2016 Sprng June 12 Sunday

72 degrees this morning.   

Last day of CMA  Fest, the time does seem like it sped by since we started and now we are almost finished.  Everything seems to have sped by in a blur.  

I thought my camera battery had gone out yesterday, but apparently it just hadn’t charged up since it wasn’t connected right.  I do have my iPhone camera of course, but it isn’t good on long distance shots.  

Perhaps I should mention the stars we didn’t see who are performing here at CMA Fest.  I’ll include only the “night” concerts, since there are two many to name otherwise.  We aren’t not attending because we don’t like them (we would love to see them), it is just a matter of lateness etc.  Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood, Steven Tyler and Blake Shelton.  Also probably will not see Luke Bryan and Keith Urban, whose we like but they are appearing very late tonight and we need to start early Monday!

Heat has returned, supposedly getting up to 99 degrees yesterday. We didn’t spend a lot of time outside!  

Performances we saw yesterday included Marshall Tucker Band (sang the National Anthem), Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Chris Young, Cole Swindle and Florida Georgia Line.  Those were the night performances, which, due to the crowd, aren’t all that enjoyable anymore.  

Performances we saw during the day include Moore and Moore, Sarah Darling, John Berry, Jamie O’Neal, the Willis Clan, Janie Fricke, and Jeff Bates.  

John Berry is actually one of my favorite performers.  He has a very distinctive voice which I like.  

We like Jamie O’Neal and have actually seen her quite a few times, both in large and small venues.  

Jeff Bates was one of the first performances we saw at our very first CMA Fest, titled “One Second Chance” which was actually based on his time after he got out of prison over 15 years ago.

Although time has kind of erased the actual first CMA Fest we attended, we think it was in 2003, which would make this our 13th CMA Fest.  Actually, I can look it up as to the exact date, it is kind of fun to speculate about it and try to guess it based on the hotels we have stayed at, performance we saw etc.  

Probably the highlights of the trip will actually be visits we had with friends, but we also have had some excellent experiences here also.  While the night concerts  are supposed to be the highlight, we actually enjoy the day activities, primarily due to the crowd, but also because the performers are excellent, with a variety of ability, talent and success.

We did take our first ride in a Lyft car yesterday.  We have two “free” rides as part of a CMA Fest promotion, and we decided yesterday was a good time to try it!  We enjoyed it and it was very efficient.  

Due to the price gouging by the Nashville hotels, we are going to stay further out (and/or possibly AirBnb) and use Lyft  or Uber to get around in future years, or there is a good possibility  just not attend at all..  The hotels may be killing the goose etc.  by their gross price gouging.  

Another example if the stadium raised their price to $5.00 for a bottle of water, even with the heat and very few working fountains in the stadium. (I have to assume that is a deliberate attempt to try to force people to buy their excessively priced water and other drinks.) That is almost criminal with the heat, it also may come back to haunt them, since I no longer buy water there and we have seen people buy one bottle and just refill it and pass it around.  Of course as a “safety” measure you can’t bring a water bottle in (even an empty one).  

Tomorrow’s post (Monday, June 13) may be late (or very early) since we will be traveling back.

That’s it for now, Sunday, June 12, 2016.