Jelly Roll's The Beautifully Broken Tour Ends With Sold-Out, Soul-Healing Hometown Show at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena

Six-time Country Airplay topper and CMA Entertainer of the Year nominee Jelly Roll has had a meteoric year filled with new career milestones and headlining The Beautifully Broken tour this year played venues including Los Angeles' crypto.com Arena and the NYC Madison Square Garden. But his heart is in his hometown of the Nashville area — which is why the recent Billboard 200 topper was adamant about adding a Nashville show to his already packed tour schedule.

“There's no place like home,” he told the crowd repeatedly during his sold-out, headlining show at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night (November 26). It was clear that the hometown Nashville hero was on a mission to bring joy, hope and healing to those in attendance, operating at an elite level across the board in terms of hits, musicianship, production, energy, audience participation and, yes, surprise guests.

“It's about a family reunion of people healing together,” he said during his set. The show also marked a strong return for Jelly Roll, marking his first Nashville concert since performing at the same venue in December 2022.

The tour's self-titled album, Beautifully brokenrecently topped the all-genre Billboard 200, and The Beautifully Broken tour's Nashville stop featured several songs from the new album, while delivering a soul-cleansing blend of pulsating music, strong messages, a chill-out, party-inducing environment , but above all, to create an environment to find encouragement, acceptance and healing, and a safe space that recognizes how recovery from any pain or addiction is rare linear.

Alexandra Kay opened the show, performing songs such as “Easy”, “I Hate Airplanes” and “Everleave”. She made use of the entire stage during her performance, easily connecting with her fans, while her set was punctuated by songs from her 2023 debut album Everything I've ever knownwhich was inspired by her story of getting over a divorce and coming out stronger for it.

“Thank you for letting me share my stories and be vulnerable with you,” she said, adding, “Know that you are not alone and that it will get better.” She also thanked Jelly Roll, saying, “Shout out to Jelly Roll for believing in an independent, female artist.” Later in the evening, he joined Jelly Roll to perform “Wild Ones” (recorded by the headliner and Jessie Murph), where it was revealed that he had just signed a deal with the label.

Next up was fellow Nashville resident and longtime friend ERNEST of Jelly Roll, who as a songwriter has quickly established himself as a cornerstone of many of Nashville's current hits and albums, his credits including a plethora of Morgan Wallen songs – such as CMA Song of the Year nominees “I Had Some Help” and “More Than My Hometown” — as well as Jelly's “Son of a Sinner' by Roll, 'Dig Your Roots' by Florida Georgia Line and 'Wildside' by Keith Urban.

He also scored his own hits with the Morgan Wallen collaboration “Flower Shops” and on Tuesday night he brought the songs that multiply his recent album. Nashville, Tennesseeback to their origins in the city and the writing community that inspired them. In particular, the album fits right in with country music's current moment of leaning towards more traditional country sounds, as fiddles and acoustic guitars took center stage on songs like “Tennessee Queen,” “Why Dallas,” and “Ain't As Easy “. Perhaps a nod to his songwriting roots, ERNEST mostly stayed close to center stage, letting the music flow over the crowd.

“I love playing country songs in Nashville, Tennessee,” Earnest said at one point. Among those country songs was a three-decade-old song written by Dean Dillon and Skip Ewing, which is now Ernest's current radio single, “Would If I Could.” Another was a revamped, acoustic version of another song he wrote, Wallen's “Wasted on You,” showcasing Ernest's protean songwriting skills.

From there, it was the first big guest arrival of the night, as reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year Morgan Wallen joined Ernest on stage to perform “Flower Shops” and “Cowgirls.” Instead of a catwalk ramp in the middle of the audience, Jelly Roll's stage placed two catwalks on either side of the audience, allowing performers closer to both those on the main floor and the tiered seats. ERNEST and Wallen made use of the stage, each playing on one side of the audience, before joining forces on the main stage.

After the duet with Wallen, Ernest finished with a perfectly fitting version of the Hank Jr. classic. “Family Tradition”.

Jelly Roll started connecting with his fans and showing appreciation for his fans from the moment he entered the arena, which was celebrated by the cheers of the fans that flooded Bridgestone. He made his way through the crowd, greeting fans and shaking hands, before taking to a satellite stage at the back of the arena. From there, a frame of a building that had been set on fire descended from the roof, framing Jelly Roll as he launched into the first song, “I Am Not Okay” (Country Airplay's sixth chart member).

“I hope it's the best show you've ever seen in your f—king life,” he told the crowd, before launching into a set that offered a heady mix of songs drawn from Jelly Roll's current country hits, songs from his Beautifully. Broken album, as well as his deep catalog of rap releases and a heavy dose of classic hip-hop songs. The set leaned into the musical traversal of Jelly Roll's musical journey and a blend of country, hip-hop, rock and gospel.

After performing “Halfway to Hell” and his first country No. 1, “Son of a Sinner,” told the crowd how his mother influenced his love of country music, playing country music from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. That influence was evident as Jelly Roll performed a solo version of “Believe” by Brooks & Dunn and with Ernest for a cover of “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks. He also noted a plethora of other influences, including the influence of gospel music from his years spent at the church in Antioch, Tennessee Whitsitt Chapel (the namesake of his first country album), while his older brother introduced him to gangsta rap, explaining how Jelly Roll's concert was able to seamlessly guide the audience through a spectrum of country builds, high-octane rock and rap, to confessional spiritual moments. . He launched into Green Day's “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” before diving deep into his own catalog of rap music that predates his country and rock hits, welcoming a few friends and fellow musicians to join in, including Yelawolf on The “Unlive” and Struggle Jennings on “Fall in the Fall”.

The guest appearances continued as Keith Urban joined Jelly Roll to reprise their CMA Awards performance from last week, with Urban lending his ace guitar skills to Jelly Roll's “Liar.”

Beyond simple hit songs, Jelly Roll's mission has focused on helping those struggling with various emotional traumas, pain, addiction, depression and hopelessness. His concerts combine uplifting, cathartic anthems, impassioned, motivational speaker moments, and moments where rock jams turn into a fun Sunday morning church atmosphere — and fans have responded strongly to having a place where their dreams, frustrations and realities can dwell, judgment-free. Several fans held signs celebrating sobriety and recovery, and Jelly Roll celebrated them from the stage.

“There are people who are still prisoners of their past,” he said at one point, as soft piano music underscored his message. “There's no better night than tonight to let it go. There's no better night than tonight to find freedom. There is no better night than tonight to bare your chest and believe in change. Miracles happen and you have to believe. This is more than music, this is more than a concert. This is a family reunion of people healing together. Tonight we must turn our mess into a message. Tonight we can turn our obstacles into opportunities. Tonight is that magical moment where we finally take all that pain and take it and make it happen at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I make real music for real people who have been through real st in real life.'

From there came the night's most shocking collaborations, on a song he called “one of the hardest songs I've ever written,” as Skylar Gray teamed up with Jelly Roll for the ballad 'Past Yesterday' – an intense look at long-term effects of abuse.

The final part of the night found Jelly Roll delving into his passion for rap and hip-hop, singing Eminem's “Lose Yourself” and “Ms. Jackson,” before the night had one last big surprise when Snoop Dogg took the stage, performing songs like “Drop It Like It's Hot” before he and Jelly Roll debuted a new song that will be on Snoop Dogg's upcoming album Since the new song interjects the classic “Mary Jane's Last Dance” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Snoop and Jelly Roll celebrated by ending the song by exchanging a few puffs.

As Snoop Dogg left the stage, a large pendant lowered onto the stage as Jelly Roll launched into his soulful, conciliatory hit 'Need a Favor', followed by a song of Beautifully broken album, “Heart of Stone”. Throughout the evening, Jelly Roll were backed by an ace band and a trio of extremely talented singers, all equally adept at mixing, rocking rock numbers and rocking the roof, with entertaining gospel undertones.

As Jelly Roll exited the main stage and made his way through the crowd again, he returned to the stage at the back of the arena, ending the show as he started it, addressing those who had been relegated to the cheap seats and giving them better seats in home. By then the flaming frame of the building was submerged in water as Jelly Roll launched into 'Save Me'. Water rained down on the singer as the dozens of fans in the audience raised their hands and sang along, immersed in their emotional catharsis, enhanced by a concert and songs aimed at getting to know them, understand them and encourage them where they are. are located. hectare.