New Year's Eve in Nashville: 5 highlights from 'Big Bash'

New year, new party for Music City U.S.A.

Nashville stepped into a new spotlight Friday night to host "Big Bash," a five-hour primetime New Year's Eve concert special on CBS. A first-of-its-kind celebration for country music, the show featured a who's-who lineup of A-list Music Row entertainers — Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Brooks & Dunn, Dierks Bentley and more.

"Big Bash" bounced from honky-tonk bars to a rooftop stage, anchoring the program at Nashville's annual free concert and music note drop at Bicentennial Mall. Despite a chance of storms and last-minute lineup changes due to COVID-19, the countdown concert drew an estimated 200,000 people to Bicentennil Mall throughout the night, according to Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp.

Miss the show? We've got you covered with five highlights from "Big Bash."

A honky-tonk TV crawl

Who needs to bar hop on Lower Broadway when you can hit a honky-tonk — or five — from your couch?

"Big Bash" took viewers on a TV tour of Nashville's bustling nightlife district with pre-taped and live performances. The show stopped inside a handful of celebrity watering holes, showcased chart-topping cuts on The Stage and cut to live songs from Assembly Food Hall at 5th + Broadway.

Performances often teamed Nashville celebrities with their bars for a roulette of hits — Lambert sang "Mama's Broken Heart" from Casa Rosa; Bryan offered "One Margarita" (with a touch of Kenny Chesney's "When The Sun Goes Down") from Luke's 32 Bridge; and Shelton delivered "God's Country" from Ole Red, to name a few.

"It is a once-in-a-lifetime New Year's Eve bar crawl," said country radio emcee Bobby Bones, who co-hosted the show with "ET" personality Rachel Smith. "Or, as we know it here, a typical Nashville bachelorette party."

And entertainers without a downtown bar crashed other stages on Lower Broadway: At The Stage, Jimmie Allen performed "Freedom Was A Highway" and Kelsea Ballerini dedicated her New Year's Eve to a "Hole In The Bottle," her 2020 drinking anthem; Down the street, Gabby Barrett sang her super-hit "I Hope" from Lambert's Casa Rosa and Darius Rucker busted out "Wagon Wheel" for onlookers at Jason Aldean's Kitchen + Rooftop bar before returning later with Brooks + Dunn and Aldean for a take on "Brand New Man."

COVID-19 creates lineup shuffle

At Bicentennial Mall, organizers called a last-minute lineup audible due to COVID-19. Co-headliner Zac Brown Band dropped from the lineup due to Brown testing positive for the virus, he shared late Thursday via social media. Sam Hunt, another co-headliner, and guest Elle King also bowed out of performing due to unspecified COVID-19 protocols, Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. said Thursday.

Instead, country trio Lady A opened the show, graduating from a performance at 5th + Broadway to the Bicentennial stage. The group performed a handful of songs on air, including signature hit "Need You Now" and show opener "You Look Good."

And doors opened two-plus hours before "Big Bash" kicked off. A crowd formed on top of a removable floor, laid in hopes of mitigating spreading mud from the ground beneath.

Sofia Foster and her friends travelled from Seattle, Washington to spend a long New Years Eve weekend in Nashville. With thick gold lashes and glitter streaked above her cheekbone, Foster made her way to the event’s main stage six hours before midnight.

Foster and company shared disappointment in missing Zac Brown Band. Still, they felt safe coming despite a surge in the omicron variant because of the outdoor venue’s spaciousness, she said.

Event organizers required audience members to provide a negative COVID-19 test or volunteer vaccination status before entering the concert grounds.

“We had all never been to Nashville and we're like, I mean YOLO what's 2022 gonna bring? Let's go to Nashville,” Foster said.

Dierks Bentley headlines

Last-minute lineup changes? That was no problem for Bentley, who tossed on his country music cape and flew in for a superhero-worthy performance at Bicentennial Mall.

OK, so he didn't actually fly (or wear a cape. He was more a jeans and boots guy Friday night). But Bentley did anchor the Bicentennial Mall show with off-the-cuff affability and a semi-truck full of familiar country hits.

Between spells of rainfall, Bentley delivered some of the best-known numbers from his nearly two-decade career. He threw it back to 2003 debut single "What Was I Thinkin'," rolled out 2012 power play song "5-1-5-0" and led enthused singalongs to "I Hold On," "Drunk On A Plane," "Burning Man" and more, including "Am I The Only One" — when he pulled a fan on stage to shotgun a beer.

"I was thinking," Bentley said, "this has gotta be the greatest New Year's Eve of my life, y'all."

And Bentley didn't fly solo as country music fans counted the minutes to midnight. His cavalry came at 5th + Broadway, where Carly Pearce, Chris Janson, Riley Green and Jon Pardi performed for a live ticketed audience. For the downtown audience, Pearce paid tribute to Shania Twain with a rendition of "Any Man of Mine," while Janson, Pardi and Green teamed for a take on Hank Williams Jr. song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight."

A new class

"Big Bash" wasn't only for Nashville's arena-sized talent. A new class of Music City entertainers — from genre-blending singer Breland to a bell-bottomed superstar-in-making Lainey Wilson— joined Bentley, Lambert and company in counting down to 2022.

Breland bounced along with Bentley for a live rendition of 2021 collaboration "Beers On Me" before later leading a take on his debut country-rap single "My Truck."

"This is the biggest crowd I've ever played in front of," Breland said.

And Wilson teamed with upcoming country band King Calaway for the latter's 2021 song "Good Time To Me" and a rowdy "American Woman" cover.

Two countdowns for '22

You know may be time to kick a year to the curb when a New Year's Eve show hosts two countdowns.

"Two glasses of champagne, a double apple juice for me," Bones said. "Obviously, since we're celebrating twice, everyone gets two kisses at midnight. Consensual, of course."

"Big Bash" offered a double-shot of "au ravoir" and Auld Lang Syne, first celebrating 2022 for east coast viewers with a toast at 11 p.m. CST — Bentley ditched his champagne flute for a solo cup — and brief fireworks from behind the Bicentennial stage.

An hour later, onlookers at the park counted down to 2022 locally as Nashville's music note dropped from a 138-foot tower. As the clock reached zero, fireworks filled the sky and 100 pounds of confetti covered concertgoers.

"Happy new year, we love you guys," Bones said. "To 2022, be safe."

Tennessean reporter Arcelia Martin contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: New Year's Eve in Nashville: 5 highlights from 'Big Bash' on CBS