In October, 2025, Connie and I marvelled at the way Nashville was even more filled with music than normal. And normal is a whole heck of a lot in Music City.
On Wednesday October 8th Connie and I went down to Broadway to watch Post Malone give a free concert on the street to officially open his Honky Tonk, Posty’s. When we heard Post Malone was going to give a free concert on Broadway, we changed our plans from Trivia Night to Broadway adventure. We both had a busy day, so we didn’t have time to see if we could work ourselves into a perfect place to watch. We showed up about fifteen minutes before the show was supposed to begin.
We wandered into a crowd that is estimated to have totalled 30,000 people. We were able to work out way to within a block of the concert stage. We worked our way to the middle of the street and decided to enjoy the crowd and the spectacle. The show was fantastic. It was about an hour. Post Malone was paying tribute to honky tonk covers.
These are the songs he played:
“Outlaw Women” (Hank Williams Jr. cover)
“What the Cowgirls Do” (Vince Gill cover)
“That’s My Story” (Collin Raye cover)
“I Never Lie” (Zach Top cover)
“Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer” (Billy Currington cover)
“Ticks” (Brad Paisley cover)
“What Was I Thinkin’” (Dierks Bentley cover) — with special guest Dierks Bentley
“Amarillo Sky” (John Rich cover)
“Nosedive” (with guest Lainey Wilson)
“Neon Moon” (Brooks & Dunn cover) — joined by Brooks & Dunn
“Brand New Man” (Brooks & Dunn cover) — again with Brooks & Dunn
“How Do You Like Me Now?!” (Toby Keith cover)
It was a festive atmosphere. It was free, and Post Malone offered to buy drinks at his place after the show. Connie and I did not try to wedge into his bar for this. The show was a wonderful treat by itself. Having Dierks Bentley, Lainey Wilson, and Brooks and Dunn join in was an awesome bonus.
As Connie and I walked home, we marveled at the many shows that were going on in the middle of the week. As we walked away from Bridgestone Arena, we talked about the reports about the Jelly Roll received rave reviews at the Dove Awards the previous evening. His song Hard Fought Hallelujah with Brandon Lake brought the house down I am told. Connie and I would see Keith Urban play Bridgestone the following Friday.
That same night Sabrina Carpenter debuted at the Grand Ole Opry. That show was filled with stars including Lukas Nelson. Lukas Nelson was playing at the new venue called the Pinnacle that was a few blocks past the Ryman Theater. As we walked by the historic Ryman, we saw the crowd waiting for the Temptations concert to start. The next week, Jason Isbell had his annual residency at the Ryman. There aren’t many better combinations in the world than the Ryman and Jason Isbell. It is like they were made for each other. We went to see Jason Isbell play the Pinnacle when it opened this spring. It is another extremely nice venue for Nashville concerts.
Many of the venues are small to medium sized. The Tennessee Titans are building a new stadium that will serve as a new large indoor concert venue. Yet it is hard to imagine even more music packed into such a compact area.
Near the Cumberland River end of Broadway there is a outdoor venue called Ascend Ampitheater. Along with Sabrina Carpenter and the Opry and Jelly Roll and assorted artists performing the Dove Awards in Bridgestone Arena, Judas Priest and Alice Cooper played Ascend Amphitheater on Tuesday. This wasn’t even the weekend and major acts were playing music around every corner of Music City.
When you visit Nashville, consider what great major acts may be in town and plan accordingly. We were amazed at all that was happening on Tuesday and Wednesday in October!
