Florida Georgia Line Invites Slew Of Guests To Bridgestone Arena

Florida Georgia Line invites special guest Backstreet Boys to October 13 concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Photo: Justin Mrusek

The VIP guest list for Florida Georgia Line‘s (FGL) headlining Dig Your Roots Tour stop in Nashville not only extended to industry members but surprise artist collaborators.

BMLG Records’ duo brought on Backstreet Boys for “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” and Nelly for “Hot in Herre” and “Ride Wit Me” during the sold-out Oct. 13 stop as well as for respective collaborations “God, Your Mama, and Me” (the first live performance of the track from FGL’s Dig Your Roots album) and the show’s finale “Cruise.” Jake Owen also made a barefoot appearance, bopping along to FGL’s “Sun Daze.”

Kane Brown, The Cadillac Three and Cole Swindell warmed the audience while an industry party catered to invited executives, artists, songwriters backstage.

FGL’s Old Camp Whiskey curtains dropped from stage rafters, revealing Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard descending on overhead lighting platforms. The opening numbers were complete with flame thrower special effects on “This Is How We Roll” and “It’z Just What We Do.” Although record versions of the former song feature country star Luke Bryan, the Capitol Nashville star was absent from a guest appearance during the Nashville engagement, as was Tim McGraw for FGL’s performance of the duo’s current single, “May We All.”

The evening moved on with CO2 jets cooling the staging before the duo’s title track and tour theme, “Dig Your Roots,” shot up inflatable trees across the stage, spanning the arena bleachers.

Photo: Justin Mrusek

A satellite stage dawned a makeshift campfire, complete with flames. More subdued performances were delivered of FGL’s 2014 hit “Dirt” and on a baby grand piano for “H.O.L.Y.”

Incorporating the Dig Your Roots partnership with Pandora, the duo flashed childhood photos before performing samples of titles, such as “Ridin’ Dirty,” “Should’ve Been A Cowboy,” “Last Resort,” and “This Is How We Do It.”

“It’s a special night for a lot of reasons,” Hubbard remarked from the stage before mentioning family members in the audience and recovering WME booking agent Kevin Neal. “This is for Kevin Neal. We love you and miss you.”