While the country establishment held court at Nissan Stadium with Cody Johnson and Keith Urban, Nashville's rock and alt scene staged its own takeover on Lower Broadway.
More than 20 bands descended on Jon Bon Jovi's honky-tonk JBJ's for a daylong Rocknite event during CMA Fest, turning the Music City institution into ground zero for indie rock, alt-pop, and acts decidedly left of country. Cage the Elephant, Mod Sun, New Translations, Dexter and the Moonrocks, and Edgehill performed across three separate stages.
Cage the Elephant, the alt-rock headliners, debuted their new track "Beaches in Tennessee" to fans who'd lined Broadway for the chance to see them. Crowds claimed the main floor stage early, turning the venue into a rock spectacle.
New Translations frontman Oliver Pierce commanded the fourth floor of JBJ's, surrounded by photographs of Bon Jovi himself, wearing a black cowboy hat and black eye makeup beneath his sunglasses. The band performed cuts from their latest album Vacation and the 2021 anthem "This Town," which namedrops Demonbreun Street and Nashville's pedal taverns.
Pierce was candid about what Rocknite represents. "Rocknite has done a really good job in establishing community of the alt-scene, whether that's alt-rock, pop, anything left of country," he told Rolling Stone. "It's been around for a long time and this is just a great magnifier."
The irony: a band in a branded country-star bar across the street was spotted covering Guns N' Roses.
