27. April 2025
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CMA Fest 2025 Lineup Announced – My Guide to the Festival

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

It calls itself The Ultimate Country Music Fan Experience and there is indeed likely no festival of that genre somewhere else which comes which such an impressive lineup. Of course, I am talking about the CMA Fest in Nashville. In 2025, it will be held from 5th to 8th June 2025. Yesterday, 70 days before the kick-off, the CMA announced the artists for most of the stages. I felt it is a good timing to have a look into it and to give you a brief overview about my thoughts and strategies about the festival.

 

CMA Fest – What Is It All About?

CMA Fest is likely the biggest celebration of country music in the world. The good message is: quite a bunch of the fun is free – at least in regards of tickets (I will come to an opposite view later). Especially during daytime, most of the stages are free. They do, however, come with a first-come-first-serve policy. I would split the festival into the “Daytime CMA Fest” and “Evening CMA Fest” – and this is how I did this section of the posting as well. The locations of the stages in the map below are approximate.

 

CMA Fest at Daytime

Daytime CMA Fest is concentrated in Downtown Nashville, at and around the Broadway. There are five stages, which are all free. As said, there may be a significant impact by the first-come-first-serve policy. if you leave the stage area, you might have to join lines to get in again. Furthermore, there are security checks at the stages. More information on the allowed / prohibited items and the clear bag policy can be found in the CMA Fest FAQ. Namely, the stages are (roughly sorted from West to East):

  • The Good Molecules Reverb Stage, which is located right at the Broadway, right at the Northeast corner of Bridgestone Arena
  • The Chevy Vibes Stage located in Walk of Fame Park, right across the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
  • The Hard Rock Stage at the East end of Broadway, close to the riverfront of Cumberland River
  • The Chevy Riverfront Stage, located more or less across Nissan Stadium on the Northern part of central Riverfront
  • The Dr Pepper Amp Stage, which is located in Ascent Park, right next to the Ascend Amphitheater (see below)

The split into Daytime and Evening Stages is slightly wrong, though. The Hard Rock Stage is scheduled to feature artists until later in the night (22:35 last set beginning, not on Sunday). Most daytime stages start around 11:00 or noon.

 

Fan Fair X Stages and Attractions

In addition to that, you there are two additional stages at Fan Fair X. This part of CMA Fest is located in Nashville’s Convention Center, Music City Center. You need to have a dedicated admission to get in there. A ticket for the evening session in Nissan Stadium works as well. Explicitly, the admission to Ascend Amphitheater on the respective day is not sufficient. Apart from that Music City Center is the only covered and air conditioned venue during CMA Fest, it is also convenient as there are some vendors, Meet & Greet opportunities and other possibilities to enjoy the sun (or the rain). Hydration is indeed a very critical part of CMA Fest.

The stages in Musc City Center are namely:

  • CMA Close Up Stage. It is also used for interviews and Q&As as well as majorly acoustic sets.
  • CMA Spotlight Stage. The focus of that stage are emerging artists. For example, during my 2019 visit at CMA Fest, I ran into Christina Taylor there.

 

CMA Fest at the Evening

During the evening, CMA Fest goes on with two venues. For these shows, you need tickets. They are:

  • Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans and the main venue of CMA Fest in the evening. This is where the big stars are playing. Nissan Stadium is expected to be succeeded by New Nissan Stadium, which is currently built right next to it. Its capacity is 70,000 people. It is the only venue located on the East side of Cumberland River. A footbridge can be used to cross it.

 

  • Ascend Amphitheatre, a 6,800 people venue at the (Western) Riverfront. CMA Fest typically features major artists on that evening stage as well, but you won’t run into Luke Bryan or Dierks Bentley there, likely. Ascend Amphitheatre is not used on Sunday 8th June. The artist have not yet been announced, but it typically happens within the next two weeks.

Festival passes for Nissan Stadium are already on sale, while I expect the Ascend Amphitheatre tickets to be sold around mid-April. Nissan Stadium in fact has two stages, the Main Stage and the Platform Stage to cover intermissions on main stage.

 

What else is going on?

CMA Fest is much more than its seven daytime and two nighttime stages. There are a lot of other things going on, for example:

  • As many artists are in town, you might be able to see them in the evening in one of the venues around Broadway or in town (partially ticketed events)
  • Many artists organize fan meetings, in 2019, I visited fan parties by Jana Kramer and Cassadee Pope.
  • Of course, there is something going on in the “traditional” Nashville venues, especially right before the festival. Tuesday night at the Opry, for example, is a country music legend.
  • A very special event is the most patriotic softball game in America, as the Rock ‘N Jock Celebrity Softball Game is calling itself. There are typically quite a lot of artists who join that charity event
  • This year, Nashville SC plays New York City FC in he Major League Soccer on Saturday 31st May 2025.
  • Finally, you will just run into many long-time country music pals or make new friends strolling around the city.

 

CMA Fest – The Main Acts

The exact running order for Nissan Stadium has not been revealed yet. However, the artists for the four days are really impressing. However, you have to say that the individual sets are rather short. In 2024, sessions typically started around 20:00 and finished around midnight. Only the Main Stage artists have been announced yet. Platform Stage artists are still to be revealed.

  • Thursday 5th June will feature Brooks & Dunn, Darius Rucker, Ella Langley, Jason Aldean, and Riley Green
  • Friday 6th June comes with Cody Johnson, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini, Parker McCollum, and Shaboozey
  • Saturday 7th June features Blake Shelton, Jordan Davis, Megan Moroney, Rascal Flatts, and The Red Clay Strays
  • Sunday 8th June features Ashley McBryde, Bailey Zimmerman, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, and Zach Top

 

CMA Fest – My Artists to Look Out For

For obvious reasons of quantity, I cannot go for a full list of artists like I did in my 2025 Berlin C2C preview post. It would likely not make sense as there are a couple of stage schedules not announced yet and multiple reasons could lead to shifts in nomination or schedule. Based on the currently available schedule, I present you my three most interesting shows per day for each of the festival days. The artists for the Fan Fair X stages have not yet been announced.

 

Thursday 5th June 2025

My favorite shows on Friday are all linked to female country music artists:

  • Kaylee Rose is an artist I never saw live on stage so far. She is playing the Dr Pepper Amp Stage at 16:15.
  • An artist who I just featured on the C2C Berlin 2025 Sunday Spotlight Stage is Lanie Gardner. I would love to have a deeper listen into her music. She plays on 13:15 at Good Molecules Reverb Stage
  • Dasha impressed me with her Berlin Main Stage Performance on Saturday. I would love to see how she is working out in a CMA Fest environment. Her set is at 14:20 on Chevy Riverfront Stage.

 

Friday 6th June 2025

There are already quite a lot of interesting acts announced for the second day. Here are my picks:

  • Willie Jones was announced for the 2025 C2C in Berlin, but then could not show up He is on Chevy Vibes Stage at 16:30.
  • The transition is likely too short to be at Dr Pepper Amp Stage at 17:05. Tyler Farr is having his set at that time. He has been featured frequently in my playlists
  • The female trio Just Jayne has just released three singles yet, but they sound very promising. They might be a nice act to kick off Friday morning at 11:45 on Good Molecules Reverb Stage.

 

Saturday 7th June 2025
  • It’s already more than five years ago since I saw Julia Cole on stage, supporting James Barker Band in November 2019 in Zurich. Feels like a good opportunity heading to Good Molecules Reverb Stage at 14:00
  • Did I say James Barker Band? After three long days in Nashville, I feel that their 12:30 show on the same stage will be a good kick-off of the day.
  • Alana Springsteen is a lovely country music artist. She is playing in front of Cumberland River on Friday. Her set is at 15:10 on Chevy Waterfront Stage.

 

 

Sunday 8th June 2025

Things are fading out a bit on Sunday already. That does not mean that the daytime stages are lacking interesting artists.

  • Chris Lane is one of the early ones on Sunday. He will be at the Chevy Riverfront Stage at 11:50 already.
  • The duo Thompson Square has been featured on Flyctory.com multiple times, but I never saw them live. The play Chevy Vibes Stage at 13:10.
  • Meghan Patrick‘s sets in Berlin were awesome. She is on Chevy Vibes Stage at 16:30.

 

If you want to get at least a brief overview of the 85 artists nominated so far, I recommend the playlist curated by the CMA. The best west to retrieve the exact schedule and updates is the CMA Connect app.

 

CMA Fest – The Downsides

First of all, CMA Fest is a massive country music party. The perspective that you likely have a great time if you are a bit of disciplined (and arrive at the stages early) for free admission is very tempting. I do have flight tickets and hotel bookings for the week, a key factor whether I finally go is the currently increased immigration controls. In fact I do not need a media visa, as I don’t have earnings in the USA, but it may lead to discussions. Especially if you are a CMA Fest first-timer, there are some downsides worth mentioning.

  • It is packed. Or let’s say it in a positive way: you will run into a lot of people. It can be extremely bothering to beat the crowds, especially around Broadway.
  • You are outside all day. The drink and water rules are quite restrictive. Don’t bring aerosol sunscreen with you – it is not allowed. Either you burn in the sun or get wet – that’s Nashville in summer.
  • The real expenses are not the tickets. Especially if you are traveling from abroad, you might already be rather late. I already booked my flights months ago – and decided to go for flights to Evansville (EVV) in Kentucky – the flights were simply half price. Once you are in Music City, you will face even more ridiculous hotel prices than they are usually. You likely won’t find a central stay under 400 USD per night.  There are some strategies like apartments to lower this cost slightly. Staying outside of Nashville reduces hotel costs but
  • There is a lot of traffic in Music City. Especially as CMA Fest requires a couple of road closures, beware of heavy congestion. Furthermore, parking may be about the same amount of money per day you pay for a hotel in other places – if you are not careful. I always appreciated to either have a car or a hotel room around. You can store drinks, grab or leave stuff or even lay down and relax a bit in between some shows.

Besides that, I would personally not hunt for a posh Nissan Stadium ticket. The cool ones are likely sold anyway or come with ridiculous prices on resale platforms. As said above, the sets there are rather short and you are typically quite a bit away from the stage. The party is cool, though. The works on New Nissan Stadium have started last year, which likely reduces the parking capacity around the main venue significantly. A good way to go for a CMA Fest trip is to try to use as many frequent traveler points as possible before the trip and pay with them, especially for hotel nights.

 

CMA Fest Postings

I tagged all CMA Fest-related postings appropriately:

 

Travel (Nashville)

Here are all my travel postings related to Nashville:

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