Morgan Wallen Wraps Record-Breaking, Epic Two-Night Stand At Neyland Stadium
Morgan Wallen on stage at Neyland Stadium on Friday night (Sept. 20). Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images
For Morgan Wallen, there was no place like home this weekend, as he concluded his two-show-run at Neyland Stadium and made history with Knoxville’s largest weekend on record.
Morgan Wallen’s first-of-two nights at Neyland Stadium concludes with fireworks show. Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images
The two monumental shows totaled 156,161 fans across both nights, surpassing the record previously held by The Jackson 5 across three shows in 1984 (148,407).
Wallen charged down the gauntlet during Friday night’s show (Sept. 20) making his first-of-two weekend walk-outs flanked by the 2024 National Champion Tennessee Volunteers baseball team and Coach Tony Vitello—trophy in hand. The crowd of more than 70,000 enthusiastically welcomed them all home, cheering at a volume that registered 114 decibels.
Eric Church joins Morgan Wallen on night one at Neyland Stadium. Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images
“Before we get any further I want to make sure you make some noise for my band and crew who show up here early in advance to make sure we get to play the music y’all love,” said Wallen.
“I have a lot of people here who mean a lot to me,” he added. “I’ve got my little boy here, both my grandmothers here, my mom, my dad, my sisters, my nieces. I have been very fortunate to do a lot of great things over the last few years, but I know that this right here is going to be extremely hard to top as one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten to do.”
Along with a bevy of hits, Wallen added his unreleased song “Love Somebody” to the setlist for the night, revealing its release date of Oct. 18 to fans from the stage. 12 songs in, Wallen welcomed the first entertainer he ever saw in concert in his hometown, Eric Church, to the acoustic stage for their Dangerous cut “Quittin’ Time,” before being joined by Hardy and Ernest for “Up Down” and “Flower Shops” and “Cowgirls,” respectively, back on the main stage.
Morgan Wallen and Miranda Lambert on night two at Neyland Stadium. Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images
On Sunday night (Sept. 22), Wallen fired up the crowd during the first opening moments, as two-time Super Bowl champion and former University of Tennessee Knoxville quarterback Peyton Manning joined for the second-of-two weekend walkouts, donning his retired college uniform and flanked by current UTK football coach Josh Heupel, quarterback Nico Iamaleava and wide receiver Bru McCoy—as their alma mater eagerly welcomed the All Vols walk-out back on their turf.
As he transferred to a more intimate B-Stage towards the back of the venue during the show for a stripped-down performance of his four-times Platinum rendition of Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up,” Wallen reflected on his career, which was first kindled in local bars throughout Knoxville.
“When me and the boys first started playing shows, we started out playing bars, real small venues. Worked our way up to places like Cotton Eyed Joe. Then we worked our way up to clubs, theaters, arenas and amphitheaters—we pretty much played any kind of venue there is, and all of a sudden you guys went and sold out Neyland today. Thank you. One thing that I miss though about the smaller shows is I could walk out on stage and I could look pretty much everybody in the eyes, so this is my attempt at trying to recreate some of that. To come back here and look some more of y’all in the eyes and say thank you for supporting me and my music.”
Morgan Wallen and Darius Rucker on night two at Neyland Stadium. Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images
After “Cover Me Up,” Wallen welcomed his first surprise guest of the evening, Miranda Lambert, for a live performance of their No. 1 hit “Thought You Should Know,” which Lambert co-wrote alongside Wallen and Nicolle Galyon.
Returning to the main stage, Wallen once again welcomed Hardy and Ernest back again for “Up Down” and “Cowgirls,” respectively, before singing cuts off of Dangerous: The Double Album, including “Talkin’ Tennessee,” an homage to his roots which was added to his setlist only for his Neyland Stadium shows. Near the end of the epic two-night stand, Darius Rucker surprised the crowd, joining Wallen for a joint performance of his Diamond-certified rendition of “Wagon Wheel” to rousing reception.
Wallen has three shows remaining on his “One Night At A Time 2024 Tour,” including one night at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium on Oct. 4 and two consecutive nights at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium on Oct. 18-19.
