Nashville - Day #4

WOW!!! What a night!

The show at Nissan Stadium was AMAZING! We were very happy with our seats, we had a great view of the stage.

Most of the performers sang three to four songs, while the bigger names performed at least six songs each. The show started at 7:30 p.m., and Jason Aldean didn't close the show until 12:30 a.m.! It was a long night, but it certainly didn't feel like it.

I'll try to list the performances in chronological order.

The show kicked off with veteran country singer/songwriter Rhett Akins. 

Tucker Wetmore followed with several of his recent hits. 

Zach John King then performed from a smaller stage located in the center of the field seating area.

We were then treated to the first surprise of the night—Jelly Roll! He performed at least six songs and completely commanded the attention of all 60,000 fans in attendance. What an inspirational performer, and he looked fantastic. He must have lost half his body weight.

Vincent Mason then took over the smaller field stage while the crew prepared the main stage for Ella Langley. 

When Ella finally took the stage, as she put it, she "sang her ass off!" She admitted she was nervous because performing at CMA Fest had been one of her lifelong goals. She was terrific, performing all of her recent hits and winning over the crowd.

Deana Carter followed with several of her hits from the 1990s, which she jokingly referred to as "old country." That comment earned a huge cheer from the audience.

Then came the second surprise of the night when Ella Langley joined Gretchen Wilson on stage. Together they put on a fantastic set!

What followed was another surprise, the duo Florida Georgia Line suddenly emerged from the audience and took over the field stage. The crowd absolutely erupted!

Jason Aldean then closed the evening with a long list of his biggest hits, bringing an unforgettable night to a fitting conclusion.

Afterward, with the weather absolutely perfect, we decided to walk back to our hotel. It was only about a 30-minute walk, although half of it was slightly uphill. To say we were exhausted by the time we reached our room would be an understatement! We both slept very well. 🤠 

After a quick bite at the hotel this morning, we made a stop at Fan Fair inside the Music City Center, where Carly Pearce was hosting a talk and Q&A session. It was a fun way to start the day.

Afterward, we met up with Ann and Chris on Broadway. We strolled around, taking in the sights—and the people! The people-watching has been especially entertaining. 😄

Unfortunately, we weren't able to show them Ole Red, as it has been transformed into "Spotify House" for the week. The lines to get in were incredible, stretching more than three blocks!

We eventually made our way to the rooftop of Luke Combs' Category 10, where we enjoyed a nice lunch while watching the activity along the riverfront below. We listened to some great music and spent a few hours catching up on life.

At 3:00 p.m., we headed down to the main floor for the Billboard Live performances. The place was absolutely jam-packed! We caught sets by Kaitlin Butts (we'll see her again during tomorrow nights show at Nissan Stadium) and the duo Something Out West, both of whom put on excellent performances.

By a little after 4:00 p.m., it was time to make our way back to the hotel to get ready for tonight's big show at Nissan Stadium.

Details from tonight's adventure will be in mañana's blog! 🤠

Nashville - Day #3

Last night was a lot of fun! 

We started with dinner at the hotel restaurant, a great way to use the $100 credit that came with our Amex booking. The food was absolutely delicious. Seafood is their specialty, and they do it very well.

After dinner, we walked downtown to Post Malone's "Posty's" Honky Tonk. 

Wow, the place is huge and was absolutely hopping! The house band was fantastic and really had the crowd energized. 

We managed to snag what felt like the best seats in the house—at one of the four long bars directly in front of a giant TV showing the NBA Finals. What more could we ask for? Well, the Lakers could have been playing, but that's another story. 😄

Between the great music and the NBA game, we stayed for two rounds, which stretched into a very enjoyable two hours. 

From there, we made our way to Luke Combs' Category 10. They were hosting a Grand Ole Opry event that was being broadcast on the Grand Ole Opry radio station, and the place was packed! The main area on the first floor has no seating, just a massive wooden dance floor.

It was so crowded that we eventually made our way up to the third floor to find a spot where we could actually see the main stage.

We were trying to stay up late since Ann and Chris's flight wasn't arriving until 10:30 p.m. However, by around 10:00, we realized we just couldn't hang on any longer. We grabbed a taxi back to the hotel, texted with Chris along the way, and made plans to meet up the next morning. Their hotel is only about half a mile from ours.

This morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we met up with Ann and Chris near their hotel. Since they had never been to Nashville, we gave them a quick tour of Lower Broadway. We eventually made it into Posty's and settled in to listen to the house band. 

After a while, we headed over to the rooftop at Morgan Wallen's place.

The band, Haden Carpenter, was really good and had the entire place rockin'!

After lunch, we made our way to Luke Combs' Category 10, where they were hosting a free Billboard Live event featuring major talent performing 30-minute sets. We got to see The Red Clay Strays (no photo), The Band Perry, and Corey Kent. 

At the end of Corey's set, we said goodnight to Ann and Chris and hightailed it back to our hotel.

Showers and a change of clothes were required before heading off to Nissan Stadium for tonight's big show. Ann and Chris don't have tickets for tonight, so they're spending the evening on Honky Tonk Row!

Details from tonight's adventure will be in tomorrow's blog. See ya! 🤠

Nashville, Day #2

Today started off slow as we adapted to the two hour time change and the late night out. We had a hearty breakfast at our hotel, compliments of our Amex Fine Hotels & Resort booking. Afterwards, we strolled down to the riverfront to explore the CMA venues that were being setup. Here are some views from our walk.

We made a stop at the the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Debbie did a bit of shopping, while I took a few photos. 

Here is the wall of Gold and Platinum records. 

And here are guitars owned and played by country greats.

We stopped at Luke Combs venue, Category Ten. 

It is huge and really nice. We’ll be coming back tonight!  

Here is his wall of baseball caps. You'll never see him without one!

Even Taco Bell has their own Honky tonk!  

Next, we made our way to Morgan Wallens, right next door to the Ryman Auditorium. 

We were lucky to have the Mark Burke band on stage, they were great! 

We ended up staying for two hours to the end of their set.

We then made our way back to our hotel with Debbie’s purchases and her new cowboy hat!  

After resting for a couple of hours, we plan on having dinner at the hotel and then walking back to downtown. Our son and daughter-in-law are flying in tonight!

Details in tomorrow’s blog...