CMA Fest 2023: Eric Church, Jason Aldean, Little Big Town Spearheaded Saturday Night’s Nissan Stadium Lineup

Aldean prowled the stage during his set, revving up the crowd with several early-career favorites that have worn well and still sound resonant, including “Flyover States,” “She’s Country” and his debut single from 2005, “Hicktown.” Aldean is known for wearing retro shirts during his sets, and his CMA Fest performance was no different, as he took the stage clad in a green shirt emblazoned with the likeness of the late NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt.

He also mixed in his rap-inflected “Dirt Road Anthem” and his recent chart hit “Trouble With a Heartbreak.” Though some fans in the crowd speculated about a possible Carrie Underwood appearance for their song “If I Didn’t Love You,” that song was not part of his Saturday night set.

However, he did tease the crowd with the promise of a new album coming later this year, and performed the first single from the project, “Try That in a Small Town.”

The Saturday night CMA Fest lineup at Nissan Stadium was heavy on solo, male artists, which made quartet Little Big Town’s set stand out even more. The classic party-starter “Boondocks,” which so admirably showcases the group’s complex harmonies, got the crowd on its feet — and they stayed there through a set that included “Pontoon” and “Wine, Beer, Whiskey.” Karen Fairchild led on “Better Man,” as well as the highlight of the evening, the searing performance of “Girl Crush,” as the crowd hung onto every word of this moody ballad about jealousy and obsession.

Prior to releasing their debut project in 2014, Old Dominion’s members had already forged a reputation as some of country music’s premier songcrafters, writing hits recorded by Kenny Chesney and The Band Perry.

As a group, they excel in constructing a style of smooth pop-country that are concurrently radio-friendly and populated with heartfelt, detailed stories. Old Dominion brought several of their country radio hits to the CMA Fest stage Saturday evening, drawing love from the crowd on songs including “One Man Band” and “Make It Sweet,” before getting the stadium crowd dancing and cheering with the quirky kiss-off songs “I Was On a Boat that Day.”

OD lead singer Matthew Ramsey noted to the crowd that leading up to the evening, he and the group were frequently asked in interviews why CMA Fest is so special.

“It’s the best way we can say thank you because you are making our dreams come true,” Ramsey told the crowd.

Pardi and his ace band brought their brand of high-octane country to the Nissan Stadium stage Saturday night, for a set soaked in Texas traditions and built upon a classic country sounds with fiddle and accordion, as Pardi sailed through songs including “Tequila Little Time.”

While most acts on the male-dominated bill dressed down in simple jeans and shirts, Pardi and his band brought some old-school, Grand Ole Opry-style country glitz to celebrate CMA Fest’s 50th anniversary, with shirts and jackets emblazoned with eye-catching rhinestones and sequins, often in intricate floral patterns. Pardi stayed center stage for a good portion of his show, letting the music carry the evening, before heading down one of the sets of stairs that flanked both sides of the massive stage to shake hands with fans on the front row.

Pardi ended his upbeat set with the duo of “boots” songs –“Dirt on My Boots” and “Head Over Boots” — that heralded his career breakthrough and were all too appropriate for a crowd that spent most the preceding hours stomping round downtown Nashville, with many wearing boots while taking in a range of music. The audience responded in kind, cheering, dancing and singing along.

Church capped off the Saturday night Nissan Stadium show, offering a freewheeling, six-song set that mixed cover tracks, hits and deeper cuts, and also added in a snippet of Little Feat’s “Sailing Shoes.”

He launched with “Country Music Jesus,” from his 2011 album, Chief.

“It’s late in the evening. We are going to keep it funky,” Church said, clad in his signature dark sunglasses.

The singer lived up to his promise. Bolstering powerful backup vocalists and a horn section, Church proceeded into a set that included “Hanging Around,” “Bad Mother Trucker” and a groovy revamped version of “Drink in My Hand,” before offering up “Sailing Shoes,” and his own hits “Cold One” and “Smoke a Little Smoke.”

The deft mix of song styles was a sterling artistic statement from Church — an artist with an arsenal of hits strong enough to allow for his 2019 Double Down Tour, which found him playing back-to-back nights of unique sets in each city he played — with no opening act. His CMA Fest performance was the kind of show that would thrill any die-hard Eric Church fan, the kind of fan who has seen several of his shows, has heard him play his hits before, and craves more of his range of artistry. But for a general country music fan who may not have experienced a full-fledged Eric Church show before (or not in a long time), it’s logical to see how a general fan might have felt disappointed to have not experienced a CMA Fest set filled with hits. Church’s set was a testament to his artistic merit, but a multi-artist CMA Fest stage may not have been the right setting for it.

Church has also gained a reputation for performing for fans long into the evening. Earlier during his CMA Fest set, he noted to fans that he “had nowhere else to be” and could “play all night” (granted, it’s a saying that many artists routinely use during concerts), which is perhaps partially why the ending of Church’s set seemed abrupt to many in the stadium. He ended his set (which packed in roughly the same amount of songs as the previous artists on the lineup) with a quick “Thank you” to the crowd and walked offstage. The stage stayed dark for a moment, then the stadium lights quickly came on, resulting in fans expressing their disappointment at the abrupt ending with a chorus of boos and grumbling about the set list as they made their way to the stadium exits, making for an awkward ending to what was overall a sturdy, star-studded Saturday night at CMA Fest.