Right next door to Nissan Stadium in Nashville — right across the parking lot — is the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center, where Antioch, Tennessee native Jelly Roll spent years incarcerated as a teenager. The underdog's story brought him from a prison cell to center stage at Nissan Stadium, headlining Saturday's CMA Fest show.
The crowd was already cheering before the hometown hero took the stage and rewarded their applause by performing 'The Lost'. Pausing to watch the circle's triumphant moment, Jelly Roll — and many in the audience — were soon in tears. But those tears didn't last long before they turned into a joyous celebration.
“I'm from Nashville, Tennessee!” he shouted to the crowd, which roared with equal enthusiasm. “My dad brought me here 23 years ago when the Tennessee Titans first came to town — this is a dream come true … playing to a sold-out crowd at Nissan Stadium … and I'm going to play No. 1 in country radio right now,” he said, before launching into his current (and fourth) Billboard Country Airplay No. 1, “Halfway to Hell.” The performance was enhanced by Keith Urban playing guitar during the performance.
A year ago, he got a taste of stadium headlining when he appeared on the stage at CMA Fest, but on Saturday night, he fully made that dream come true. He dedicated his set to the teenagers currently in the juvenile center.
“I know they can hear us because I was one of them, once. I've been in and out of prison and in and out of drug addiction, and tonight I'm headlining CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium,” he said. Launching into 'Son of a Sinner', with stadium lights on, he said, 'I'm here to tell you that you can do anything you want in life, I don't give an AF—what anybody says', before praising the music of country music as “the genre that saved my life.”
Jelly Roll's shows have become part concerts, part therapy sessions, part spiritual revival for those who identify as outcasts, feel misunderstood, struggle with addiction, or just face any personal struggles — and the CMA Fest set was no exception.
“This is a come, come all crew,” he said. He later added, “I'm here to represent the lost and the broken,” before performing his new song “I Am Not Ok.”
Before making country music, Jelly Roll was primarily known as a rapper, and he passionately and effortlessly journeyed through a medley of rap classics such as Eminem's “Lose Yourself,” Biz Markie's “Just a Friend” and “Ms. Jackson,” before performing his own collaboration “Wild Ones” (sans Jessie Murph). The crowd reaction was so fervent that the singer-songwriter collapsed onto a riser on stage, laughing. Later, his wife Bunnie XO did a brief appearance and shared a kiss with Jelly Roll.
From there, it delivered the four-week No. 1 Country Airplay “Need a Favor”, with the audience waving their hands in the air. He then followed up with the two-week No.1 'Save Me', welcoming his partner Lainey Wilson back to the festival stage with a hug. Jelly Roll then returned solo to the main stage, waving his hat to the crowd and thanking the audience for being a part of his triumphant story.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/cma-fest-2024-saturday-nashville-top-moments-recap/
