BRAD PAISLEY

W/ PRISCILLA BLOCK, REGI WOOTEN, & LILLY HIATT

Sunday July 4, 2021

@ Music City’s Let Freedom Sing! 4^th of July Celebration in Nashville, TN

TCM Single Review:  Brad Paisley's "City of Music"

Music Video:  Priscilla Block's "Just About Over You"

Music Video:  Priscilla Block's "Wish You Were The Whiskey

With 2020 known as the year that cancelled everything, 2021 is absolutely the year of the comeback – and Music City didn’t take their comeback lightly with their Let Freedom Sing! 4^th of July celebration.

A record-breaking crowd of 350,000 people packed onto Lower Broadway - shadowed by the neon lights - to not only catch the largest fireworks display in the history of Nashville’s annual celebration, but to also be part of an incredible free concert that featured Brad Paisley, Lilly Hiatt, Regi Wooten, and emerging country artist Priscilla Block.

The crowd was a sea of red, white, and blue – everything from cheeks painted with American flags on them, to Old Glory printed on t-shirts, jean shorts, cowboy hats, doodle boppers, and scrunchies.

The intoxicating aromas that are typically associated with the 4^th of July filled the air (hot dogs and hamburgers fired up on the grill), while the crowd batted beach balls back and forth throughout the entire day.

Emerging country artist Priscilla Block dazzled the early arriving crowd with her half hour set that included (amongst others) her current Top 30 single “Just About Over You,” “Wish You Were The Whiskey,” “Thick Thighs,” “My Bar,” and a tribute to country music from 1995 (the year she was born) that saw her merging together pieces of George Strait’s “Check Yes or No,” David Lee Murphy’s “Dust On The Bottle,” Tim McGraw’s “I Like It I Love It,” Joe Diffie’s “Pickup Man,” and Shania Twain’s “Any Man Of Mine.”

Regi Wooten and friends brought the funky party to Lower Broadway and had the crowd dancing along with them as they ran through a set of party favorites including “Brickhouse,” “Shout,” and more!

Lilly Hiatt, the daughter of the great John Hiatt, brought a combination of rock, country, and blues to the stage during her performance while leaning on her East Nashville brash and shredding her guitar through a set that included “Little Believer,” “Brightest Star,” and more.

However, while each individual performance stood their own ground, and it might have been the tremendous fireworks display that capped off the evening’s festivities, country superstar Brad Paisley was the true headliner that brought so many people together for a night that they won’t soon forget – and neither will he, as he so mentioned late in his set before playing “Today.”

Paisley launched into his one hour and twenty-five-minute performance with his newest single “City of Music,” and he quickly rolled into “Riverbank,” “Perfect Storm,” and “Water,” before taking his first moment of the night to talk with the crowd.

“I didn’t know when the next time I’d get to see you was, but just look at all of you out there tonight!” began Paisley before jokingly exclaiming, “you’ve gained 15 pounds.”

He continued allowing his sarcasm to shine - though this time pointing the finger at himself - when he said, “We might be a little rusty up here tonight, so if you see me point the microphone at you that’s not to hear you sing, but it’s because I forgot the words.”

He then drove back into his set with “Then,” gave the crowd nostalgic fuzzies during “Waiting On A Woman” when Andy Griffith appeared on the screen to speak his lines of the song from when he was in the music video for it, and exclaimed during “Last Time For Everything” that he was really happy that the last time he played this song live wasn’t the “last time” that he got to.

A quick tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen in which Paisley shredded his way through a clip of “Hot For Teacher,” led to a guitar infused part of the show when he welcomed guitar great Joe Bonamassa to the stage to shred alongside of him on “Old Alabama” and a cover of the late Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Pride and Joy.”

“I’m Still A Guy” had the fellas in the crowd swaying back and forth with each other as they screamed out the lyrics, while “This Is Country Music” gave the crowd two “Nashville moments.”

During the songs intro, Paisley leapt off the stage and gave the guitar off his back to a little girl (maybe 8 or 9 years old) in the front row.

“Now, you go on and learn how to play that thing little girl,” instructed Brad, before turning his attention back to the crowd and saying, “That right there is how you make a Taylor Swift. She’s gonna be writing songs and breaking hearts pretty soon.”

And then as song rolled to its final chorus, three members of the military joined Paisley on stage in full camouflage and received a huge ovation from the crowd that was followed by a rousing USA-USA chant.

“American Saturday Night,” “Celebrity,” “She’s Everything,” and “When I Get Where I’m Going,” all quickly followed – the latter which included a video tribute to those who we recently lost from the entertainment business: Tom Petty, Charley Pride, Charlie Daniels, Alex Trebek, Eddie Van Halen, and others.

“So, you may have heard about this story that happened during the whole pandemic about these two best friends in Rochester: Marcus and Benjamin. They wanted everyone to chill out and have a beer together, so I went and sent them some beer…and they drank all of it!” shared Brad. “But I wanted to meet them in person, so here they are tonight!” he finished as he brought the two friends out to the stage and launched into “There’s No I In Beer.”

As he rolled into the last part of his set, Brad Paisley had everyone singing along with “I’m Gonna Miss Her,” and he surprised the heck out of the crowd when he brought Kelsea Ballerini - who he announced as the future of country music - out on stage with him to sing her smash hit “Hole In The Bottle” while he accompanied her on guitar.

He wrapped up his 23-song set with some of his biggest hits, “Ticks,” “Mud On The Tires,” “Today,” and “Alcohol,” before saying goodnight with a heartfelt tip of his hat towards the crowd as he soaked in one final moment with the 350,000 who came out for the largest 4^th of July party in the entire country.

 FULL SET LIST

1. City of Music

2. Riverbank

3. Perfect Storm

4. Water

5. Then

6. Waiting On A Woman

7. Last Time For Everything

8. Hot For Teacher (Van Halen Cover)

9. Old Alabama

10. Pride and Joy (Stevie Ray Vaughn cover)

11. I’m Still A Guy

12. This Is Country Music

13. American Saturday Night

14. Celebrity

15. She’s Everything

16. When I Get Where I’m Going

17. There’s No I In Beer

18. I’m Gonna Miss Her

19. Hole In The Bottle (Kelsea Ballerini with Brad on guitar)

20. Ticks

21. Mud On The Tires

22. Today

23. Alcohol

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