With red-hot Lady Antebellum as the closers, the Grand Ole Opry’s second visit to Allen Arena tonight promises to be memorable.
Allen Arena became one of the flood-relief homes of the Grand Ole Opry on June 5, when the world’s longest continuously running radio show arrived at Lipscomb University. And tonight the music fills the arena again.
The Opry House was damaged severely in the May 1-May 2 floods that devastated parts of Nashville and Middle Tennessee.
The Opry House will be repaired and is scheduled to reopen in the autumn, and the show can return to its home. But for now the Opry wanders around Nashville and demonstrates that the music – not the structure — is the heart of the iconic broadcast.
While waiting for the repairs to be completed at the Grand Ole Opry House, the broadcast is setting up shop in such sites as Two Rivers Baptist Church, War Memorial Auditorium, the Ryman Auditorium (which regularly houses the show during the winter months), TPAC’s Jackson Hall, Municipal Auditorium and the Allen Arena.
Prior to the first visit by the Opry to Lipscomb, Pete Fisher, Grand Ole Opry vice president and general manager, expressed excitement at adding Allen Arena to the list of places that can call the venerable show “home.”
“The Grand Ole Opry is looking forward to presenting ‘The Show That Made Country Music Famous’ at Allen Arena,” he said before the June 5 show. ”We are grateful for the hospitality that Lipscomb University has extended to us. In its 85-year history, the Opry has only a handful of homes and we are excited to add Allen Arena to that list.”
For a taste of the musical history that’s being made on this already historic campus, consider that Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, Ernest Tubb and Hank Williams are just a few of the legends who have called the Opry home. And Elvis Presley once made an ill-fated appearance on the venerable stage.
Tonight’s schedule:
7-7:30 p.m. — Riders in the Sky and Terri Clark; 7:30-8 p.m.– George Hamilton IV and Del McCoury Band; 8 p.m. – intermission; 8:15-8:45 p.m. — Justin Moore and Little Jimmy Dickens; 8:45 p.m.—Lady Antebellum.
Tickets are $42-$54 (adults) and $32-$54 (children, 4-11),
Tickets may be purchased by calling the Opry ticket office at 615-871-OPRY or on line at www.opry.com
(Veteran journalist Tim Ghianni is an adviser for LUmination.)