Feel like you should have researched that before making plans…
Nashville celebrated the new year with their annual New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash celebration, welcoming an estimated record crowd of over 220,000 to downtown Music City to ring in 2025.
This year, the event was headlined by Jelly Roll, Keith Urban and Kane Brown, and punctuated by a music note drop and fireworks show at midnight. The celebration is held at Bicentennial Park near the Tennessee State Capitol, a few blocks away from the bars and honky tonks on Broadway.
But unfortunately, it seems like some people on Broadway didn’t realize that…
If you’ve ever been to Nashville for New Year’s Eve, you know how expensive it can be. Bars that usually don’t have a cover charge often charge hundreds of dollars for their New Year’s Eve parties, with people packed like sardines on the rooftop bars for what I’m convinced could legally be considered a form of torture.
I guess there are people out there who enjoy it though, because last night the rooftop bars and the streets of Broadway below were packed with partygoers eager to celebrate the new year.
But apparently some of them didn’t realize that they wouldn’t be able to see the fireworks from their post on the rooftop.
A TikTok shared by Nashville photographer Haley Hays shows the crowd at Luke Bryan’s rooftop bar, Luke’s 32 Bridge, counting down to midnight. But their excitement quickly turned to confusion when they started looking for the fireworks – apparently unaware that they couldn’t see them from Broadway.
Hays says that a group up there with them flew in from Montana to celebrate New Year’s “for nothing” after spending $150 to hang out at Luke’s, only to not be able to see the fireworks.
@haleyhaysphoto The people standing next to us flew in from Montana… for nothing. Parking, food + access to rooftop bar was $150. Screw you Nashville, you pmo 😒 #nashville #nashvillefireworks #newyearsfireworks #fireworks #fireworkshow #broadway #nashvillebroadway
Now, I don’t want to victim blame here, but it’s not exactly a secret that the fireworks are at Bicentennial Park. The city advertises the event quite a bit, especially now that it’s broadcast nationally on CBS. It’s not like they decided at the last minute that they would move the fireworks off of Broadway and ruin everybody’s plans.
The New Year’s Eve celebration has been held at Bicentennial Park since 2018, so this isn’t exactly a new development. Of course I understand if you’re not familiar with Nashville you might not understand that you wouldn’t be able to see the fireworks from Broadway, but a quick look at the map would show you that it’s not exactly a prime viewing spot.
The whole thing reminds me of another hilarious incident from a few years ago, when a bunch of bachelorette parties had their trips to Nashville “ruined” because they didn’t realize the NFL Draft was taking place in Music City that same weekend…
Regardless, I hope everybody on Broadway had fun celebrating the new year despite the lack of fireworks. Personally though, the thought of spending New Year’s Eve down there in that crowd and dropping hundreds of dollars just to wait in line to get in anywhere sounds like my own personal hell. And not even fireworks would be enough to make that any better.
