The
event, which features more than 300 country acts ranging from up-and-comers to
legendary singers and superstars, annually attracts tens of thousands of people
to Music City. Fans from all over the world pour into town in hopes of hearing
their favorite songs and snapping selfies with their beloved artists.
"We
have a diverse range of artists playing Fest this year," said Sarah
Trahern, CEO of the Country Music Association. "I'm excited to see the
nightly concerts return at Ascend Amphitheater, which are a great alternative
to the concerts at Nissan Stadium. The Spotlight Stage is back at Xfinity Fan
Fair X with new and independent artists, and we have several of our superstars
returning to CMA Fest for the first time in a while."
Where
does the money go?
Country
singers donate their time during CMA Fest. Ticket proceeds from the festival go
to the CMA Foundation, which supports high-quality music programs
nationwide. "Each year, we're
incredibly grateful to the artists who perform at CMA Fest for free, so that we
can we can give back to music programs around the country through the CMA
Foundation," Trahern said. "We have some exciting activations and
events for fans to now give back to music education as well."
PHOTO Left:
Billion-Air Waves: RCA's Chris
Young joins the Billion-Airs club during his Artist of the
Day play at CMA Fest.
Pictured (l-r) are the label's Paige
Altone, Caryl
Atwood and Randy
Goodman, Young, CMA's Sarah Trahern, the label's Dennis Reese,
AMG's Rob Beckham,
the label's Alaina
Vehec and Kent
Earls and Country Aircheck's Lon Helton.
Lightning forced delays at outdoor stages in Nashville Friday morning
(June 7) as CMA Fest opened its second day,
but a steady rain did nothing to dampen the ardor of fans filling Nissan
Stadium Thursday night. "Thank y'all for sticking around," Florida
Georgia Line's Tyler Hubbard said near midnight during
their closing set. Not only was the venue still mostly full, many of the
faithful were shedding ponchos to embrace the rain – and the music – full
bore.
THURSDAY:
Four hours earlier, Tanya
Tucker opened with help from her producer and artist Brandi
Carlile during a set that featured new composition "Bring My
Flowers Now" and "Delta Dawn." Kane Brown mixed
material from his two RCA albums including a solo "What Ifs,"
"Heaven," "Good As You" and "Homesick." Midland popped
up on a satellite stage to perform "Mr. Lonely." The next surprise
were Chainsmokers, who joined to close Kelsea Ballerini's
set with "This Feeling" after she poured on hits "Peter
Pan," "Yeah Boy" and "Miss Me More."
Brothers Osborne amped up the guitar shredding
for "Stay A Little Longer" and "Shoot Me Straight," then
amped up the crowd with Brooks & Dunn on "Hard
Workin' Man." Brothers remained onstage as B&D then welcomed Ashley
McBryde for "You're Gonna Miss Me." Rascal Flatts packed
in hits including "Prayin' For Daylight," "Summer Nights"
and "Life Is A Highway." FGL's set was bookended by guests: Hardy on
"Y'all Boys" and Morgan Wallen on "Up
Down."
DAY ONE Highlights. Set Volume, Tap to play:
FRIDAY:
A National Anthem performance was the first of two by Lindsay Ell, who
later appeared with Brantley Gilbert on “What Happens In A Small Town.”
Jo
Dee Messina’s
set included “Heads Carolina, Tails California;” “I’m Alright;” “Lesson in
Leavin’” and “Bye Bye.”
The
audience went for a “Pontoon” ride through the Little Big Town catalog,
complete with tens of thousands of people singing
along
enthusiastically to “Mm, motorboatin’.” “Better Man,” “Boondocks,” the cell
phone-illu minated
“The Daughters” (dedicated “to all the little girls out there”) and “Girl
Crush” were also in the set.
“This
is an absolute dream come true for Shay and I,” marvelled Dan + Shay’s
Dan Smyers. Thanking fans and Country radio
throughout,
the set included “Alone Together,” “All to Myself,” “From The Ground Up” and
“Speechless.” The biggest sing-along
of
the night came during “Tequila.”
Thomas
Rhett
invited the first and tallest surprise guest of the night, Jon Pardi, to
duet “Beer Can’t Fix” while – what else?
–
drinking beer. The CMA Fest telecast co-host rolled through “Crash and Burn,”
“Look What God Gave Her,” “Life Changes”
and
“Die A Happy Man.” Rhett also recalled every detail from “that mango-rita you
were drinkin’” to “that Coldplay song that you
were
singin’” during “Unforgettable.” Meanwhile, I can’t remember if I ever got the
MMR vaccine.
Eric
Church’s
solo, acoustic and career-spanning 18-song medley of a set included almost all
of the Eric Church songs you can think of. Maybe most of them he can think of. Carrie
Underwood’s high-energy closing session also featured surprise guest Joan
Jett (!) on “Bad Reputation,” “I Hate Myself For Loving You” and “I Love
Rock & Roll,” among others. Afterward, Underwood
closed
with “Blown Away,” “Love Wins” and my personal mantra, “Before He Cheats.”
–Caitlin DeForest
SATURDAY:
 |
| Click to ENLARGE |
Weather worries didn’t stop fans from packing Saturday’s
show, and they were rewarded with more surprises.
Billy
Ray Cyrus
returned to the stage 45 minutes after his set, joining Lil Nas X and Entertainer
of the Year Keith Urban on “Old Town Road.”
Brett
Young’s
six-song set included chart-toppers “In Case You Didn’t Know,” “Here Tonight”
and new single, “Catch.”
Miranda
Lambert
was joined by fellow Pistol Annies members for “Hell On Heels” and
“Sugar Daddy” before solo performances of “Kerosene” and “Mama’s Broken Heart.”
New
tune “Locomotive” received its first live performance, as well.
With
his trademark Solo cup in hand, Luke Combs belted out “She Got The Best Of Me,”
“When It Rains It Pours” and, from his
new
EP, “Lovin’ On You.” He later joined headliner Tim McGraw for a
performance of “Real Good Man.”
Dierks
Bentley
welcomed Tenille Towns to the stage, celebrating women in country with
short covers of Trisha Yearwood’s “She’s in Love with a Boy” and Deana Carter’s
“Strawberry Wine.” They also dueted on “Different For Girls” before
Dierks
closed with a solo performance of “Drunk On A Plane.”
McGraw
shut the night down with “Truck Yeah,” “Something Like That” and “Shotgun
Rider.” An audience member caught his
eye
at one point. “Ladies and gentlemen, Randy Travis is right here in the front
row,” McGraw said in surprise, offering a few bars of “On The Other Hand.” “How
much better can it be [to] have Randy Travis on the front row?” Maybe none
better? –Addie Morton
SUNDAY:
CMA Fest closed the same way it opened – with weather delays. Once skies
cleared, Jimmie Allen kicked off
with
the National Anthem before David Lee Murphy performed “Party Crowd,”
“Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” and “Dust On
The
Bottle,” in addition to a mailbox money medley of “Big Green Tractor,” “Living
In Fast Forward,” “Anywhere With You” and more.
Chris
Janson
intermixed his own “Fix A Drink,” “Good Vibes” and “Drunk Girl” with Billy
Joel’s “Piano Man” and “Truck Yeah,” which he penned for Tim McGraw, before punctuating
his set with “Buy Me A Boat.”
Trisha
Yearwood
then debuted her single, “Every Girl In This Town.”
Old
Dominion’s
set included “Snapback,” “Hotel Key” and “No Such Thing As A Broken Heart” in
addition to their newest
single,
“One Man Band.”
Maren
Morris
shared hits and fan-favorites including “I Could Use A Love Song” and “My Church”
before introducing
the
night’s only surprise guest, Brandi Carlile, for “Common.” Morris closed
with Pop hit “The Middle.”
Keith
Urban
took the stage near 11pm for a 30-minute set that included “Blue Ain’t Your
Color,” “Love Somebody Like You” and
“The
Fighter.” He made his way through the crowd for his final number, “Wasted
Time,” and told attendees, “Everything we do is
about
this moment right here ... singing and having a good time and celebrating this
precious life that goes by so fast.”
Luke
Bryan
launched with “Country Girl (Shake It For Me).” As the clock rolled past
midnight, Bryan’s 10-song set included “Rain Is A Good Thing,” “Knockin’
Boots,” “What Makes You Country,” “Kick The Dust Up” and “Play It Again.” He
closed with a
cover
of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer.” –Monta Vaden
CMA
Fest 2019 just ended, but preparations for the 2020 festival are already
underway. Next year's performance dates have been announced as Thursday, June
4, through Sunday, June 7.
CMA
Fest 2019 encountered a few challenges with the weather, but performances by
Lil Nas X and Keith Urban helped to make this year's CMA Fest "truly one
to remember," according to Sarah Trahern, CEO of the Country Music
Association.
