Sam Hunt’s Genre-Blurring “Nashional” Music Festival Cancelled
The inaugural “Nashional” music festival set to transpire in just over a month at Nashville’s Bicentennial Capitol Mall on April 20th and 21st has been cancelled. Planned, curated, and set to be headlined by genre-bending “country” star Sam Hunt, the festival boasted creating “A unique two-day event that highlights the inclusive, diverse, and genre-blurring landscape of music today.” Apparently many fans weren’t buying into the genre-blurring idea, and on Monday (3-12), organizers officially pulled the plug.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Nashional Music Festival at Bi-Centennial Capitol Mall is cancelled,” says a message on the event’s website. “Although disappointed to share this news, we hope to find a future date to continue the prospect of a multi genre, inclusive festival for the City of Nashville.”
The Nashional Music Festival looked to mix country, hip-hop, rock, pop, and R&B together with artists such as Fetty Wap, Brothers Osborne, Judah & the Lion, Lanco, Kyle, Muscadine Bloodline, and Ernest K performing. However the idea of a multi genre music festival is far from new. Bonnaroo, which occurs within driving distance of Nashville each June, as well as ACL Fest, Coachella, Lollapalooza, and most of the other major festivals in the United States all offer artists of varying genres an opportunity to play together. However they also take a more distinguishing eye, and account for chemistry more than Sam Hunt’s event seemed to do.
Also, for all the talk of “inclusiveness” from the Nashional Music Festival, there was only one woman set to perform over the two days.
The Bicentennial Capitol Mall location for festivals in Nashville has been somewhat snake bit over the last few years. In 2015, the Ink-n-Iron Festival held on the grounds saw headliner Merle Haggard refusing to play minutes before he was set to take the stage after rumors of non payment of artists swirled. The parent company of the festival based in California eventually folded after the fiasco.
Organizers of the Nashional Music Festival say that refunds will be available at the point of purchase, and ticket holders should be receiving emails with instructions of how to secure their refund.
March 13, 2018 @ 8:12 am
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!
March 13, 2018 @ 8:27 am
Thank you baby Jesus!
March 13, 2018 @ 8:29 am
Even his haircut is offensive.
March 13, 2018 @ 8:31 am
Trig, I hate pointing out mistakes in public like this, but you made “ticket holders” plural.
March 13, 2018 @ 8:35 am
Yeah, Sam Hunt could just Venmo his mom her money back.
March 13, 2018 @ 8:37 am
If only this was a sign that he was fading…
March 13, 2018 @ 8:39 am
This amuses me. Sam Hunt can go take a flying leap, and so can his festival, and his barber.
March 13, 2018 @ 8:52 am
I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed seeing THAT picture until now.
March 13, 2018 @ 9:02 am
I know that music row has pretty much ruined modern day radio country with EDM drum beats, and Hip Hop production, but I don’t think the fine people of Nashville are ready or willing to host a fest like this. I’ve spent a lot of time there, and I’ve never gotten the impression that there is a market for such an eclectic line up on one bill. This doesn’t surprise me one bit.
March 13, 2018 @ 5:51 pm
Nashville isn’t really a “music fest” town, to be fair. The most successful one to run in recent years is Pilgrimage Fest in Franklin, now owned in part by Justin Timberlake. I have claimed that the only reason it has been successful in its three-four years of life is because it seems kinda-sorta geared to an underserved crowd: folks who like the idea of music festivals, but want to be home by 9. Other than that, I’d say the failed fests in just the last two-three years HAS to number at least five by now. Hell, Hunt’s might by number six.
March 13, 2018 @ 5:52 pm
The above is discounting both CMA Fest and local radio’s Live On the Green, which are both the right price for many: free.
March 13, 2018 @ 9:03 am
Thinking of Sam Hunt while reading this I naturally kept reading genre as gender. Sam Hunt being gender-blurring and gender-bending…
March 13, 2018 @ 10:10 am
If you like country you are entitled to same full genre. Same for other genres. If you like other genres, by all means go to them but they need to be separated.
Too much rock in country already.
March 13, 2018 @ 12:11 pm
Amen Earl! Main offender – Brantley Gilbert. ????????
March 13, 2018 @ 12:58 pm
Thank God they pulled the plug. Worst idea he came up with….besides all of his songs.
March 13, 2018 @ 2:15 pm
nice milli vanilli haircut, he will be caught lip syncing next lol
March 13, 2018 @ 5:53 pm
It doesn’t count as caught if everyone is admitting to it these days.
March 13, 2018 @ 2:42 pm
Has nothing to do with how many women were booked to perform. Sam Hunt only released 1 album in almost 5 years(half of those songs were on a mix tape fans heard before he got popular) and there’s Body Like A Backroad…he’s done 3 tours and has opened for many artists singing the same songs he sings now. And the ticket was $180…no one wants to pay that much. And as cliche as it sounds…he’s lost lots of fans getting married(other artists who are married don’t lose fans cause they’re always releasing music) and he pretty much said fuck your to his fans when he released Drinking Too Much(singing these songs was just something to do to kill time) if the women want to perform that badly they can book their own shows in Nashville
March 13, 2018 @ 2:49 pm
The premise here wasn’t the fest was hurt by the amount of women on it at all. It was just an observation based on the fact they were selling it as being “inclusive.”
March 21, 2018 @ 12:13 pm
Thank you for putting that in perspective. I avoid anything to do with Sam Hunt like the plague and didn’t realize that all of those shitty songs of his came from a single album released 3 1/2 years ago. Wow. Or that Body Like a… isn’t even an album cut. Damn.
March 13, 2018 @ 4:22 pm
Besides Brothers Osborne I literally have never heard of any of these people.
March 13, 2018 @ 5:56 pm
I actually went to the lineup page, as I was ready to give you shit for what I was sure was a household name, but…yeah. I mean, I’ve *heard* of some of those acts, but when Fetty Wap (a pretty popular rapper) and Judah & the Lion (a band I would consider still trying to break out, but popular enough in Nashville, I guess) are your 2s and 3s…those tix should have been on Groupon the day BEFORE the show was announced!
March 21, 2018 @ 3:08 pm
I saw this and the first person I thought about was you…
https://mobile.twitter.com/ATLCadillac/status/976578451728723973
In case the tweet gets deleted, a radio dj confirmed new Sam Hunt music as early as next week Friday