GRAND OLE OPRY
I am ashamed to admit that after four years of living in Nashville this was our first trip to the Opry. I can guarantee we will be back though. It was such a cool and unique experience that you can only get here in Nashville. Our night started with the VIP tour and it was so interesting. The Opry offers two different tours on show nights, a pre and post show tour, that take you back stage and behind the scenes so you can see how the magic is made. It was so amazing to get to see such a huge part of country music's history and be a part of what has been "country's greatest stage" for the past 90+ years.
THE TOUR
The Grand Ole Opry offers three different types of tours: a daytime tour, a post-show tour, and a VIP tour that are open to both children and adults and range in price from $21-$150. As I mentioned, our trip started with the VIP pre-show tour. It was so amazing to be behind the scences as the show was getting started for the night. When you start one of the tours, you are lead to the artist entrance and get to see where the artist come in and get ready for the night's show. The backstage is filled with amazing photography and memorabilia. It really is like a shrine to all of country music's greatest stars. There are plaques from every performer who has ever performed at the Opry, tons of great photography from the shows, and even a marker of the water line from the horrific flood in 2010 that closed the Opry for 5 months.
After touring the dressing rooms you are lead to a side stage where you actually get to see the famous red curtain rise and watch the first performance of the night. It was amazing to be able to see the concert from the artist's perspective and watch all the work that goes into making a live show happen behind the scenes. It really is a well oiled machine. You can tell that they have been doing it for over 90 years. After we saw the opening act we were escorted to our seats and got to enjoy the rest of the show.
THE GROUNDS
The grounds of the Grand Ole Opry are really gorgeous and I highly recommend either coming early or staying after the show to just stroll around and take it all in. They have benches and beautiful gas lights all around the property. It was so nice to just be able to stroll around and sit and reconnect after the SUPER hectic few months we have had. I love getting to spend one on one time with Steve and this was such a nice alternative to a typical dinner and a movie date. We both LOVE country music and this was a great opportunity to share that love with each other and experience such a special pieces of Nashville music history. And who knows, you might even get a little dip from your sweetie like I did!
THE DETAILS
The Grand Ole Opry has shows every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday night that start at 7pm. Ticket prices for the concert range from $38 -$95 dollars and the best part about buying a ticket to a show at The Opry is that it is like getting multiple concerts in one. There are always several different artist performing on each night so you get to see tons of great performances for the price of one ticket. It really is a great deal! You can check out the calendar of upcoming performances here. If you are coming in from out-of-town and are looking to plan a trip to the Opry, they have an awesome trip planning page that give directions and all the details of planning a visit to the Grand Ole Opry. I do want to mention to all my out-of-towners that you want to give yourself plenty of time to get to the venue. It is a very popular location and is right by one of Nashville's biggest malls and the traffic can get SUPER congested. You definitely don't want to have to be rushing or miss the beginning of the show, so make sure you have enough time to get there.
