Morgan Wallen Walks Out With Theo Von and DeAndre Hopkins During First Night at Nashville's Nissan Stadium

Country superstar Morgan Wallen blew the roof off Nissan Stadium with a pyro-packed performance in his home state, kicking off his first of three tour-dates in Music City on May 2.

After delighting country music lovers with his One Night At A Time tour in 2023 – kicking off overseas with shows in New Zealand and Australia last March – Wallen extended the tour into 2024 with 10 additional stadium shows. Bailey Zimmerman, Nate Smith and Morgan's Big Loud label-mate, Lauren Watkins, were the opening acts for night one in Nashville, Tennessee, and it feels safe to say their stellar sets got the crowd fired up ahead of the ‘Last Night’ hitmaker's headline performance.

Lauren Watkins kicked off her oh-so special hometown set around 5:30pm, singing some of her most popular tracks, as well as a then-unreleased tune that hit all music streaming services later that evening: ‘Mama, I Made It.’ To follow, Nate Smith brought his signature charisma to the Nissan Stadium stage around 6:15pm, singing smash hits like ‘World On Fire,’ ‘Whiskey On You,’ ‘Bulletproof’ and more.

The final opening act came from the one and only Bailey Zimmerman, who sprinted on-stage in an all-white ensemble around 7:15pm to sing his chart-topper, ‘Religiously,’ prior to performing a plethora of much-loved hits: ‘Where It Ends,’ ‘Fall In Love,’ ‘Rock and A Hard Place’ and more. Zimmerman’s performance was absolutely electric, zooming around the stage while shredding his guitar and showing off his trademark dance moves. Needless to say, the crowd was on their feet from start to finish, especially when he returned to the stage in a Tennessee Titans jersey to sing the last few tracks in his setlist.

Walking in to the tune ‘Broadway Girls’ - a now-iconic into that is as badass as can be - Morgan Wallen launched his highly-anticipated set around 9pm, bringing some special guests with him: comedian, podcaster and social media sensation Theo Von, as well as Tennessee Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Nobody was expecting this trio to team up, but all attendees were thrilled nonetheless.

After blasting through some wooden barn-style doors while fireworks and flames lit up Nissan Stadium, the talented singer-songwriter sang ‘Ain't That Some,’ ‘I Wrote The Book,’ ‘One Thing at a Time,’ ‘Everything I Love’ and ‘You Proof’ with boundless energy, prior to transitioning over to the right side of the stage to sing ‘98 Braves’ and ‘7 Summers’ in front of a set of bleachers. The bleachers served as a nod to his high school days, as well as some of the trials and tribulations he faced back then.

“Behind me, it's got some of my high school flags. That's important to me, because when I was in high school, I played baseball and I almost got kicked off the team when I was a junior, and my head coach – by the name of Coach Davis – he didn't let me. He made sure I stayed on the team,” Wallen gushed. “I never forgot that, you know, and there's just been so many people in my life like coach Davis that never gave up on me, and I just wanted to give him a shout out by this setup right here.”

Around 9:45pm, the show took an intimate turn as Morgan Wallen made his way to the B stage, located at the back of Nissan Stadium. All in an attempt to create the small-show feeling that he was used to during the early stages of his career, those located in the back of the stadium were in for a treat when they surprisingly earned some front row seats to an acoustic set, where he sang ‘Cover Me Up,’ ‘Thought You Should Know,’ ‘Sand in My Boots’ and the unreleased ‘Lies Lies Lies.’

The excitement around the stadium was truly unmatched once Morgan Wallen returned to the main stage, bringing Bailey Zimmerman back out to sing ‘Up Down’ – Wallen’s collaboration with the now-disbanded musical duo, Florida Georgia Line – as well as ERNEST for an unexpected appearance. The pair sang ‘Cowgirls,’ which is currently climbing the country music charts as we speak. Wallen’s strong bond with both Zimmerman and ERNEST was on full display for all attendees.

To follow, Morgan Wallen slowed things down to sing ‘Chasin' You’ and ‘Man Made a Bar’ on the left side of the stage in front of a replica of his Mamaw’s house, which simultaneously serves as the cover of his award-winning album, One Thing at a Time.

“A lot of y'all also probably know how much my family means to me and how they've just been there for me throughout this whole crazy, weird ride that we've been on for the last few years, and I just wanted to give a nod to that in making that my album cover and just showing love to my Mamaw. She's no longer here with us, but she was a huge part of my life growing up and she helped raise me and my cousins and my sisters,” Wallen explained, causing numerous audience-members to shed a few tears. “She got to see me play one show of my life. It was at the County Fair in East Tennessee, and I'll never forget the look on her face when she saw it. I think there were about seven or eight thousand people there, so I can only imagine what she'd be looking like right now. That's the kind of thing that makes this so special, so thank you guys for allowing me and my family to do this. This is truly something I feel honored and privileged to do”.

Followed by bombastic performances of Heartless,’ ‘Wasted on You,’ ‘This Bar’ and ‘More Than My Hometown,’ Morgan Wallen teased the crowd by seemingly closing the show with his smash hit, ‘Whiskey Glasses’ - a performance that had all attendees singing each and every lyric - before returning for a three-song encore.

Emerging on-stage in a Tennessee Titans jersey – just like Zimmerman – Wallen rattled through three of his biggest anthems, ‘Thinkin' Bout Me,’ ‘Last Night’ and ‘The Way I Talk,’ ultimately ending his first night in Nashville with a plethora of pyrotechnics, prior to taking some selfies and signing some autographs on the way out.

This momentous stop on the One Night At A Time tour proved that the Tennessee native is still one of the biggest and best country stars of this generation, putting on an incredible show time and time again. If this was any indication of how the rest of his performances will go - especially after his long-awaited collaboration with Post Malone, ‘I Had Some Help’, hits streaming services on May 10 - country music lovers better buckle their seatbelts. They are in for a wild ride!

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