An estimated 210,000 attendees gathered at Nashville’s Bicentennial Park on an unseasonably warm winter evening to ring in New Year’s Eve during the CBS-televised “New Year’s Eve: Nashville’s Big Bash” event.
Headliner Kelsea Ballerini joined the Zac Brown Band, Brooks and Dunn and event organizers the Fisk Jubilee Singers to showcase more than 150 years of excellence in Music City entertainment. Celebrations included the midnight drop of the lighted musical note over the stage in the park, as well as an extensive fireworks display.
The audience joined in at times during the six-hour program, which featured music of the timeless sing-a-long variety.
Brooks and Dunn performed an extensive set, including the classics “Brand New Man” and “Neon Moon.” Most entertaining, however, were the humorous, impromptu interactions between the veteran duo and their seasoned band as they waited for live feeds from CBS directors and producers during their set.
Also of note, The War and Treaty – the 2022 Americana Music Award Duo of the Year – joined the Zac Brown Band to deliver a rousing rendition of Aerosmith’s half-century rock classic, “Sweet Emotion.” That, along with their recent Country Music Association Awards duet with The Brothers Osborne on The Rolling Stones’ “It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (But I Like it)” and their 2021 Academy of Country Music Awards appearance with Dierks Bentley for a U2 cover “Pride (In The Name Of Love),” continues the vocal tandem’s history of collaborations to create an extended star-making moment in country music.
“People coming together to celebrate the power of music is exciting,” Zac Brown Band member Coy Bowles noted before “Nashville’s Big Bash.” “A raucous crowd will see us, excited, playing not just the hits – but giving them everything we’ve got.”
Also vital to “Nashville’s Big Bash” were co-hosts Jimmie Allen and Elle King. Allen’s trademark fashion sense was accentuated with a black leather duster and leather pants, an elaborately weathered red cowboy hat, red rhinestone belt and red leather boots. King continued her emerging tradition of wearing custom-made western suits with intricately embroidered designs. In this case, her suit was red and black and matched Allen’s ensemble.
The duo facilitated the event, rotating between 48 different shows taped from venues across Nashville, including Lower Broadway haunts like Luke Bryan’s 32 Bridge, The Stage, Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row and more.
Allen scored a No. 1 hit at country radio with the nine-month-old single, “Down Home.” As for King, her latest album, “Come Get Your Wife,” will be released on January 27, 2023. She last performed her 2022 No. 1 hit, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” without duet partner Miranda Lambert. The song seemed to fit the mood of the evening perfectly.
Revelers at Bicentennial Park were “throwing caution to the wind,” easing into booze-fueled parties, noted Kix Brooks during Brooks and Dunn’s extended set.
Amazon Music and Grand Ole Opry host Kelly Sutton hosted the event prior to the CBS live stream. Sutton asked for a show of hands from tourists in the city — a nod to the event’s host partner, Nashville’s Convention and Visitors Corporation — with several hands shooting into the night air in response.
“Based on current trends, we project that visitation to Nashville will modestly exceed 2019 levels this year with 14.4 million visitors,” noted a recent Tourism Economics study cited on the Visit Music City website. Attendance at the 2022 New Year’s Eve event was about 5% higher than in 2021.
During the CBS program, artists with more than 150 No. 1 singles performed including Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Sheryl Crow, Flo-Rida, Little Big Town, Ashley McBryde, Steve Miller, Thomas Rhett, Darius Rucker and Lainey. Wilson. It was a key moment in the spotlight as Nashville’s—and country music’s—influence grows.
Couples kissed and revelers smiled as Kelsea Ballerini’s 2020 hit, “Hole in the Bottle,” was the opening tune of 2023.
“Let’s have a healing moment,” Ballerini said when she finished her performance. Then, referencing a track from her just-released album, “Subject to Change,” she offered up a line the crowd could consider for their New Year’s resolution.
“Let’s show up and do our best.”
