Venue
600 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, TN, United States
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Nashville's Big Bash (New Year's Eve) guide
A free country concert and music-note drop.
In short
Country fans can ring in the year at Nashville's Big Bash on 31 December, a free concert at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, broadcast nationwide. Big names play into the night before a red music note is lowered at midnight with fireworks and confetti. Headliners and gate times are confirmed weeks before, and crowds are large.
Nashville's Big Bash is the city's free New Year's Eve concert, staged on a downtown park lawn beneath the state capitol and broadcast live across the country. Big country names play into the night, and at midnight a giant red music note is lowered down a tower while fireworks and confetti fill the sky.
Its weight comes from the format. Country headliners play a free show to a crowd counted in the hundreds of thousands, and a network broadcast carries the evening into living rooms nationwide, so the rest of the country watches Nashville count down.
The countdown symbol is the city's own. The object that drops here is a red eighth note, a piece of civic theatre that suits a town built on songs. For many locals it has simply become how the year ends.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Where: Nashville, United States
Venue: Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park
Held: Every year
Type of event: Party Events, Live Events
Currency: US dollar (USD, $)
Time zone: Central Time (UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer)
Language: English (Spanish widely spoken)
Map
Close to the venue
- The Parthenon (Nashville) Attraction · 3.3 km
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
The clear bag policy and security screening
Security is tight: fencing rings the site, and everyone walks through metal detectors at one of six entrances. Organisers would rather you brought no bag at all. If you must carry one, it has to follow these limits:
- clear bags up to 12 x 12 x 6 inches
- small non-transparent wallets or pouches up to 4.5 x 6.5 inches
- personal cameras are fine
Backpacks, luggage, coolers, weapons, laser pointers and your own fireworks are refused at the gate, so leave them at the hotel.
Dressing warmly for hours outdoors
This is an outdoor show on open grass in midwinter, and organisers specifically ask people to dress warmly. Layer up: thermal base, sweater, insulated jacket, hat and gloves. Waterproof boots help if the lawn is wet. Hand and toe warmers are small enough to slip into a clear bag.
Eat before you arrive or plan a food-truck stop early, because lines grow as the headliners approach. Pick a landmark near your spot, such as a light tower or a screen, and agree it as your group's meeting point. Phones struggle when a quarter of a million people share the same few blocks.
What happens on the day
- 5:30pm
Gates open
At the last edition a DJ played for about 75 minutes while the lawn filled. Every entrance has metal detectors.
- 6:45pm
Welcome
The emcee and the mayor open the evening, followed by a short set of house music.
- 7pm
Broadcast begins
CBS goes live and headline country acts take turns on the main stage through the evening.
- 11:55pm
Countdown
The giant red Music Note is lowered down its tower, with pyrotechnics and confetti as the clock reaches midnight.
- Midnight
Fireworks
A burst of fireworks of about ninety seconds lights up the Capitol hill.
- 12:30am
Show ends
The broadcast and the live concert finish together. Leave as the last song ends to beat the shuttle queue.
Where to stay near Broadway and the Capitol lawn
The concert now happens on the lawns of Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, just north of the Tennessee State Capitol. Entry costs nothing and there is no ticket, so planning is mostly about your room and your timing.
A good shape for the day is a late lunch downtown, a rest, then warm layers and a walk or shuttle to the park as the gates open. Spend the following morning recovering before exploring further afield. If Nashville is one stop on a longer trip, our United States travel pages help with the next leg.
The giant red music note and its countdown
A country music capital needed a countdown object of its own. The note is an eighth note painted bright red, 16 feet tall and weighing about 400 pounds. It was made by Made First, a Nashville production firm, for the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation, and the same team can turn its face into a screen for sparkles and logos.
The party itself is younger than many visitors assume. When the 2024 show went on air it was just the 16th edition, and only the eighth on this lawn. Over that time it has grown into a televised night of country headliners, broadcast nationally by CBS.
The setting carries its own symbolism. The park opened in 1996 as an extension of the Capitol grounds. It covers about 19 acres between James Robertson Parkway and Jefferson Street, with the Capitol rising on its hill to the south, so the note falls against one of the most historic backdrops in the state.
Getting there
Flying in
Nashville International Airport (BNA) is about 8 miles east of downtown off Interstate 40. WeGo Route 18 runs from the airport into the city centre; taxis and rideshares collect from the Ground Transportation Center on Level 1 of Terminal Garage 2.
The event shuttle
At the last edition a dedicated WeGo shuttle ran every 10 minutes from 6:15pm to 1:30am, from Broadway outside Hume-Fogg (between 7th Avenue and Rosa L. Parks Boulevard) to James Robertson Parkway between 6th and 7th Avenues.
Cabs and rideshares
Drop-offs were directed to the streets bordering the park. Expect a long wait for a pick-up after midnight; walking a few blocks away first usually helps.
Where to stay during the festival
Downtown hotels around Broadway put you on the shuttle route to the gates. Germantown, the historic district directly north of the park, lets you walk there and back in minutes and skip the post-midnight queue altogether.
Downtown rooms fill fast over the holiday, so book early, and check whether your hotel sits inside the ring of streets that close around the park if you plan to drive.
Weather and what to pack
Nashville in late December is cold, though usually above freezing. Wikipedia's climate table for the city gives a December average high of 52°F (11°C) and a low of 33°F (1°C), with about 4.4 inches (113 mm) of rain in the month.
By midnight the temperature on the lawn is usually close to the daily low, and a wet evening is entirely possible.
Worth packing
- A hooded waterproof jacket or poncho
- Warm layers, hat and gloves for five hours outdoors
- A clear or small bag for the security line
- Cash or card for food trucks and drinks
- A fully charged phone to find your group after midnight
Car hire in Nashville
Airport transfer to Nashville's Big Bash (New Year's Eve)
Met at arrivals and driven door to door to Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park.
Restaurants and food in United States
Places to eat in United States before or after the celebrations.
Joe's Stone Crab
11 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139, United States
Cuisine:SeafoodAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Bar
Alinea
1723 North Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
Cuisine:ModernistAmerican
- Dine-in
- Counter seating
Franklin Barbecue
900 East 11th Street, Austin, TX 78702, United States
Cuisine:Texas barbecueAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Commander's Palace
1403 Washington Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States
Cuisine:CreoleNew Orleans
- Dine-in
Katz's Delicatessen
205 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002, United States
Cuisine:Jewish deliAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Counter seating
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General
Yes. Entry to the concert is free and open to everyone, with no ticket or registration. You only pay for food, drinks and anything else you buy inside.
No. Outside alcohol is not allowed. Any drinks you want during the show have to be bought from the official event vendors inside the fenced site.
Organisers expected about 250,000 people at the most recent edition. Two years earlier, more than 200,000 were expected, so the crowd has been growing.
The most recent edition starred Lainey Wilson, Jason Aldean and Bailey Zimmerman. The year before, the bill included Keith Urban, Kane Brown and Jelly Roll.
Yes. Look for the large granite map of Tennessee set into the ground and the 95-bell carillon around the Court of Three Stars. The Nashville Farmers' Market sits right next door on the west side.
CBS carries the concert live from early evening through the midnight countdown, so it can be watched across the United States.
Timing & weather
No umbrellas of any size get through security, however small. Bring a hooded waterproof jacket or a disposable poncho instead.
Families & accessibility
Pets are not allowed on the event site. Service animals are the only exception, so leave other dogs at your hotel or with a sitter.
Yes. Vehicles with ADA permits could drop off on Rosa L. Parks Boulevard near the Tennessee State Museum at the last edition, which is the shortest approach to the site.
Stay & facilities
Yes. Food trucks set up in a parking lot beside the park, and warming tents have been placed in another lot, which helps on a cold night.
Getting there
They might if you plan to drive. Streets around the park close in stages from the middle of December and are not fully reopened until early January, so check the closure map before booking parking nearby.