Nashville, TN June 2015
First and foremost, I have traveled often over the years for work and fun and I must say my heart belongs to Nashville, Tennessee. I absolutely love Nashville, with all the activity surrounding CMA Fest the city shined bright, you felt safe, it was clean and everyone was so nice. Fabulous in every way.
I was a CMA Fest virgin and there was a lot to learn to make it the great experience! We booked our trip through TN Express Tours. The package included: 4 nights hotel accommodations, CMA Fest Admission including: reserved seat admission to all Main Stage concerts at LP Field, exclusive access to the Photo Line at LP Field and Riverfront, daily concerts at Riverfront with early admittance and open seating, additional music stages in downtown Nashville, admission to the Music City Center Fan Fair X, ticket delivery to hotel and hotel taxes included). We also added on tickets to the Celebrity Softball Game. I have to say the little touches that the hotel had in our room every day provided a fun unique experience. This photo below is an example.
CMA Fest certainly felt a little overwhelming the first day. There was just so much to do, so much to see, so many concerts to choose from. We went to the Music City Center Fan Fair X when we arrived and tried to learn the ropes so to speak. I do wish that the schedule could either come out earlier or be posted in a more obvious location for newbies like myself. We joined the overflow line for Little Big Town and luckily got chatting with a guy that knew where to find the schedule. I appreciated his help because Craig Wayne Boyd from the Voice was at a booth in the hall at that hour doing a meet and greet and I was able to run over and meet him! The great thing about Fan Fair X is you have great access to big names. Keith Urban was over doing a set on one side of the building while Little Big Town, Florida Georgia Line, Wynonna Judd, etc. were at various locations doing photos or meet and greets. You had to win tickets for most of those opportunities or do what we were doing and sit on the floor in d wait. If the artists had time you got in after the ticket winners. We were lucky and were able to meet Little Big Town, they are all just so darn sweet.
One comment I would make for the artists is most fans would rather have a photo with you vs. an autograph. While we were waiting in line at Fan Fair X we were watching another duo’s meet and greet, they had said only autographs, no pictures. It was disturbing to see a special needs child go up for her autograph and her Mom was back quite a bit and tried to take a cell phone pic and the artists stepped out of the frame. I don’t want to sling mud at who the duo was but, just a note for artists a photo and kindness goes a long away to fans. Without fans support you wouldn’t be where you are today. That was the only instance of anything like that I saw the entire Fest week, the majority of artists were very kind, very accessible and open to meeting fans. I would like to give props to Cassadee Pope, she stayed at least an hour past the time and made sure everyone in the overflow line was also able to meet her.
I also learned you have to keep your eyes and ears open not only around the fest but watch social media. We were able to go and meet American Idol Mentor and Producer, Scott Borchetta from Big Label Machine Group, American Idol winner: Nick Fradiani, the Voice’s: Cassadee Pope & Rae-Lynn just by noticing it on social media. They were all the absolute sweetest people and it was such a pleasure to meet them. The staff at the event handled everything in a well organized fashion.
The Celebrity Softball Game was hands down one of the highlights for me. The event itself was very entertaining and you had people like Bobby Bones, Eddie from the Bobby Bones show, Bret Michaels, Lauren Alaina, Charles Esten, Chuck Wicks, Deana Carter and more! Most of the celebrities spent time interacting with fans, either before, after or during the event itself in some cases. It was just laid back and fun!
In my 2016 CMA Fest Blog I will include restaurant suggestions. It is crazy busy on the main streets as you can imagine at the Fest but, we were able to find some great places to try that we plan on returning to this year. We found going off normal hours to eat helped a bit. Another area I didn’t plan much for the first year was the various artist Fan Club parties, I hope to be organized on that for this year!
The concerts on the main stage at LP Field were all excellent. It’s such a value for your money to get to see so many amazing artists in those four nights. The lineup included: Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Brad Paisley, Jason Aldean, Sam Hunt, Little Big Town, Darius Rucker, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, Brett Eldredge, Alan Jackson, Neal McCoy, Rascal Flatts, Cole Swindell, Wynonna Judd, Florida Georgia Line, Lady Antebellum, Oak Ridge Boys, Carrie Underwood, Thomas Rhett, Band Perry, Zac Brown Band and more. I walked away being a fan of many artists after seeing them perform live. Cole Swindell was probably one of the most special moments. I love watching someone truly live their dreams. He has shared that just the year before he was in the stands and that night he just couldn’t believe he was playing the main stage. The glimmer in his eye, excitement in his smile was a goose bumps moment. The one thing that was a bummer was Luke Bryan’s set was cut way too short, rumor was it was due to curfew but, the one thing that should always be a priority is that the main headliners get to play their full time. There were so many good performers it would take a book to highlight them all. Watching Keith Urban and Eric Church play together live was excellence!
What did this virgin learn for the next year:
- It’s going to be HOT bring lots of loose, light clothing and several changes of clothes.
- Prepare even more ahead of time, research the fan club parties
- Locate the Fan Fair X schedule as early as possible so you don’t miss opportunities
- Bring comfortable shoes, you will walk miles in those 4 days
- Make the most of every opportunity.
The highlight for me was meeting Keith Urban. He is one of the kindest musicians I have ever met, he takes time with you, asks your name, he is so sweet and funny. Let alone he is absolutely fantastic in concert and watch his site for this year’s tour because you can now buy packages that include a photo with him!
We will have slightly better seats for this year’s fest. I am hoping to eventually get down into the main area by the stage one of these years! Stay tuned for entries on this year’s event in June 2016!
Until next time,
Xoxo
Heather
We had two concerts included in the package. This is the only part that we had some issues. Some of it I believe came from the language barrier and the fact it wasn’t just a private concert for us but, also for the hotel guests. The hotel was still in the grand re-opening stages as a Hard Rock when we were there and organization definitely could have been improved. The actual concerts were great as Jon Bon Jovi and Kings of Suburbia never disappoint. For those of you that have not seen them perform they typically do a mix of about half Jovi hit songs and half popular cover songs like “Under Pressure,” “I’m Your Man,” etc. The first night things went fairly smoothly at the venue. The second night we had our photos with JBJ before the show and the Runaway team had communicated with the venue staff ahead of time. After our photos when we went down to our seats there were hotel guests etc. already in our seats and they would not move and due to the #’s of people the hotel security staff didn’t have any success in moving them. Somehow the communication broke down and the hotel guests were told to sit anywhere and a few handfuls of people on trip decided they too would sit anywhere to say it was chaotic would be an understatement. It made for a huge mess before the show and unfortunately there was not enough time for the Runaway staff to get it straightened out before the band took the stage. It’s a draw back when the events are not private just for us. When they are just for us things typically run very well organized.
The photo with JBJ in Mexico still remains one of my favorite experiences. We were first in line and he was in such a fun mood. We were greeted with a big Welcome to Mexico! I always tell people to know what to expect this is a photo op and not a meet and greet, they are very quick but, sometimes they are very special. It’s often all in what you make of it. The trips have come a long way from the old days of a group of 8-10 people per photo, that wasn’t a value because you never knew if you would get a picture standing next to JBJ. Now you do and the trips are more popular than ever.