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CMA 2016 Fest Day 3 (Saturday):

Day 3 we took our time getting up. Mother Nature really turned up the temps for the last 2 days and was expected to hit close to 100. I don’t really mind the heat but staying hydrated is a must. We spent the morning walking around Nashville shopping in some of the boutique stores and then went over to Fan Fair X and shopped at the booths over there. I really loved this one t-shirt I found Spread Love It’s the Nashville Way. http://www.project615.org/shop-online/spread-love-nashville

After we unloaded all our shopping fun at the hotel we headed over to listen to some music on some of the other stages including the River Front. It was a nice relaxing day, enjoying the beautiful weather and fantastic music.

I was very excited for the night’s performers. The only disappointment of the day was when we saw a country singer/reality TV star, one I had always liked and hoped to meet one day. There was maybe 20 or so people that were there and someone asked may be get a picture. The response I thought was one of the rudest I had ever seen “Nah” and left. Now I will say the lack of desire to get a photo that day could have been due to the news of Christina Grimmie being shot and killed the night before which would absolutely be understandable. However there is a way to connect with fans, if this individual had said sorry not today or something I think it would have been better received. I was truly disappointed in this but, it goes to show not everyone is how they appear to be on TV when the camera is on. Some artists get way too big for their britches, they forget it’s the fans that helped to make their careers flourish and it’s those same fans that devote their time, money and more to see them.

On the opposite spectrum we also saw Cole Swindell that day and he stopped, was gracious and took pics with the handful of people that were around at that time.

The lineup at the stadium for Saturday night was:

National Anthem: Marshall Tucker Band

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Chris Young with special guest Cassadee Pope

Cole Swindell

Florida Georgia Line

Steven Tyler with special guest Martina McBride

Blake Shelton with special guest The Oak Ridge Boys

One thing many people don’t know is all the performers don’t get paid for playing at CMA Fest because the proceeds go to the CMA Foundation (Music Education Matters).

The lineup again really gave us another fantastic night of performances. Chris Young and Cassadee Pope sang their duet “Think of Me” and Chris sang the rest of his chart toppers. Cole Swindell delivered yet another goosebump moment, there is something so special when they put the camera on his face and you see that twinkle in his eye because he is blown away by the moment he is living. Florida Georgia Line also delivered another upbeat performance. Steven Tyler came out and crushed it! He sang one duet with Martina McBride, a few of his songs of his soon to be released country album, a cover to Janis Joplin’s “Piece of my Heart” and a few Aerosmith hits. There seemed to be mixed reviews the next day but, I personally thought he did a fantastic job and has done a stellar job on his new country album. Blake also sang some of his biggest hits and welcome The Oak Ridge Boys on stage to sing “Doing it to Country Songs”.

For day three attire, you needed light, airy clothing for this day/night. I went with clothes from: http://shop.nordstrom.com/

For carrying just the necessities around CMA Fest I always go to my Coach Cross body or wristlets: http://coach.com

For additional videos please visit my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLzUFhYU32shIwac71Fd81w

Pictures please go to my IG or Facebook pages: @lightscmemories

Until next time,

Xoxoxo

Heather

July 12, 2016

Entertainment Blog

CMA 2016 Fest Day 2 (Friday):

#cmafest

#bigmachinebooth

Cole Swindell

I was very excited to wake up for Day 2 at CMA Fest. I started my morning at the Cole Swindell Down Home Fan Club party. This is one thing I didn’t do the first year at CMA Fest was plan ahead to go the fan club parties. The party was a lot of fun, small, intimate, acoustic and was great to see Cole in that setting. Last year at CMA fest Cole gave me goosebumps during his performance and truly made me into a fan that day. He has that special something and is truly one of the artists that gets it, he has stayed humble and is great to his fans. He played for about an hour or so, then took photos with everyone. We received a signed poster, shirt, and koozie as well.

13428583_10153829551608978_8590708588669971237_n After this we headed over to Fan Fair X to get into the hopeful line for one of my favorites Mr. Steven Tyler. Yesterday when we were there we were told they would not allow anyone to start in the hopeful line until 2 hours ahead of the signing so we were not happy to get over there to find out they actually started the hopeful line right when the doors opened for a 3:00 signing. Communication with your customers should always be important to the staff representing you and honest communication should be paramount. I had won the overflow contest for Jamie Lyn Spears meet and greet passes so we headed over to do that.

After we walked over to the area where Steven was signing and were fortunate enough to be given two tickets. Steven Tyler is one of the absolute best at meet and greets. He is a legend, he’s been in the business for well over 30 years and many of the newcomers could learn a lot by watching him engage with his fans. Steven took time with every single person he met, he spoke to you and looked you directly in the eye, asked your name, you could have a short conversation, his photographer took the photo, gave you an autograph and a hug and kiss. It’s nearly impossible to walk away from an interaction with Steven and not feel special and appreciated. He stayed for well over the allotted time of 2 hours which was not at all surprising. 13445558_10153828811143978_4172109016094299840_n

The best part of CMA Fest is you truly never know who you will run into. We were walking back to our hotel and look up and there is Charles Esten! He was so sweet and took a photo with us and we congratulated him on Nashville being picked up by the CMT network!

The line up at the stadium Friday was:

National Anthem: Frankie Ballard

Clint Black

Chris Stapleton

Sam Hunt

Eric Church

Hank Williams Jr

Carrie Underwood

The performances again were all really good. Frankie did a great rendition on the electric guitar of the National Anthem and Clint Black played a handful of his hits. Chris Janson also made a surprise appearance to sing his hit Buy Me a Boat. Chris is another one of those special performers that is absolutely loving and is appreciative of the opportunity to live his dream. Chris Stapleton is one amazing songwriter and singer. Sam Hunt, I had never seen perform live before but, will definitely be looking for tour to come to my city in the near future. Eric Church just commands the stage, he’s an amazing performer and I always look forward to his performances. Carrie Underwood was absolutely fantastic. She took the stage with a different presence than last year, it was great to see her dressed down and full of sassy attitude. I have always liked her since American Idol but, walked away being truly impressed after her performance to close out Day 2.

For day two attire I went with clothes from: https://factory.jcrew.com/

For carrying just the necessities around CMA Fest I always go to my Coach Cross body or wristlets: http://coach.com

Additional videos can be found on my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLzUFhYU32shIwac71Fd81w

For additional photos from CMA Fest check out my IG and Facebook pages @lightscmemories.

Until next time,

Xoxoxo

Heather

July 11, 2016

Entertainment Blog

CMA 2016 Fest Day 1 (Thursday):

#cmafest

#bigmachinebooth

CMA Fest is one of the events I truly look forward to all year. I truly feel you get a lot of value for what you pay overall. I had already been in Nashville for two days at this point but, we transferred over to our hotel that we purchased with the package early in the morning. We buy our packages each year through www.cmafest4less.com. Usually I feel you get a good value but, have to say right out of the gate this year when we picked up our package for two I was disappointed with the fact we only received 1 bag even though we paid for 2 packages. Considering those clear bags probably have a real cost of $2.00 or so to them I thought that was incredibly cheap of the tour company not to provide one per person paid because you need the clear bags to get in the stadium and in past years they did give one per person.

We stayed at Hyatt Place again this year mostly for the convenience. The hotel is ok, the beds were definitely not very comfortable which I didn’t remember from last year so maybe they changed mattresses but, they did have a fridge which was good that we could stay stocked up on cold water etc.

First thing we did was head over to the Fan Fair X and were really shocked to see this massive line of people waiting to get in. We ended up being the last ones allowed in for the Thomas Rhett hopeful line. We waited nearly 2 hours and none of the hopefuls were able to get pictures because he only allocated an hour and didn’t stay over which is the artist’s discretion. This is one thing that I truly think CMA fest should change. I think anyone that buys a 4 day package should be given one meet and greet or entry into the HGTV lodge performances of their choice or even of their top 3 choices. Their lottery system is all well and good but, after two years I haven’t won other than an overflow drawing for Jamie Lyn Spears. The hopeful lines to me is where you see truly how much an artist truly cares about meeting the fans. For example in 2015 I saw Cassadee Pope do all of her winners, her entire hopeful line of over 200 people and then additional people that came up and wanted to meet her, she was there over 3 hours and that was impressive to see. There is another twosome that I have seen two years in a row not act in a way that values their fans and what their fans truly want. Last year they would only sign autographs, no photos. I wasn’t in their line but sitting in the line for Little Big Town I watched all this happen. A special needs child went up to them and when they were doing the autograph her Mom who was behind the area where you line up tried to snap a few cell phone pictures of her daughter speaking to them and getting her autographs and they saw the mother and stepped out of frame. This year fans said they had their cell phones taken away until after the autographs were done. Yes they did say no photos but, in that circumstance was it really hurting anything? At an event like Fan Fair X why not do photos, in many ways that goes a lot faster than doing autographs and in today’s culture you know that is what most people want that selfie or the photo to share.

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We were a little bummed after the first experience of the day but, we headed over to one of my favorite places at CMA Fest the Big Machine Label store. Big Machine does it right, they are all so kind, they are all about the fan experience and Scott Borchetta and his team just totally rock in my opinion. We got in line to meet Jennifer Nettles. We baked in the heat for a good hour as the line in front of us in the store was already pretty long but we had faith it would be well worth it. Right on time Jennifer pulled up and they brought her into the store and started the process. Jennifer is an example of a star that does it right. She actually gave you an autograph if you wanted one and they took a photo on a professional camera and also a Big Machine employee took one on your cell or camera too. It went quickly and efficiently and she was able to have a genuine interaction without it feeling like a photo assembly line. Jennifer is truly so incredibly sweet and extremely talented.

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After this we were starving so we headed back up to my favorite restaurant (again) in Nashville: http://www.demosrestaurants.com/ because one can never have too much of their amazing Brown Butter Garlic Spaghetti! You know it’s good when you have someone like me who rarely eats pasta much less an entire plate of it devours it all.

By the time we finished eating we went back to the hotel, freshened up a bit and then it was time to head over to the stadium. The line-up Thursday night was:

National Anthem: The Oak Ridge Boys

The Charlie Daniels Band

Kelsea Ballerini

Dierks Bentley with special guest Elle King

Miranda Lambert

Rascal Flatts

Jason Aldean

All the performers were great. The Charlie Daniels Band had their good friend Randy Travis make a surprise appearance on stage and received a standing ovation. Kelsea Ballerini is such a powerhouse and her career will continue to soar in my opinion. Dierks was absolutely fantastic as always, he’s really made a fan out of me the last two years. I love his new song with Elle King “Different for Girls” and who doesn’t love Drunk on a Plane! This was my first time seeing Miranda live and she literally brought the house down with some serious sass. She’s a fantastic performer and absolutely will have to catch her in full concert soon! Rascal Flatts were also excellent and timeless really, they are true professionals and amazing artists.

Our seats were also better this year. Still would like to get into the first 5 rows of the Golden Circle one of these years but, we had a great spot on the lower bowl and were sitting around nice people this year which always make this fun!

For day one attire I went with clothes from: https://factory.jcrew.com/

For carrying just the necessities around CMA Fest I always go to my Coach Cross body or wristlets: http://coach.com

Until next time,

Xoxoxo

Heather

July 10, 2016