Fun in Nashville
Oh, Nashville. You were a pleasant city full of life. I can't wait to go back soon.
Nashville is just a fun place. Downtown has tons of clubs and bars where you can hear the country music flowing in the wind. I am not a huge country music fan but, I do like most of the artists a little. Country music is happy music. Songs about love, beer and beautiful sights. It doesn't get any better than that. Nashville is definitely the perfect place for country music lovers because it's the country music capital. It's where the stars are discovered. Country stars live and raise their families here. There's so much charm in this famous Tennessee city.
I was just in Nashville for the CMA Fest. I was even lucky enough to attend the CMT Awards. Country music was surrounding me for four long days. There is so much going on during this music festival that you have to get up early to make the most of it. CMA Fest hosts various stages with back to back performances all day long. Their phone app makes it easy to find your favorite artists and keep track of where they'll be. It even allows you to create your own schedule and add each event you want to see to one list. This was incredibly helpful.
It's amazing how well this festival works, in the middle of a city. Being a future event planner, I pretty much scrutinize every part of an event. My biggest complaint was the Riverfront Stage traffic flow. There was very little space available, especially with a good view, and the first day there was only one, tiny exit. Only one! How crazy is that? Not to mention, it was the same place you entered. The crowds there were unbearable. The planners must have realized how terrible it was because opened another two exits. If something were to have happened, people couldn't get anywhere. It was a dangerous mistake.
The rest of the venues worked pretty well and the crowding was controlled at every other stage. The Nissan Stadium was surprisingly easy to get in and out of. Luckily, for this event you had assigned seats. This is basically what you pay for when buying tickets because all of the headliners perform. The night shows went from around 8:00 p.m. to after midnight. I saw Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Steven Tyler, and so many other great artists at this stadium. Still don't really understand why Steven Tyler was there, but he was still fun to watch.
All in all, CMA Fest is definitely worth your time and money. If you go, try to stay in a hotel downtown, like the Hilton or the Omni. We stayed at the Omni and it was perfect. We didn't have to drive anywhere, and we could easily walk to every location. The only time we used a car was to get to the Grand Ole Opry. Even then, we just called an Uber driver. I can't wait to go back soon and hopefully take some of my friends with me.
