On Miranda Lambert Opening Controversial New LiveNation Venue “The Truth”
There’s worse offenses for sure. Nobody should be looking to “cancel” Miranda Lambert over this issue. Artists deserve to get paid, and Live Nation is often the devil you have to dance with in the music industry, for artists both big and small. But is it a bad look? It kind of is. Could she have ceded this opportunity to someone else? Yes, she could have.
For those that are unaware, Nashville’s new mid-sized indoor music venue The Truth was already stirring controversy before they even broke ground. First announced in October of 2025, The Truth was clearly the corporate attempt to rip off the Mother Church of Country Music, The Ryman Auditorium, which only sits 1.5 miles away, and has a very similar architectural structure and size.
Even the name for the new venue is derived from the old Harlan Howard quote that defines country music as “Three chords and the truth.” Sally Williams, who is President of Nashville Music & Business Strategy for Live Nation—and was the one who formally announced the project—also happens to be the former general manager of the Ryman Auditorium.
But hey, Live Nation owns and operates venues all across the United States, and already has a major footprint in Nashville. There are worse things to transpire than them opening another venue, even if it is a little too close for comfort with a country music historical landmark.
But then Live Nation really showed off the predatory, tone deaf nature of the business by how they decided to promote it. As construction commenced at 500 Chestnut St. in Nashville’s Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood on The Truth, Live Nation hired a company who went around Nashville stenciling graffiti-style advertisements for it on sidewalks around town, and specifically in front of multiple locally-owned venues. The ads read, “The Sound of New Nashville Text ‘TRUTH’ to + 1 (615) ——–.” Texting the number signed you up for automated ticketing alerts for the venue.
One such spray-painted advertisement was stenciled right outside their front door of the beloved East Nashville music venue The 5 Spot. The community-oriented venue is considered the epicenter of the city’s independent music scene. The Springwater Supper Club near Centennial Park—which the oldest operating bar in Tennessee and a place many up-and-comers got their start—also got hit with one of the ads. Incidentally, Nashville city code strictly prohibits such ads.
This is when ire for the new venue really permeated the population of music artists and fans in Nashville and beyond. When the first slate of performers were announced, there were only a few country or country-adjacent acts. Sting, Beck, Limp Bizkit, Bleachers, GloRilla, and more were booked to appear this fall. Previously, opening night was scheduled to be on October 5th when Disney actor Freya Skye took the stage.
But now it’s been announced that none other than Miranda Lambert will be the inaugural performer at The Truth, officially opening up the venue on October 1st. The show will come the night before Lambert releases her new record, the Disco-inspired Crisco, and will feature a 12-piece string section to go along with her regular tour band.
“It was magical to hear the way strings can transform a song when we were in the studio creating this record, and I can’t wait to bring that to life in an even bigger way with our full setlist,” Lambert says in a statement. “We’ve never gotten to play that way on stage, and to have the opportunity to do it for the first time at the opening of a beautiful new venue right here in Nashville is going to be really special.”
Again, this isn’t a hanging offense. But being the opening performer of this Live Nation venue in the aftermath of the company’s massive lawsuit and their behavior promoting it just isn’t a good look.
Miranda Lambert has always been one of those performers with mainstream impact that more independent and traditional country fans can still appreciate. Her championing of songwriters has been exceptional, and generally speaking, she’s always kept her music more rooted in the roots compared to contemporaries. But in part, its this street cred and legitimacy that The Truth wants to sponge off by putting Miranda Lambert on the stage first.
Eventually, The Truth will simply blend in with the rest of Nashville’s live music inventory as just another venue, and there won’t be any kind of stigma around playing it. But they could have allowed some aging rocker from out-of-town to forever be the first person to have played a venue that very well might affect the efficacy of the Ryman Auditorium and other independently-owned music venues in Nashville moving forward. Now it will be what is likely to be a future Country Music Hall of Famer.
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August 18, 2026 @ 11:19 am
The Truth isn’t really seen as competition to The Ryman in Nashville. It’s a direct response to AEG’s 4000 cap The Pinnacle opened last year. Both fill a whole in the market, with over double the capacity of the Ryman. And nothing will ever replace the Ryman- their calendar stays fully booked and there’s no shortage of acts trying to play there. The history of it will always keep it in demand. But it’s a stepping stone- artists who play one or two nights at the Ryman need a venue to play before Ascend Amp at 6000+ and Bridgestone Arena. 4+ nights at the Ryman might be cooler, but just isn’t in the cards for every act, and there isn’t enough calendar space at The Ryman to keep up with the demand.
August 18, 2026 @ 11:43 am
I agree that The Truth will not be able to confer the credibility playing The Ryman does to many artists every year who get to debut there, and as I have said in previous articles about the venue, The Pinnacle is also a comparable or rival venue.
I don’t think The Ryman is going anywhere. But I absolutely think there will be performers who choose to play The Truth and/or The Pinnacle over the Ryman, while in a previous era, the decreased capacity was the reason they wanted to play it.
Nonetheless, you’d have to play “see no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” to not clearly identify what’s going on here. Live Nation wanted their version of The Ryman. And so they built a bigger and better one … then targeted independently-owned venues and their clientele with their marketing.
August 18, 2026 @ 1:02 pm
I also want to clarify something about The Truth’s capacity. You see a lot of people saying, “Well, it’s capacity is much more than The Ryman.” Yes and no. According to The Truth, their capacity ranges from 1,800 to 4,400. The reason for this is seated and non-seated configurations. The capacity of the Ryman is 2,400 because it is a static seated capacity venue. But if The Truth adds seats, it’s basically the same capacity as The Ryman. Both spaces basically have the same footprint.
August 18, 2026 @ 2:46 pm
I do understand what you’re trying to say here, and agree the some of the marketing was tacky and in poor taste, and that seems to be your chief complaint. I personally hate the name of the venue as well. But comparing The Truth to The Ryman is really apples and oranges. The only time The Truth might actually go for seated capacity is corporate events or comedy shows. The Ryman is my favorite venue in the world and I consider them to be to very different things. While the Ryman is an “independent venue”, it’s owned by a company on the NYSE with several multi-billion dollar shareholders and mutual funds owning hefty percentages, so it’s hard to equate the Ryman to other independent venues that I’m glad you mentioned. That seems to be where the real story is here: truly indie venues that struggle to keep the lights on vs Live Nation, AEG, and other multi-billion dollar conglomerates. And I don’t know of too many purely indie venues at the 4000+ cap mark. As for the Miranda piece…Kacey opened the Pinnacle, so I don’t really see what the fuss is about there.
August 18, 2026 @ 3:43 pm
The Ryman also owns bars don’t they, like Blake’s lol
August 18, 2026 @ 6:52 pm
The apples and oranges comparison is really with AEG vs. Live Nation. People keep acting like they’re basically interchangeable. One was just found to be a monopoly. The other has a tiny portion of the market share compared to the other.
AEG’s profits in 2025 were $1.05 billion.
Live Nation’s profits were $25.2 billion.
Live Nation as a company is 25 times the size of AEG, and have monopolized entire segments of the market.
The Pinnacle could be justified due to the need for another indoor mid-sized venue. Does Nashville really need three? Live Nation can build a venue like The Truth simply to help undermine both The Ryman and The Pinnacle, and lose money and not care. They have done this very thing in the festival space. Live Nation / C3 will move into a market, bankrupt the local festivals, lose money on their event, and then when they’re done eroding the market, abandon it. That’s what they did to Oregon with FareWell Fest.
I really am surprised how many people are stepping up to defend Live Nation building yet another venue in an important market.
August 18, 2026 @ 11:36 am
I’ve been following Miranda for a long time and it seems to me that if she gets paid to show up she just shows up. She doesn’t seem to particularly care about scandals or controversies or “how things look.”
Need a promotional single for a TV show about gay men doing makeovers on straight men? Call Miranda. Need an act to play a festival with Jason Aldean and Kid Rock? Call Miranda. Need someone with some country music credibility to play opening night for a club run by the company ripping off the most artists and fans? Call Miranda.
I could be totally wrong but it seems to me as if she just doesn’t care about any of the controversies or the criticism she often gets for these types or decisions. She just want to play her music and get paid for it.
August 18, 2026 @ 11:48 am
Great take. I love a lot of her stuff but she’s definitely a “hired gun” when it comes to where she’ll play, who she’ll play with, and who she’ll play for. I try to keep that sh*t out of my feelings about music and performers, and am letting this slide as well. But I understand why she rubs folks the wrong way often — and vastly different types of folks every time!
It takes “all kinds of kinds,” as most Lambert fans surely know.
August 18, 2026 @ 12:10 pm
Years ago after all the Blake and Evan drama she put up a social media post that said “I do this thing called whatever I want.” Sure, it runs a lot of people the wrong way, but she never seems to care. Personally, I admire her for that (but certainly some of her decisions have made me cringe).
August 18, 2026 @ 12:46 pm
This was actually in early Feb 2018 days after the Evan thing started and no one knew. And it’s a great part of her song Waxahachie, which happens to be one of my faves. “I wrote a lipstick letter on the mirror with a bourbon buzz.” And the song is about how she’s starting to go off the rails and looking for home (probably blake). Ugh so good. Thanks for mentioning I need to go listen now 😂
August 18, 2026 @ 1:07 pm
I have no doubt that Miranda Lambert does “whatever she wants.” Ironically, there were way more people calling for her cancellation after she appeared at Bridgestone with Morgan Wallen than when she made a video and song for Queer Eye. I get that she doesn’t care, and good for her.
That’s said, I received THREE press releases about this booking this morning. When The Truth was first announced and people started listing off who was playing shows there like they had blood on their hands, I told folks to lay off because those artists aren’t booking those shows. Their talent reps are. Many artists including some in Nashville have no idea what “The Truth” is.
But this was a very concerted effort to promote Miranda Lambert as the opener for The Truth, and for posterity. Yes, she might not care. But they are actively trying to use her credibility to confer credibility to their venue, just like they did when they hired a firm to stencil ads on the sidewalks in front of hipster venues in east Nashville. They want that credibility for “The Truth,” and I think we should all be clear eyed about that.
August 18, 2026 @ 2:09 pm
Oh, I get that Live Nation is smarmy as hell and agree they are using the credibility Lambert has built up over the years to make their venue seem credible as well. I really wished she would have taken a hard pass on this, but I wish she had taken a hard pass on this disco garbage too. All I’m saying is that she just seems to never let any sort of backlash bother her at all.
August 18, 2026 @ 3:17 pm
Listen to the new Koe Wetzel/Ella Langley collaboration,”Jaded.” that dropped last Friday. It’s got disco underpinnings, and there’s even a glittering ball in the visualizer video. I’ll reserve judgment on Miranda’s album until I hear the whole thing, but disco doesn’t strike me as a direction mainstream country ought to be headed if a traditionalist revival is to continue. Although I’ll take “Jaded” and the Stapleton/Lambert collab from last year over more sappy boyfriend country from Brett Young and Dan + Shay or anything from bros and neo-bros like Tyler Hubbard and Russell Dickerson. “Crisco,” though, is crap.
August 19, 2026 @ 3:37 pm
Crap is crap in my book. “Crisco” is crap. “Jaded” ain’t much better, and in the choice of bro/boyfriend country and disco country, I would rather just shove pencils in my ears until I can’t hear any of it.
Lambert tends to do this though. Pushes more towards the pop side for a bit, things don’t work out, releases a critically acclaimed country/Texas country album, brings folks back on board….rinse and repeat. The same will happen with her foray into “Disco” or whatever. I expect it to fully tank, but she has enough credibility with her fans and critics to be able to rebound. Annoying more than anything.
August 18, 2026 @ 1:42 pm
The embodiment of Cashville.
August 18, 2026 @ 12:01 pm
Very poor idea to replicate the look of the Ryman, especially just 1.5 miles away.
Crappy thinking symptomized in brick.
Like, you’re driving around D.C.,
“What’s with the identical twin of the Jefferson Memorial?”
“Oh, that’s for Dennis Jefferson. Dennis has a lot of money. He’s not dead, just wanted to enjoy it while he was alive”
August 18, 2026 @ 12:15 pm
I’m concerned about FirstBank Amphitheater (great outdoor venue 20 mins south of Nashville) going under because they can’t keep a good enough roster of acts. Would anyone have a problem with The Truth if there were situated outside of downtown Nashville?
August 18, 2026 @ 2:27 pm
The last thing Downtown Nashville needs is another venue. Theres already more than enough and then some. These developers and their obsession with “downtown Nashville”. Its already HORRIBLE downtown on the weekends and impossible to navigate, now you add this mess onto that. What is the vision? Make it more horrible on the weekends? Live Nation sucks, but everyone already knew that.
August 18, 2026 @ 4:58 pm
This is basically what I was leading to that a venue outside of Nashville wouldn’t be successful in the long term. First Bank Amphitheater is too far for the Nashville tourist revenue and not exciting enough for the locals and the out-of-town people to detour outside of Nashville. The Truth being located downtown means they don’t have to pay for a parking lot AND they are able to attract tourists who can go to Broadway before/after the concert.
August 18, 2026 @ 12:32 pm
Hilarious to have Limp Bizkit playing at a venue called “The Truth.”
August 18, 2026 @ 1:16 pm
Live music ticketing IS become a complete racket. I’m sure this has been written before, but I recently bought standard ticket at a small/medium sized venue (Garcia’s Chicago) ticketed by Ticketmaster.
My ticket was $85.
The seat right next to mine is $246.80, labeled ‘Official Platinum’. From what I can tell this is just for the ticket. No additional value. THIS IS NUTS!!!
August 18, 2026 @ 1:48 pm
Thanks for warning me. I haven’t been there yet, but I just checked for The Wilder Blue show, and the GA tickets in front of the stage (dance floor) were a reasonable $28 at least before fee’s? I do see all kinds of “other tickets” available though. I have somewhere else to be that night anyway. I hate Ticketmaster, so I’ll be very careful about that place in the future.
August 18, 2026 @ 3:00 pm
No problem. It is a beautiful room with outstanding acoustics.
Saw Kelsey Waldon headline there on a Tuesday night. Show was maybe 1/3 full but Kelsey and the Muleskinners brought it!!!
A great show at a very nice venue, but TICKETMASTER SUCKS.
August 18, 2026 @ 5:50 pm
“Live music ticketing IS become a complete racket.”
Is becoming? Where have you been for the last twenty years? Session guys and gals, producers, etc., have been saying for years, “We’re making music in the money business” for a reason. It has been a racket for a very, very long time.
August 18, 2026 @ 6:34 pm
Yeah, Pearl Jam testified about this to Congress in 1994. That’s over three decades ago for those of you counting at home.
August 19, 2026 @ 6:34 am
Yeah, TM likes to blame ‘bots’, ‘scalpers’, etc. but in reality TM and the artists are scalping their own tickets with these ‘VIP’ or ‘Official Platiinum’ tickets.
August 18, 2026 @ 2:24 pm
A little off topic, but Live Nation just announced a new 4000 cap venue here in my town. Meanwhile our nationally famous, primarily heavy metal, 400 cap venue just closed after 30+ years. Not to mention that in the same week a 100 cap, local music focused venue, that just happened to cater to people that don’t live on the “cool side” of town, just closed after nearly 20 years.
We don’t need another 4000 person “destination venue” that offers $50 parking and $20 beers, we need real clubs for real bands and real people.
August 18, 2026 @ 2:25 pm
As long as The Truth has no ties to Truth Social or The Orange Fascist, I have no problem with Lambert headlining the first concert at this venue.
August 18, 2026 @ 4:50 pm
Shut up.
August 18, 2026 @ 5:12 pm
and you will be the first line line to cheer on an authoritarian with a D after their name. I would wager my house that your background photo on Facebook is something against Trump. What a sad obsession.
August 25, 2026 @ 3:06 pm
Nope, it’s me with my wife and sister. But it’s currently deactivated because of toxic people like you.
August 18, 2026 @ 5:54 pm
It amazes me how TDS sufferers always make everything political. This is a story about a venue and Miranda Lambert. I encourage you to get help; there is hope for people like you. Don’t suffer and hate in silence.
August 18, 2026 @ 6:37 pm
Folks, this is not a political outlet, and this is not a political topic. When you bring up political topics like this, it’s disruptive and insulting to this platform.
Also, the idea there’s nothing wrong with this as long is Trump isn’t involved isn’t just shortsighted, it’s also incorrect. It was Trumps Justice Department that tried to cut a sweetheart deal with Live Nation in the middle of an antitrust trial.
I’m a bit stupefied by the amount of people that have memory holed how just a few months ago Live Nation was public enemy #1. Now all of a sudden I’m the enemy for pointing out the same thing I pointed out last October, and people were applauding me for.
Any further political comments in this comments section will be deleted.
August 18, 2026 @ 2:55 pm
In my experience, anything labeled or defined using the word “Truth” is clearly a form of propaganda, promoting an utter fallacy. I tend to recoil from such things, choosing to remain grounded in reality instead.
August 18, 2026 @ 3:08 pm
Hey Trigger, doesn’t a little competition make everyone better?
August 18, 2026 @ 3:14 pm
I don’t know if this is truly a question, meant to be a defense of The Truth, or meant to be ironic since Live Nation was just found to be a monopoly by a jury of our own peers.
There is no competition in live music, live entertainment, and ticketing. It’s Live Nation and everyone else. It’s like if Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon were all the same company.
August 18, 2026 @ 5:07 pm
They shouldn’t be spray painting anything.thats destruction of property in by book.on the other hand if I had the money Miranda or 99% of other artist would play my garage if I met their fee and requirements. it is called the music business.
August 18, 2026 @ 5:48 pm
Is The Truth any worse than AEG’s The Pinnacle, that Kacey, Isbell and Turnpike leant credibility to as early acts? Miranda is probably too big for The Ryman so it seems she’d have to go with one of those venues owned by big ents companies.
August 18, 2026 @ 6:44 pm
The Pinnacle is not a spitting image of the Ryman. The Pinnacle is not the brain child of the former General Manager of the Ryman. The Pinnacle is not clearly making a play for country credibility like The Truth.
It’s quite curious how the two previous articles published about this subject, people saw pretty universally what was going on here. Now, people are falling over themselves to be apologistic.
Is AEG the company that was just found to be operating a monopoly in the live entertainment space in the United States? Or was that Live Nation?
August 19, 2026 @ 2:11 pm
Given Sally Williams came up through the ranks at Gaylord/Opry Music Group, I’m a bit disappointed in this particular career choice of hers. She owes much to the Opry for where she is today. Also, the name for this venue seems more than a bit pretentious, especially when most people who’ll be patronizing this venue likely never heard of Country Music Hall of Famer Harlan Howard.
August 18, 2026 @ 5:59 pm
Lambert is smart. Do what you want and ignore the miserable and perpetually offended. She’ll continue recording and releasing music and selling out shows.
August 25, 2026 @ 8:43 am
Yeah about that. She sells well in Nashville. This show will sell. Sometimes Texas. But not always in other areas. Hadn’t in years. And no her residency in Vegas did not sell out. She does this for exposure and money. And will continue to do so.
August 20, 2026 @ 12:52 am
…what has miranda lambert got to do with a big new venue of a large music business in nashville? holding playlng the opening show there against her is like holding throwing balls in all sorts of ways against mahomes.