Brad Paisley to Headline Full-Audience 4th of July Concert in Nashville
It'll be the city's biggest event since the pandemic started.
Country star Brad Paisley is set to headline “Nashville’s first major post-pandemic event” this summer, welcoming hundreds of thousands of concertgoers to Lower Broadway for Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th presented by Dr Pepper.
Featuring what organizers figure will be the largest fireworks show in Nashville history and an equally-massive crowd, the live concert celebration will be Nashville’s biggest since March of 2020, and finds Paisley stepping back into the role he missed out on last year. The 2020 Independence Day celebration transitioned to a no-audience TV special due to COVID-19, but with all adults over the age of 16 now eligible for vaccination, and the city’s tourist district back open and booming again, planners are welcoming patriotic partiers back in full force.
“After the year that Nashville has had, from a tornado to a bombing, Nashvillians deserve something to look forward to coming out of the pandemic,” said Butch Spyridon, President and CEO of the event’s organizing body, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “More than ever, we want to deliver a world-class concert and fireworks show to commemorate July 4th and give back to our community. As well, our visitors have always supported us through challenges, and this is the perfect way to welcome them back and welcome live music back to Music City.”
Intended as a family-friendly event, Let Freedom Sing! will be focused on a stage at the intersection of First Ave and Broadway, just in front of Riverfront Park. The huge fireworks display will be set off from across the river, near Nissan Stadium, and the Nashville Symphony will perform at Ascend Amphitheater, synchronized with the fireworks. They’ll also perform at the end of the concert, which will feature Brad Paisley and more acts to be announced soon.
There’s no official estimate on how big the audience will be, but in years past the crowd has been truly massive — stretching all the way back to Fifth Ave. and averaging over 200,000 for a number of years. In 2019, some 343,000 were in attendance.
