Live music returns to Nashville with socially distanced, drive-in concert at Nissan Stadium

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — On Friday night, cars filled the parking lots outside of Nissan Stadium for the first, major, in-person concert since mid-March.

The Live from the Drive-In series, hosted by Live Nation, kicked off Friday night with a Jon Pardi concert. Pardi performed on a stage in the parking lot, and fans could sit next to their cars and watch the performance.

"It's exciting, you know, a little bit of anxiousness because we haven't done this, or done this type of event," Live Nation's Larry Wethers said. He said the promotion company hasn't put on a concert since mid-March when COVID-19 forced cancellations across the country.

"Our goal was to get back to a true, live experience, a live concert experience," Wethers said. But that's easier said than done.

"It was interesting because we're trying to balance a lot of the elements of what we've come to know as a traditional concert experience, but also the priorities are making sure that we're able to maintain socially distance guidance from the CDC," Wethers said.

That guidance hoped to give guests room to practice social distancing. Each car got several parking spaces: one to park the car, one to put chairs if the guests wanted to get out, and one left empty as a "buffer zone."

"The layout has been specifically designed with that in mind, where we have ample space for people to park, to get outside their car to enjoy the concert if they would like, and still have ample social distance space," Wethers said.

The concert series continues on Saturday with Brad Paisley and Sunday with Darius Rucker. There are similar events put on by Live Nation in St. Louis and Indianapolis this weekend.