Summer On The Road: Oh The Games People Play

Two weeks on the road from Nashville to Maine and many spots in between. One odd observation: The NBC Tonight Show at 30 Rock has the best seats of any Show anywhere! You sit on some rough seats out there in stadiums, amphitheaters, etc. Been to them all and NBC Tonight Shows Studio 6b wins the seat race.

It takes 220 folks to do the Tonight Show ... that's a lot of overhead!

The Tonight Show has historically been Country friendly, going back to Eddy Arnold and Dolly Parton.

The NBC Today has been great, too. In recent time, GMA with their ABC CMA deal has been very into Music Row acts. CBS Late Night will use a few but not many.

Even Fox's Morning Show is doing a Friday Summer street concert and its often Country. But no one has seats like the Tonight Show ... just saying.

A million fewer viewers than last year for the ABC-driven CMA Music Festival. No matter how you spin it, a million fewer. Some folks DVR the show and those ratings may go up some. Watched it all ... the most Country performance might have been FGL! Yes, FGL! The ABC folks going for the young demo ... might have been a bigger success if they had mixed the new with some older, more TV visible acts. It seemed more like a sorority rush party ... All the audience shots of pretty post-teen fans ... Show needed some adults mixed in with the kids ... .and the commercial load ... jeeez ... did anyone notice that? Name me a 15-25 year-old who sits through long or even short commercial breaks on TV.

Carrie Underwood's pregnancy sure made the headlines; 55 arena dates follow the birth ... 2019 will be a huge year for The Fisher family! Always a feel-good story.

Two Nashville acts with huge stadium shows this weekend ... Kenny Chesney in Nashville at the NFL stadium and Taylor Swift at the new Atlanta NFL venue. Both artists at the top of their game.

What goes on in the parking lots rarely makes the news. Not to say the arrests and the medical calls never make the news ... The cops in Pittsburgh, for example, are very open with the facts.

After Luke's Mile High show published reports of three people in a violent fight ... left unconscious ... one husband is facing brain surgery. Fractured skull ... The drinking at these shows may or may not have been involved. Better be careful at these huge drunk-athons!

Anyone ever heard of the Melody Tent on Cape Cod? It's a who's-who of show biz who have played there ... fun, intimate venue.

The Summer of 2018 will be remembered for its weather if nothing else ... the rain and the heat ... the smoke from wildfires ... and still a solid month or so of Summer to go ... Be safe out there!