2012 CMA Fest – Night 1 at LP Field

Thursday, June 7th was the official start of CMA Fest, and the day’s festivities closed with the first of four major concerts at the home of the Tennessee Titans, LP Field.  The first act of the night was the legendary Glen Campbell, who is fighting the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease.  He is currently on his farewell tour, as the disease is starting to affect his ability to remember lyrics.  He took the stage and performed like a champ, not having any issues until his final song, “Rhinestone Cowboy,” where he suddenly looked lost and temporarily forgot the lyrics. He recovered and was able to finish the song with the help of the crowd.

It was an honor and a privilege to witness what was likely his final major performance in front of such a large crowd (65,000-72,000).  It hit me as he had his brief moment of forgetfulness that I was witnessing my one and only chance to ever see him perform live.  A rush of chills and goosebumps came over as I realized it was his last song, and my eyes began to water as the crowd gave him a huge standing ovation.  This moment alone was worth the trip.

The next act to take the stage was Miranda Lambert.  As expected, she performed with a whirlwind of brimstone and fire.  While it’s awesome we get to see so many stars in one night, it was a bit disappointing that we only got 20-40 minutes from each performer, which means when Miranda brought out the Pistol Annies for two songs, it cut into her time on stage.  They rocked though, so I don’t think too many fans were complaining!

A couple of times a night, they brought out an artist to do a short acoustic set on top of the sound tower towards the back of the field.  The first one to perform up there was Kellie Pickler, who looked as beautiful as ever, even from 50 yards away!

The rest of the night was filled out by performances by Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Zac Brown Band, and Brad Paisley.  Check out some of our photos below!

 All photos by Mike Carroll