It’s hard to set new records in Music City these days.
Pretty much every major tour includes a stop at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, with names like Garth Brooks, Eric Church, Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen selling out the venue in recent years.
But Cody Johnson just topped all of them.
CoJo was in Nashville last night for a stop on his Leather tour, bringing real country music to Broadway for a change along with openers Justin Moore and Dillon Carmichael.
And when he took the stage, Cody had a big announcement: The sold-out crowd set a record for the most tickets EVER sold by a male artist for their debut performance at Bridgestone Arena.
A sold-out show at Bridgestone Arena is a crowning achievement for many artists. With so many tours coming through Nashville, and so much music to choose from on a nightly basis, artists often find it harder to pack in crowds in Nashville than in other cities where live music isn’t such a regular occurrence. Even Justin Moore commented during his set that he doesn’t believe a lot of artists come through Nashville enough.
But not only did Cody sell out the arena the first time he headlined it, he did so in record-breaking fashion.
If you’ve ever seen CoJo live, you know exactly why fans are coming out in record numbers to see the cowboy live. Not only is he real deal country music, but his energetic shows are absolutely electric – and you know when you see him that what you’re seeing on stage is authentic Cody Johnson. What you see is what you get, and what you get is one hell of a show.
It’s not a stretch to wonder whether this will be Cody’s only time headlining Bridgestone – because by the time the next tour comes around, the nearly 20,000-seat venue might not be big enough for CoJo’s crowd.
I won’t be surprised if the next time he comes through Nashville, Cody’s show is held at Nissan Stadium instead. And I won’t be surprised if he sets a record there too.
Surprise Appearance From Brooks & Dunn
When you play a show in Music City, it’s pretty much required that you have some surprises and special guests up your sleeve. And Cody blew the roof off of Bridgestone Arena when he surprised the crowd with two country music legends: Brooks & Dunn.
While introducing the duo, CoJo assured the crowd that everything coming from the stage was actual, live music – unlike many artists:
“How many of you know what tracks are? Anybody know what that is? For those of you that don’t know, tracks are whenever there’s somebody sitting over there on a computer and they’re playing stuff that’s not really going on on stage.
I come from the honky tonks. I come from the bars and the dance halls. There ain’t no tracks on my stage. This is seven guys working our ass off to play real country music for you up here today.
I know a couple other guys that worked their ass off growing up playing in the bars and the honky tonks.
Their names are Brooks & Dunn.
I’ve strived my whole career to try to keep country music alive because of these two men right here and how they influenced me.”
Kix and Ronnie then joined Cody onstage for a performance of “Long Live Country Music,” their duet from CoJo’s latest album, Leather.
And the sold out, record crowd at Bridgestone Arena loved every second of it:
@whiskeyriff #codyjohnson #whiskeyriff #countrymusic #concert #Nashville ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff
That’s some damn country music right there.
