Country Stars Shine, Draw Record Crowd for Nashville NYE Bash

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WDEF) — A record-breaking crowd of 215,000 people packed out Nashville’s Bicentennial Park for CBS’ NEW YEAR’S EVE LIVE: NASHVILLE’S BIG BASH Sunday night.

News 12 was there for the five-hour broadcast, which included dozens of performances from country music’s biggest stars.

Headliner Thomas Rhett kicked off his part of the show with his upbeat song, “Vacation.”

Later, actor-comedian Rob Schneider made a surprise appearance, and introduced his daughter and show co-host, Elle King, before her set.

Lainey Wilson wowed the crowd with her hit, “Heart Like A Truck,” and brought out rising artists Jackson Dean and Grace Bowers for a song.

Dean told News 12 he’s played shows with Lainey before, but not for a crowd like this.

“It’s probably the biggest set of eyeballs that has been on me,” he said. “I got 2 minutes and 30 seconds, 2 minutes minutes and 37 seconds to make it shine. You don’t get to move forward without that kind of pressure moving you forward, so stakes are high. Stand up and deliver.”

“Two days ago I was playing a dive bar to about 25 people, so being here right now is just, it’s the biggest stage I’ve ever played on,” said Bowers, who’s only 17 years old. “I’ve gotten a lot of really great opportunities in the past and I’m very thankful for those, but this is definitely going to be my biggest one yet, so it’s a great way to be bringing in 2024.”

Lynyrd Skynyrd was the last headliner to perform in the CBS special.

They played a crowd favorite, “Sweet Home Alabama,” bringing back Wilson and King to join them.

Skynyrd also played a 13 minute version of “Free Bird” ahead of the music note drop.