CMA Fest 2015 - Day 4

It's 5 days after my fourth day at CMA Fest and 4 long days at work. I probably should not be writing at the moment as I've had the tendency to leave words out of any comments/tweets/texts I've made this evening.

So, let's rewind to Sunday morning, a day without an alarm clock, followed by a night sleeping with earplugs (thank you gas station next to the hotel). The first thing on the list was a the Kristian Bush concert I won at the HGTV Lodge, but as you may know, you'll have to visit the KB blog page to get the details.

After seeing KB for the final time, Theresa and I parted ways. She was on the hunt to track down Lee Greenwood, and I had a Donuts and Jam date with Charlie Worsham. I don't have details about the Lee Greenwood meet and greet since I wasn't there, but I did steal Theresa's pic for my blog. Lee also popped in on LP Field later that night to play the Star-Spangled Banner on a saxophone. It was a very nice rendition.

Okay, so I didn't literally have a date with Charlie Worsham, but their were donuts and he did jam for all of us. I caught Charlie for the first time last year at CMA Fest and got sucked in to his music. Being a recipient of his e-newsletter tipped me in on his fan club show. I hope to hear more from him in the coming years! 

He was also playing the BMI Tailgate stage as we entered LP that night and I got to hear the rest of his set from our seats.

To our surprise on night 4, all of the people seated around us showed up for the show. As each day goes on, the crowed diminishes a little bit each night. Ticket hawkers will stand outside the venue as people leave for the evening and purchase tickets from those who won't be returning the next nights. Then the next day you see them walking the streets of downtown Nashville trying to hawk them.

The night began with Neal McCoy and Cole Swindell. Neal was an absolute hoot to watch, he was having so much fun up there and doing his darnedest to get the younger fans to join in. He even sang some sort of rap version of the Beverly Hillbillies theme song. So entertaining!

My favorite of the night was a Mr. Darius Rucker. His voice. His voice. His voice. I honestly don't know what to say. I'm just sitting here thinking about his performance, my mind is turning off and the vocals playing back in my head are giving me such a peaceful feeling.

Eric Church graced us with his presence next. I still hate to admit I enjoy his music, even after he abruptly canceled a nearby show I had already traveled to. Last of the night for us was Keith Urban. He's got good music and puts on a hell of show, so you can't go wrong ending the night with him. I had hoped for a pop-up Miranda Lambert duet, but instead got the Eric Church one. A surprise none the less, so I'll take it.

Who did we skip out on this night. Well, it was Brad Paisley, for the 2nd year in a row on the 4th night. Once again, I would love to know how many people actually stayed through his performance and then the fireworks show.

If you haven't guessed, I had another fun year at CMA Fest and picked a great friend to share the adventure with. Hopefully we'll get back there again someday.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. If you have been paying attention, I mentioned the smokers got us back. Night 4 was the hottest, most sticky night of them all and we completely lost our breeze! Add to that... the smokers on the 3rd level had to gather at the top of the ramp below our seating area, and as you may have guessed, the smoke wafted right on up and hung out with us most of the night. The combination was very nauseating!