NASHVILLE—CMA Fest is officially a wrap! The fourth and final day saw “CMA Fest” co-host Kelsea Ballerini as the Artist of the Day at Xfinity Fan Fair X, where she answered questions from CMT’s Leslie Fram followed by a performance that included her new single “I Hate Love Songs.” Ballerini also shared the song’s brand new video with fans in attendance. Luke Bryan made a surprise appearance at the Chevy Riverfront Stage for 10 second trivia, where he awarded two winners with tickets to the Chevy suite at Nissan Stadium for Sunday’s nightly concert. Once again, the Chevy Riverfront Stage reached capacity crowds Sunday during Scotty McCreery’s afternoon set. Chris Young hosted a surprise meet and greet for hundreds of fans at his booth at Xfinity Fan Fair X, while Lindsay Ell presented a check on behalf of Cracker Barrel for $15,000 to the CMA Foundation.
Bryan didn’t want the night to end as he closed out Nissan Stadium with a stellar set, performing well past midnight. After rushing to the stage for a potentially shorter set due to incoming rain, Bryan was having so much fun he extended his set on the fly, which included a surprise serenade to Randy Travis who was in the audience before closing out CMA Fest with “Roller Coaster” alongside friend Cole Swindell. The night was full of surprises. “CMA Fest” co-host Thomas Rhett announced early on Sunday that he’d join the Nissan Stadium performance line-up, while Dwight Yoakam joined Dierks Bentley for an incredible performance of “Fast As You” and Brothers Osborne joined Bentley for “Burnin’ Man.” Florida Georgia Line performed their massive hit “Meant To Be” with pop singer Bebe Rexha after surprising fans by welcoming the Backstreet Boys to the stage to perform “God, Your Mama And Me.”
The CMA Fest app was used by fans more than ever, with nearly 15 million scheduled events and almost 50,000 total users throughout all four days. Conversations happening around CMA Fest saw more than 225 million in social reach on Sunday, an increase of more than 42 million compared to last year’s final day of the festival.
