Off we go on the big adventure. The Opry is no longer situated downtown & was resited in the 70s to an out of town location. A taxi ride later (fixed fare of 25€) & there we were. Also on site is a shopping mall & this being Sat it was quite busy. We got our tickets & then went looking for something to eat. The choice was huge but the best! on offer was TGI Friday.
The concert start time was 19h so we wandered in & found our seats—-actually they were long bench type seats, well upholstered & roomy holding 10 people each. Someone had obviously looked at the general body profile of the average American & designed the seats with them in mind. The theatre holds 4500 people & tonight’s show was a sell out. There was a warm up man & groups from abroad, birthdays & anniversaries etc. got special mention. They also told the story of a flood & subsequent restoration in 2010 when the whole place was under 4 ft of water after torrential rains.
The concert was being broadcast on national radio & in many ways it was like stepping back in time. We have a tape at home of 1950’s American radio & it was just like listening to that. The sponsors had their adverts & we could see the guy reading the set pieces. The night was divided into 4 sections & each section had a host who sang & then introduced other guests. Some were great & others not to our taste but in all cases the musicianship was amazing. The only bit that I struggled with were the Opry square dancers & I didn’t see how they were appropriate for a radio show!!!
The whole thing finished at 21h15 & we were back downtown in no time at all. There was just an enormous queue of taxis all still operating the same fixed fare. Doug can’t make his mind up about the whole thing but I thought it was a hoot. We have been & we will never go again & it was just so American on one level!