Friday: Oh, We’re Halfway There (CMApocalypse 2008)

The weekend is regularly the most chaotic time to be in downtown Nashville. Add 200,000 tourists, some pretty big road closures, and hundreds of country artists to the mix… And well, we’re staying holed up in Green Hills. For those brave enough to trickle downtown, you will be richly rewarded with the best that the CMA Music Festival has to offer – They really pull out all the stops over the weekend. So get out there and find us some famous people!

Greased Lightning Riverfront Daytime Stages: More than 100 artists will perform over the next few days on the riverfront stages. Single day passes are $16 (and kids under 6 are free with a paying adult).

Nightly Concerts On The VAULT Concert Stage At LP Field: Product placement, anyone? It’s all good, because we love us some free sugary energy drinks. The biggest country music stars perform each night, and it’ll cost you $30-$40. You may want to pick one night instead of all four. The remaining three nights schedules are:

  • Friday (7:45 PM) – Ashton Shepherd, Jack Ingram, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Josh Turner, Jake Owen, and Faith Hill.
  • Saturday (7:45 PM) – Jason Michael Carroll, Craig Morgan, Little Big Town, Jamey Johnson, Rodney Atkins, Darryl Worley, Trace Adkins, Alan Jackson, and Kenny Rogers.
  • Sunday (7:45 PM) – Chuck Wicks, James Otto, Bucky Covington, Randy Travis, John Stephan, Sara Evans, Billy Ray Cyrus, Phil Stacey, and Dwight Yoakam.

Celebrity Sports Challenge Presented By Glaceau VitaminWater: Featuring enough C-list celebrities to make our heads spin. But they threw some Titans players into the mix, so head to the Chevy SportsZone on Friday at 11am to catch celebrities competing against… More celebrities.

CMA Music Festival BBQ Championship: Now, it’s not a very well kept secret that 50% of Nashvillest really likes BBQ. The other 50% says that she can enjoy hauling downtown for it on Saturday. Teams will compete in the SportsZone on Saturday and the judging will happen on Sunday. (11:30am-5pm; 11:30am-3pm Sunday) and the winner takes home a serious bag of cash.

CBR RFD-TV Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge: On Saturday from 11am-12pm in the SportsZone, brave (or brainless) country artists can try their hands at bull riding. We’re glad it’s only an hour, for their sake.

3rd Annual New Holland/Michael Peterson Celebrity Tractor Race: We won’t be missing this one, that’s for sure. Sunday at 11:30am, watch country artists navigate obstacle courses – while driving a tractor.

Chevy Plaza Concerts: We like these because they’re free. 11ish-4ish every day, you’ll get free live music (some of the names may surprise you).

Hard Rock Outdoor Stages: We covered these on Thursday, but just to be clear: They’re still running and they’re still free.

ABC Block Party: 1pm-5pm on Saturday in the FamilyZone. An amped-up version of what is already happening in the FamilyZone, with some names you may recognize from network giant ABC.

Fiesta Celebrity Grilling Challenge: 2pm-4pm in the SportsZone. Local chefs & business owners will pair up with, well, celebrities. To grill. No word on if fans and bystanders will get to eat what they grill, but we’ll take the gamble.

FREE MCDONALDS: You don’t even have to buy a medium drink. At 11:30am on Sunday in the FamilyZone, McDonalds is providing the first 500 people with a free “picnic,” which really means a free sandwich. You can eat them on the ground and call it a picnic, we suppose.

Photo by rogweb.

Related posts:

  1. Thursday: Let’s Make It Official (CMApocalypse 2008)
  2. Wednesday: Kick Off The Kick Off (CMApocalypse 2008)
  3. Tuesday: The Invasion Begins (CMApocalypse 2008)
  4. Fan Fair Bingo: When You’re Done Counting Tube Tops (CMApocalypse 2008)
  5. First Things First: Road Closures (CMApocalypse 2008)