Breaking News:
Loretta Lynn has cancelled her appearance on the Grand Ole Opry for Saturday night and has been replaced by Martina McBride.
Here is the Grand Ole Opry line-up for this weekend:
Friday May 1
7:00: Jeannie Seely(host); Jimmy C. Newman; Heidi Newfield
7:30: Jimmy Dickens(host); The Whites; Del McCoury Band
8:00: Mike Snider(host); Jean Shepard; Lee Greenwood
8:30: Marty Stuart(host); Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys; Connie Smith
Not a bad line-up for the 2 hour show. Heidi Newfield makes another appearance. She appeared when I attended a show in February and received a good response from the audience. She does have a lot of energy and a fine voice. Marty Stuart continues with his string of appearances and Lee Greenwood makes another appearance at the Opry.
Saturday May 2
7:00: Jimmy Dickens(host); The Whites; Mandy Barnett
7:30: Marty Stuart(host); George Hamilton IV; Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press; Connie Smith
8:00: Jim Ed Brown(host); Jean Shepard; Trace Adkins; Opry Square Dancers
8:30: Mike Snider(host); Jimmy C. Newman; Martina McBride
A very nice line-up for Saturday night as the Opry goes to just 1 show on Saturday for the next 4 weeks. Again, I know the move was made for financial reasons, and I somewhat understand 1 show on a Saturday in January and February, but I do not see a need for this in May, when crowds are generally good. My other opinion is that if they are doing just 1 show on a Saturday night, extend it by 30 minutes and give more artists a chance to appear. As far as Saturday night's show, I am suprised to see Jim Ed Brown hosting a segment over Trace Adkins. Usually Trace is a host when he appears. The highlight, of course, is Loretta Lynn making another Opry appearance. What fan would not have liked Loretta getting 30 minutes like Reba is getting. Again, just a very solid line-up and a good show to attend.
Finally, Mandy Barnett is the host of the Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree this Saturday night at midnight at the record shop. While she has never made it as a successful country music entertainer, she has an awesome voice and has made, in my opinion, a couple of nice albums. While her voice is fantastic, it just does not fit in with the style of country music that is being played today. It will be interesting to see what kind of a crowd they have for this show. The price is always right-free!!!
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ReplyDeleteHi Byron, in regards to dropping the second show in several months this year. . . it would probably amaze us if we knew how much summer attendence(in general) has been slipping year by year ever since Opryland closed. They had great synergy there with the park in the spring, summer and fall and that is why they were at one time able to run as many as 9 shows a week in the peak of Opryland's run in the summers.
ReplyDeleteI go to shows throughout the year, and I have been to many shows in the last few years in the spring and summer months since the park closed (including May and even in the month of July) when there were only 700-800 in attendence at the 9:30 show. It would be interesting to know what current break-even would be for an Opry show. Likely, Fisher/analysts looked at the last few years and historically what months that the 9:30 shows were truly making money and we are seeing what months now, 10+ years after the closing of Opryland, are the strongest. I would guess October-December are now the strongest months historically. Pete Fisher, though, told someone I know that they would add an additional show on Saturdays where there is currently only one scheduled if sales warranted. They did that in February a couple of times and it looks like they are doing it again the night that Steve Martin is there in May, so that is a good thing.