cma fest is nashville's huge country music festival. it goes on for 4 full days and includes multitude of country music performers. there are about 7 stages and a bus that will take you from one to the next to see your favs perform. my friend and i bought tickets around this time last year for this year's fest. we booked our hotel shortly after buying tickets to make sure we were close to the fest. tickets and hotel were a little pricey but the experience was totally worth it!
due to the fest being in the middle of june. my second biggest concern (other than being sure i saw everyone i wanted to see perform) was what to wear. obvi. these are the 4 outfits i picked out for the weekend.
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| country safari |
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| daisy duke |
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| camo on camo |
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| americana |
i also packed some tshirts, long sleeved shirts and dresses as other options depending on the weather or if we had time between day and night concerts to change. basically i packed for a 3 week vacation. i'd rather be safe than sorry. i stuffed enough clothes to last me a month in nashville in my pretty leopard suitcase and packed a few boots, sandals and sneakers in a larger tote bag. i honestly don't know how people can pack for a week vacation in a carry on suitcase when i feel it's necessary to pack my entire life for a weekend trip. who are you people!? why do you not need things!?
anyways..
lastly, i also stressed over what to take everyday to concerts and how to get them there. being that the evening concerts are in the nfl stadium, there are rules on what kind of bags can be carried in to the stadium. that left me with a dilemma. i didn't want to take a bag around all day to the day concerts and then have to figure out what to do with it when it was time for the evening concerts. especially if i didn't have time to run to the hotel in between. so, looking at the rules of prohibited items, i chose to purchase an nfl ok'd clear plastic tote. in it, i carried around my most needed items for the day.
i also bought these nice small mesh bags to keep everything organized. because i'm an organized freak like that. each mesh bag has a set of items: one has sunscreen packets, one has our daily passes, one has money and chapstick, one has pens/sharpies, the last one has first aid supplies. i am also toting a notebook, a larger bottle of sunscreen, rain poncho, drink cozie, hand sanitizer and sunglasses.
the weather was mid 80s to 90s. it was hot, hot, hot. but there were enough indoor places to escape from the heat. during the day concerts we tried to take breaks between the performers we wanted to see and cooled off in the shops around broadway. we also would eat either lunch or dinner in a sit down restaurant to get a break from the heat. the day concerts at the river were free so you could come and go as you pleased. the evening concerts at lp field had no re-entry option.
being that it was our first time at cma fest, we weren't really sure what to do. but some tips i picked up and will retain for the future if i ever get to go back are:
- wear sunscreen, stay hydrated
- make a plan for every day - there is something going on everywhere in town constantly - you'll need to choose what's the most important thing to see or do that day and make a plan to make it happen - we missed a few things we wanted to do because of traffic/timing/not planning
- take breaks or naps - we went all day the first day and ended up leaving before the last two performers at lp field because we were so tired - after that day, we would take naps in the middle of the day if there wasn't anything we wanted to see or slept in and started the day later
- take ubers or lyfts - they're cheaper and faster than cabs and will pick up pretty much anywhere and take you pretty much anywhere - download the apps on your smartphones (so worth it!)
- learn the bus route - some buses would do the whole loop - some would make you get off and get on a different bus to get to a location
- use the pedestrian bridge to get to lp field - waiting for a bus to go from riverfront to lp field took a long time - it was faster to just walk over and wasn't very far at all
- if you want to meet stars and get autographs, you'll need to go to fan fare early in the morning to find out who needs special tickets vs. who doesn't and then stand in line early so you make sure you get to meet them
- if you buy the 4 day pass, those tickets will let you go down front of the crowd so you could get up close pictures of performers - you'll have to go through the line quickly so have everything ready and some lines are really long and you may miss the performer you wanted a picture of
- we left lp field early every evening - most of the last performers i had already seen before so we would stay for a few songs and then get an uber or lyft back to the hotel - by doing that, we could get a car in a little over 5 min and be back at our room to rest for the next day - if you do plan to uber and lyft around, make sure to walk an extra block away from all the chaos so they can easily pick you up and not have to fight the extra traffic
- buy the nfl OK'd tote bag - i didn't use most of the items i packed in it for everyday but it did come in handy if i bought something and didn't make it back to the hotel to drop it off before we went to lp field - they had lockers to put stuff in if it didn't pass inspection but it was so convenient to just have it in my bag
- finally, avoid being cute - it's way too hot, crowded and sweaty to even attempt to have a cute outfit, boots and big hair - by day 2, we were skank bun, cut offs, tanks and flip flops - the sweat is never ending so definitely pack extra clothes and underwear in case you are lucky enough to change mid day
Slide show of a few of my pictures from cma fest
http://www.photosnack.com/Stacism/cmafest.html
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