5 things you may have missed in night of surprises
CMA Music Festival’s nightly concerts at Nissan Stadium were full of surprises Thursday night — ranging from country music’s top-selling artist Garth Brooks to the genre’s newest award winner Lauren Alaina.
Here are five things you might have missed: GARTH BROOKS STUNS Brooks just made one of his famous surprise CMA Music Festival appearances, walking onstage at Nissan Stadium and kicking off his unannounced set with Thunder Rolls. Brooks moved into Calling Baton Rouge and The River. He followed up with new single Ask Me How I Know, asking fans to help him sing it. In a ball cap and strumming his acoustic guitar, Brooks worked the stage during That Summer and went straight into The Dance as fans lit up the stadium with their cellphones. Brooks paused and let fans sing the last word, then flowed into Friends in Low Places, pacing the front of the stage during the set.
Though it has been close to 27 years since Friends in Low Places was released, country music fans haven’t forgotten the song that helped propel Brooks to superstardom. The crowd, more than 50,000 strong, came in loud on the first word and sang with Brooks through the last chorus. BRYAN PLAYS INTO MORNING Luke Bryan just thought he was playing Thursday night at CMA Music Festival. By the time he made it on stage, it was the wee hours of Friday morning.
Bryan injected some muchneeded energy into the night, showing limitless enthusiasm for hitting the stage an hour after his headlining arena shows are typically finished.
“It’s morning time,” he shouted to fans. “Are you all ready to get us into the morning?”
Bryan wasted no time breaking out his infamous hip-shimmying dance moves, kicking his set off with Move. He kept up the pace with Play It Again and That’s My Kind of Night. He closed with I
Don’t Want This Night to End and Country Girl (Shake it For Me) with thousands of people doing just that at 12:45 a.m. ALAINA, SWINDELL SURPRISE After Garth Brooks’ unannounced CMA Fest appearance, Lauren Alaina had a surprise of her own, walking out to sing Middle of a Memory with Cole Swindell.
“I got chills,” Swindell said after Alaina’s voice soared through the song ’s chorus.
Swindell said he and Thomas Rhett were talking backstage about how they listened to Brooks’ music growing up.
“Am I dreaming or did Garth Brooks just play before me?” he asked the crowd. “What a memory right there. This song fits this situation perfectly, because I think tonight we are in the middle of a memory.” Swindell’s set also included his first No. 1 hit,
Chillin’ It, and his multi-week No. 1 You Should Be Here. HIGHWAY VAGABOND Miranda Lambert brought a set thick with new songs and a cou- ple of sing-along favorites when she took the stage near the end of Thursday night’s lineup.
Lambert kicked her night off with early hit Kerosene and then switched gears to songs from her recent ACM album of the year, The Weight of These Wings. Lambert chose album cut
Highway Vagabond to feature on CMA Music Festival’s upcoming TV special. Vice followed and then Pink Sunglasses, both also from The Weight of These Wings.
Lambert said playing Nissan Stadium during CMA Music Festival’s nightly concerts is her way of “appreciating our fans giving us a job.” DIERKS BENTLEY ROCKS Country music fans got a solid preview of Bentley’s arena tour when he brought his hits — including his current Top 20 with Cole Swindell Flatliner — to Nissan Stadium. Bentley’s set included Tip It On
Back, his recent No. 1 Black and album cut What the Hell Did I
Say as well as sentimental favorite I Hold On. “I’ve been waiting for this since last year,” Bentley told fans before he sang.
Of course, they sang it with him.