Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown band at the Grand Ole Opry

Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown band at the Grand Ole Opry

Maybe I didn’t understand the Opry format. Maybe. But I THOUGHT I was buying Sawyer Brown CONCERT tickets AT the Grand Ole Opry. What I got was 5 songs we paid over $500 for. That’s $100 PER song. Color my ass chapped.

I am a huge Sawyer Brown fan. I mean HUGE. I have a great deal of their 23 albums over the last 40 years and listen to them ALOT. They are my favorite all time band followed only by Home Free. They are my #1 entertainers even if you include other performers like Brad Paisley and Bruce Springsteen for live performances. My iPhone has a Sawyer Brown playlist that I have been listening to a bit more intensely over the last few months. Their great songs, plus lead singer, Mark Miller’s dance moves and style makes the band extraordinary. We have seen them in concert three times already. To say the least, I had EXPECTATIONS. So in July, when a friend told us they were going to be playing at the Grand Ole Opry just after our stay in Nashville…CHANGE. OF. PLANS.

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When I purchased the tickets back then, the order said “Sawyer Brown…and other acts to be announced.” In my mind, that meant a Sawyer Brown concert with some warm up bands. Knowing what little I know about the Opry (we’ve been to the Ryman Auditorium), that meant some no-name country acts. As long as I get to see a Sawyer Brown concert at the Opry, I can endure that.

The Ordeal

  1. I extended our stay in Nashville for 4 more days to accommodate the concert (Additional cost: nearly $300. Pay attention. It will add up).
  2. We could only get the tickets via the AXS app which was a bitch to navigate (depending on if you used the SAME email address you used to purchase the tickets). It was a pain to confirm that we had tickets just before we left for the show.
  3. We drove 20 miles, each way, in an impending rain storm on a motorcycle to get there. The signage was terrible and we had to fight our way around the Grand Ole Opry Mall and the Grand Ole Opry Hotel on Opry Mills Blvd (none of that was confusing at all, he said sarcastically), got trapped in the hotel parking lot where the ticket gate dispenser was malfunctioning, and couldn’t get directions from anyone, including a security booth. You cannot call the Opry or AXS.
  4. We finally found the right place and of course, there was no parking. We left two hours early so we could find a place to eat in Nashville before the show, but due to the traffic ordeal, that was thrown out the window. We eventually found the parking lot for the Opry to learn it’s $23-$35 to park A MOTORCYLE! Which we had to do via a parking app, naturally. (Scan the QR code, go to the web site, put in your credit card, and without knowing how much you are paying, smile.)
  5. We get our AXS app scanned in at the door, but can’t find or confirm our seats because that is a different screen on the app, tucked away in closely guarded secret location.
  6. We finally find our seats and have a few minutes before the show and decide to try and get some food. We were hungry since we missed dinner due to the parking lot maze. After waiting in line for 20 minutes, we paid $28 for 4 ounces of kettle corn, a cup of (nasty) pretzel nubs, a diet Pepsi, and a water. That was $28 American dollars. The ONE lady sitting at the ONE register pointed out the tip section of the credit card app. I declined since all she did was sit at a register and smile while she charged those prices to long line of people.

The Show

We take our seats, eat our $.50-per-kernel popcorn, and the show starts. The host, Larry Gatlin comes out and he and his brothers start the show with 3 songs (keep count). Then announcer, Bill Cody, comes out and talks about the tradition and long legacy of the Opry for five minutes while the Opry roadies set up the stage for the next act. Cody expands upon the other acts and pumps up the FEATURED performers, including award winning band: Sawyer Brown.

Louise Mandrell comes out does 3 songs and jokes about her sister, Barbara (an ACTUAL country music star back in the day, but who WOULD NOT be on the ticket tonight).

Bill Cody does 5 more minutes of how great the Opry is (making sure to promote the Opry Gift Shop right outside and Louise’s new CD). The Gatlin Brothers do 3 more songs (this time gospel). Bill Cody introduces Lynne and Twitty, granddaughter and grandson of Loretta Lynne and Conway Twitty who are riding on their actually talented grandparents coat tails. They do 3 songs (that their grandparents made famous 60 years ago) and leave.

The Gatlin Brother do 3 MORE SONGS and introduce Don Schlitz, who conceded he has never had a hit record, but wrote a bunch of great songs for others. He did not have a great voice, but his self-deprecating sense of humor and the surprise of what songs this unheard-of man did write were the highlight of the show. That and his featuring the Opry Singers (the backup singer were PHENOMENAL!).

The Gatlins lead into the 15 minute intermission with ANOTHER song (what I believe may have been their only hit “All the Gold”). Now, I had read the program and expected the intermission. In my experience, “intermission” means “half-time break.” It had been an hour and a half so I was reasonably expecting Sawyer Brown, the FEATURED performers, to do an hour and a half show. Despite the hurdles up to this point, I was still jazzed.

The Raping

Out of a 40 year career, 23 albums, and winning Star Search, the FEATURED performers of the Grand Ole Opry, the band I bought relatively expensive two tickets to hear the concert of, did 5 songs (COUNT ‘EM: F.I.V.E. = 15 minutes) and said “goodnight.” No encore. Curtains down, lights up, go home. Come back tomorrow to hear Vince Gill rip you off.

I looked at Melinda in raw shock. It was easy to see her… the lights were up before the curtain came down. I felt like I was just bent over, had been physically abused, and paid over $500 for the privilege to do it at the Grand Ole Opry. The frigging Gatlin Brothers did 10 songs! I didn’t pay to hear the frigging Gatling Brothers. I paid to experience a Sawyer Brown concert. The frigging Gatling Brothers hadn’t been relevant for 50 years! Sawyer Brown just came out with a new single (which we didn’t get to hear!) and a new album that launches next year. They’ve had more country hits than all the songs performed that night. Five and done. Peace out.

The Damage

$ 180 – Tickets (includes “convenience fee). We bought relatively good seats to see one of our favorite bands.
$ 300 – 4 Extra days in Nashville just to see the “concert”
$ 28 – 4 ounces of popcorn, a water, a diet Pepsi, a half a cup of bad pretzel nubs
$ 23 – parking

Over $520.00 to hear 5 songs. I. AM. NOT. AMUSED.

I told Melinda that I hoped she took a lot of pictures, because we are NEVER coming back here. It seemed like the Opry was using its former glory, history, and length of survival as an excuse to charge exorbitant prices to deliver a minimum of talent. Evidently, we paid for the PRIVELEGE of coming to the Opry. We endured Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynne’s grandkids, the Gatlins over and over again, and a barely known Mandrell sister to get a splash of who we actually paid for. It was like paying for, and ordering, a steak and getting the cheese sampler with a minuscule sliver of meat on the edge of an old paper plate.

Who’s At Fault?

I will take the responsibility of not being aware of the Opry format in advance. It is unlike me to not research something well in advance. I would like to give Sawyer Brown the benefit of a doubt for believing that they had to stick to the Opry format. But at that point…

  1. The Opry does not explain its format to people who have never been there in order to SET EXPECTATIONS. [Under promise and Over deliver!] (When asked, most of the crowd had never been there before.)
  2. The Opry charges the maximum it can get away with for everything (and since you are then trapped there, you WILL pay) and delivers a 1950’s style mini-variety show.
  3. The Opry promotes a Main Event (such as Sawyer Brown, Vince Gill, or Trace Adkins – can you say “Bait & Switch”? I think you can.) but structures them a few songs, pads the showbill with no-names and sends you packing. Give REAL concerts! Make these shows of a lifetime. It was an hour a half of warm-up acts no one would pay to see and 15 minutes of an act we paid a premium for.

The Moral of the Story

I learned my lesson. My only hope s that someone will read this and realize the format before shelling out the big bucks to see a glimpse of their favorite performers.

Cody Wyoming rodeo during our Full-Time RV Adventure.RVonTheRoadYet.com is a blog to keep our friends and family informed of our latest adventures or misadventures. We are NOT RV professionals, doctors, lawyers, or travel guides. We are a couple of people who have decided to embrace the full-time RV lifestyle of idiots and gypsies.