Stadium Series entertainment ready to rock Nashville
Country music artists, celebrities, Titans players among those on hand for game between Predators, Lightning
The Stadium Biscuits will be the house band for the outdoor game between the Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning at Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans (7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, SN360, TVAS2, NHL LIVE), playing throughout the game while welcoming special guests onstage to help salute the country music epicenter.
"We're just going to have a killer party onstage during warmups and while that match is going on," John Bohlinger of The Stadium Biscuits told NHL.com. "Everybody in Nashville is a huge Predators fan. I mean, that's our team. I was so excited when I got the call to do this; I work with a lot of the same musicians for the house band and we do a lot of TV stuff together, tours and sessions. When I told them about this gig, everyone was like, 'Oh, man, I can't wait.'
"They're so pumped because it's got to be one of the most exciting things you could possibly see and there's no better seat in the house."
The Stadium Biscuits will be live on the center stage and include 10 musical artists throughout the game: Frankie Ballard, Chayce Beckham, BEXAR, Jackson Dean, Lindsay Ell, Morgan Evans, Emerson Hart, Josh Hedley, Tiera Kennedy and Ajay Popoff.
"What I love about this lineup of artists is the fact it's incredibly diverse," Bohlinger said. "Every artist has their own personality in their own style, and yet, it is all distinctly Nashville. I think it's a good way of kind of showing the rest of the world just how diverse and amazing Nashville is. Nashville really is the deep end of the talent pool and we have amazing artists so I'm very excited about that."
In addition to Walker Hayes, singer of the mega hit "Fancy Like," performing pregame at the TikTok Tailgate, a concert starting 5:30 p.m. ET exclusively on TikTok, Dustin Lynch will perform when the players come onto the field. Jessie James Decker will perform an inspiring rendition of the U.S. national anthem, joined by Nashville Sign Language Club performer Heather Olmstead, and country megastars Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley will play during the first intermission.
"We've now gotten a taste of their performance and what it's going to be like, and I don't care if you're a country music fan, a fan of music or just a fan of a big event, like, what they're going to do, a 10-minute performance in the first intermission, it's nothing like we've ever done before," NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer said Wednesday about Lambert and Bentley. "This place is going to light up, fireworks. It's something else what they've got planned, and they're actually going to come together for a grand finale that we think is going to be really special.
"So from an entertainment standpoint, we came to Nashville knowing exactly that this was the place to take our entertainment level to another level, and we think we're going to do that. And we've got a pretty good game that'll fall between all of this between two of the best teams in the NHL."
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Mayer said almost two dozen artists will play a part in the Stadium Series celebration, in addition to several famous faces attending the game.
"Between the intermissions, the in-game, the pregame, outside in our pregame, there's about 20 artists altogether," Mayer said. "We also know there's quite a few celebrities that are just going to be in the crowd, so keep your eyes open for that. The other thing, the Tennessee Titans will have a role. Alumni players from the Nashville Predators will be in the building, and some of them will have a role.
"Again, we're in Nashville. We're in one of the entertainment capitals of the world, and a lot of that entertainment, those personnel … also in the management. They're coming to the game. And so this will be a star-studded crowd for sure. We welcome that. We want to put on a really entertaining program for them."
Bohlinger said he appreciates how many NHL players and fans have gravitated toward the country-music scene.
"There's something relatable in that whole sort of country tradition," he said. "I don't mean to be corny, but it's fun and family and friends. There's some mutual ground there and I think that's the connection. I'm really grateful for it because I like the fact this event enables Nashville to kind of show the world our spin on hockey, how fans love it and how the whole country music industry is behind it.
"And we have some rock stars in this gig, too. So that's going to be fun."
Bohlinger has a good idea of what fans enjoy since he experienced it firsthand during the 2016 All-Star Game at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
"I was working with an artist named Lee Brice and we were actually set up on the ice," he said. "They carted a little stage out on the ice and when they did the player introductions, we played the entire time. I mean, to be
on the ice playing and have the Predators introduced and skating around us was one of the most high-energy gigs I've ever played."
Mayer said to expect the same on Saturday.
"We've got a field cast. We've got dancers. We've got a lot going on," Mayer said. "And as you can start to see in terms of the entertainment aspect of all of this, the lights are going up. This place will really start to shine. We've got a lot of things planned to put on a show."
