Live events

Tickets for the ‘In Between’ singer-songwriter Scotty McCreery’s shows remain valid; limited tickets remain for most dates Due to the ongoing global pandemic and the government measures implemented to limit its spread, multi-platinum country star Scotty McCreery’s highly anticipated return to the UK – and his first trip to Ireland / Northern Ireland – has been postponed again, from October to May 2021. In a statement to fans, Scotty said: “I am so disappointed that we have to postpone our UK and Ireland tour yet again, but the safety of my fans, the venue workers, and my band and crew remains my first priority. I cannot wait until May 2021 to get there! We had so much fun in England on the last trip, and I cannot wait to visit Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland for the first time. Until then, I send much love to all of you there and hope everyone stays safe.” Customers are advised to keep hold of their tickets as they will be valid for the new rescheduled dates with limited tickets still available for shows in Manchester, London, Glasgow, and Dublin; (Belfast date sold out): 04/05/20 Manchester, England O2 Ritz 05/05/20 Glasgow, Scotland Old Fruitmarket 07/05/20 London, England O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire 09/05/20 Dublin, Ireland Academy Dublin 11/05/20 Belfast, Northern Ireland The Limelight (Sold Out) Tickets for the UK shows are available via Gigs and Tours; tickets for Dublin via Ticketmaster. CMT & ACM award winner McCreery recently gained his third consecutive US #1 radio single with ‘In Between’, following previous hits ‘Five More Minutes’ and ‘This Is It’, all taken from his latest album Seasons Change.  At the start of the year, acoustic versions of all three singles appeared on a digital-only EP, The Soundcheck Sessions, along with a fan-favourite from the album ‘Still’. Earlier this month, Scotty also performed an exclusive session for the Country Show with Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2, recorded from his home – listen here.   Follow us on social media and share this post! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram See more news here.

Garth Brooks is going live once again. During Tuesday (July 7) night’s Inside Studio G, the singer will take requests for his second acoustic concert since the coronavirus pandemic began. The first was a hit, crashing the livestream and ultimately becoming a television special on CBS. Trisha Yearwood was a big part of that broadcast and figures to be involved in the next. She’s often a special guest on Inside Studio G, with the married stars trading questions, songs, stories and jokes. For Tuesday night’s 7PM ET show, fans can tweet requests with the #GarthRequestLive2 hashtag and his team will filter through to arrange something of a setlist. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Brooks has continued with Inside Studio G. In addition to the two acoustic concerts, he put on a drive-in movie theater concert last Saturday (June 27) that aired on more than 300 drive-in screens nationwide. Fans mostly enjoyed the night, but it wasn’t perfect. Audio issues plagued some venues, and his produced video performance disappointed others. It’s as close as they’ll get to Brooks — or any other major country star — in 2020, however. The touring industry has been shot down due to the pandemic, leaving artists to find creative ways to get music to fans and recoup lost income. The 58-year-old Brooks’ last radio single was “Dive Bar” with Blake Shelton. He dropped “We Belong to Each Other” last month, but it’s not clear if it will be promoted at radio, despite seeming on topic with the national conversation. See more news here.  

Chase Rice has responded to the criticism he received for playing a concert on Saturday night (June 27) in Tennessee. The event attracted a crowd of around 1,000 fans, with many choosing not to wear masks or observe social distancing practices, despite the fact that the novel coronavirus is still a major concern in the United States. Rice posted a video to Instagram on Monday (June 29), in which he did not outright apologize for his decision to play the show — “I understand that there’s a lot of varying opinions, a lot of different opinions on COVID-19, how it works with live music crowds and what all that looks like,” he says — but instead offered up his sincere concern for fans and an invitation to comply with heath-related best practices at an upcoming show. “My biggest thing is y’all. Y’all are why I get to write songs, y’all are why I get to tour the country, why I get to do live shows and sing these songs to you guys and you guys sing them back. You guys are everything to me, so your safety is a huge priority,” he stresses. “Moving forward, I have a show in Ashland, Ky., on Friday, and it’s a drive-in show, You can take your trucks, take your cars. You have your own space, you can get out of your cars, you can get out of your trucks and party with me. “Please do sing the songs but stay in your own space, stay with the people you came with,” he adds. “The biggest thing for all of us is the safer we are now, the quicker we get to actual normal live shows, which I know we all want.” The venue Rice played, Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, is a former maximum-security prison turned event venue in Petros, Tenn. A representative for the venue says they complied with COVID-19-related guidelines by reducing capacity from 10,000 to 4,000 people and implementing other safety measures, such as making hand sanitizer available and requiring staff to wear masks and gloves. “We are re-evaluating the series from top to bottom,” says Brian May, vice president of the Brushy Mountain Group, “from implementing further safety measures, to adding stanchions, to converting the space to drive-in style concerts, to postponing shows.” Tennessee’s current guidelines for reopening recommend that event venues “operate in a manner such that persons from different households or small groups are able to substantially maintain 6 feet of separation from other persons or small groups outside their own group during their visit.” The guidelines also suggest that staff take guests’ temperatures and “strongly encourage” face masks, but do not require either. At this time, the state of Tennessee as a whole is not mandating that people wear face masks when out in public. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of June 28, Tennessee has recorded 40,172 cases of COVID-19 since Jan. 21; a total of 6,155 of those cases have been recorded in the past seven days. Morgan County specifically, where Petros is located, has only had 23 confirmed COVID-19 cases and one related death, though there are no rules in place to keep those from other counties or out of state from traveling to the area. See more news here.