Nashville’s October Concert Calendar Is Stacked. Here’s Your Excuse to Fly In.
Nashville has never needed much of an excuse for a weekend trip. Good restaurants, rooftop bars, live music on practically every corner and enough happening downtown to fill a weekend without making much of a plan have made it one of the Southeast’s favorite quick getaways.
But this October, the concert calendar is giving us several very good reasons to go.
From classic rock and country to indie, blues and some of the biggest touring acts on the road, Nashville’s major venues have packed October with shows that are worth building a trip around. And because Nashville is such an easy regional flight for Capital Air Express, you don’t necessarily need to take a vacation day—or even commit to an entire weekend—to do it.
Pick the show. Grab a few friends. We’ll handle the flight.
October Starts Strong
The month gets going quickly with Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds at Bridgestone Arena on October 2, followed by ZZ Top with Cheap Trick at Ascend Amphitheater on October 8.
Then Columbus Day weekend arrives, and Nashville gets particularly busy.
Weezer brings The Gathering tour to Bridgestone Arena on October 9 with The Shins and Silversun Pickups, while Jack White plays The Truth on both October 9 and 10. Phoebe Bridgers takes over Bridgestone on October 10 and 11, and Limp Bizkit plays The Truth on October 11 and 12.
If you already have a three-day weekend for Columbus Day, Nashville suddenly becomes a pretty compelling option.
Instead of spending Friday afternoon driving several hours north—or fighting your way through ATL for a flight that takes longer to board than it does to actually fly—you can leave from your local airport and arrive in Nashville with plenty of Friday night left.
That’s the difference between traveling for the weekend and actually enjoying the weekend.
Mid-October Might Be Even Better
The following week gives you another reason to head north.
The Chicks play The Truth on October 15. On October 16, you have two very different—and very good—choices: Teddy Swims with St. Paul & The Broken Bones at Bridgestone Arena, or Tedeschi Trucks Band at The Truth. Tedeschi Trucks Band plays a second night on October 17.
Then Sting arrives for two nights, October 19 and 20.
For anyone whose idea of a Nashville weekend involves a great dinner, a great concert and perhaps a questionable decision involving Lower Broadway afterward, this stretch of October is going to be hard to beat.
And because you’re flying private, the trip doesn’t necessarily have to begin Friday morning and end Sunday afternoon.
Leave Friday after work. Come home Sunday evening. Or fly up Saturday afternoon, stay one night and come home after brunch the next morning.
The schedule can be built around what you actually want to do.
Journey, Red Clay Strays and Smashing Pumpkins Close Out Another Huge Week
October 21 brings Journey to Bridgestone Arena, followed immediately by another particularly good Nashville concert weekend.
The Red Clay Strays play Bridgestone Arena on October 22 and 23 with Sierra Ferrell and Brent Cobb, while Smashing Pumpkins are at The Truth on October 22.
For country and Americana fans, that Red Clay Strays lineup alone is enough reason to make the trip.
And if you prefer your Nashville a little more rock-and-roll, you can go see Smashing Pumpkins instead.
That’s one of the things we love about Nashville. You can see a major arena show one night, hear an artist you’ve never heard of in a tiny bar the next, and probably stumble across someone incredibly talented playing guitar somewhere in between.
The concert may be the reason you go.
Nashville takes care of the rest.
A Concert Doesn’t Have to Become a Travel Day
There’s something slightly ridiculous about living within a few hundred miles of a city and still having to dedicate most of a day to getting there.
That’s particularly true when you’re traveling for an event.
Commercial flying means getting to the airport early, parking, security, boarding and working around someone else’s departure schedule. Driving means several hours each way—and figuring out who gets the privilege of driving home after the weekend.
Private charter changes the equation.
With Capital Air Express, you can depart from a convenient regional airport, arrive shortly before your scheduled departure and fly directly to Nashville. There are no TSA lines and no connections. Your group travels together, and your departure time is built around your plans.
For a two- or three-night trip, saving those hours matters.
For a one-night trip, it can be what makes the trip possible at all.
Nashville Is Made for the “Why Not?” Weekend
Not every trip needs months of planning.
Sometimes someone sends the group chat a concert announcement, somebody else finds a hotel, and twenty minutes later everyone is asking whether they should actually do it.
We are very much in favor of actually doing it.
Nashville is close enough to make a spontaneous weekend realistic, but far enough that flying changes the experience considerably. You can arrive Friday evening, have dinner downtown, see the show Saturday, stay out considerably later than you intended and still enjoy Sunday before heading home.
Or make the concert itself the trip.
Fly up in the afternoon, have dinner, go to the show, spend the night and come home the next morning.
Private aviation gives you options that simply don’t make sense when you’re building the trip around a commercial airline schedule.
Pick Your Concert. We’ll Get You There.
October is going to be a very good month to be in Nashville.
ZZ Top and Cheap Trick. Weezer. Jack White. The Chicks. Teddy Swims. Tedeschi Trucks Band. Sting. Journey. The Red Clay Strays. Smashing Pumpkins.
The difficult part may be deciding which one you want to see.
Once you figure that out, the transportation is considerably easier.
Call Capital Air Express, grab a few friends and make a weekend out of it.
Because sometimes the best trips start with someone dropping a concert link into the group chat and saying: “Who’s in?”
