stadiums: she's direct support for Morgan Wallen on the Still The Problem Tour, Friday, July 10, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. A hometown-adjacent stadium night with that bill is going to move -- if you've been waiting to catch her in a big room, this is the one.

Get Nashville tickets and show info on the tour page ->

Heading to a summer stop? An amphitheater or stadium night has its own rhythm -- dressed up a little, on your feet from the first chord. Our Arena Night look is built for exactly that.