THE 49th ANNUAL CMA’s
So, frankly I have no idea why I haven’t written about this yet. It was last year (my sophomore year) on a random Wednesday in November 2015 when my stellar friend Caroline suggested we try to get into the 49th Annual Country Music Awards that were happening that night at Bridgestone Arena. Being us, and it being Nashville, I immediately agreed. What we meant by “try to get in” was not that we would sneak in; neither of us are fast enough or cool enough or remotely good at lying. What happens at the CMA’s is that there is always a line waiting outside for “seat fillers”.
Every year, they leave a certain number of seats open since not everyone who is invited shows up. Because they film the awards show for TV, they need the audience to look nice and full (also I think they totally realize how many regular people like us would DIE to see the show). So, seat fillers are allowed in after the show starts in groups of 10 or so to sit in the seats that no one ended up in. However, as you can imagine, so many people line up and, depending on the year, only a small number of people who wait in line get seats.
We were waiting and waiting and groups in front of us kept getting let in. We made friends with the people who were right in front of us, and it turns out they were planning on opening a bar similar to the Bluebird with that live music, singer-songwriter vibe. (This is an especially appropriate detail because, as mentioned in a previous entry, Caroline is the very same friend I went to the Bluebird Café with!) I hope they ended up opening the bar and that it’s doing well.
So anyway, Caroline and I had the best attitude about the whole thing, thinking that even if we didn’t get in it was such a fun night and totally worth the shot. Well, before we know it we’re at the front of the line and THEY LET US IN!!! We got tickets and everything! Better yet, our seats were incredible (see picture below). We were out of our minds with joy and disbelieve. People spent hundreds of dollars on the seats next to us, where we got in for free after waiting for only like 2 hours! So, so worth it. We only missed about the first 30 minutes of the show, but we walked in right as Sam Hunt was getting ready to perform so it felt like total perfect timing for me. The best performance of the night, however, and possibly the best performance that I’ve seen in my entire life, was definitely the duet of Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton. Stop what you’re doing right now and watch. Legendary.
So, that’s Nashville for you. I can’t believe I haven’t written about it before. Maybe I wasn’t sure if I would lie and say we got in by convincing the security guards that we were with a band. Nope, we just waited patiently and crossed our fingers, knowing it would be a fun night for the books either way. Lucky for us, it ended up being one of the best Nashville experiences for both of us!
