Country music stars Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley will headline the first outdoor game in Music City, and they plan to make it a party.
"Hockey-tonk, we're calling it," Lambert said.
Bentley and Lambert will play the intermissions of the Nashville Predators game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Nissan Stadium on Saturday. Bentley said the NHL paired them for the show because of their Nashville roots. Both artists live in the city, which Bentley called "adult Disneyland."
"This is the best hockey city in the country," he said. "We have the best hockey fans and the best entertainment. There's no other game you go to where Miranda Lambert will be playing. It makes for a really fun experience for the fans. And to do this here in this stadium for the first time, it's awesome."
They also know the go-to honky-tonks across the street "very well," Bentley said.
Lambert, who is a decorated musician with the most female ACM (Academy of Country Music) nominations in history and going on her "Bandwagon" tour with Little Big Town in May, said adding the NHL show to her resume is "pretty freaking cool."
As for Bentley, he is a well-documented Predators fan and a newfound "rink dad," now that his 8-year-old son, Knox, plays hockey.
"I go support Knox] and I'm at hockey five, six days a week," he said. "I love the sport and love watching him grow in it and I love the Preds. This weekend is huge for the Preds.
[Pekka Rinne
,
retiring his jersey
. There's so many Preds in town. Then we have this big celebration of Nashville with hockey being here. It's a huge weekend for Nashville and it's a great weekend for the NHL because this is the hottest city for hockey."
