Nashville summers are already a lot, but 2026 is shaping up to be something else entirely. At a press conference today, Nashville SC unveiled its first “Visit Music City Summer Kickoff,” a seven-week stretch of World Cup watch parties, concerts, and community events centered around GEODIS Park.
The biggest headline (for a lot of people, at least): Thomas Rhett is kicking off his tour here on July 9 with Niall Horan.
And for Rhett, it’s not just another stop.
“Hometown shows are always amazing and full of pressure because every cousin that you’ve ever known or did not know shows up,” he joked. “But it’s going to be awesome.”
A World Cup Summer – Without Hosting the World Cup
Even though Nashville isn’t hosting matches, the city is clearly leaning into the moment.
The Summer Kickoff will bring:
- Free World Cup watch parties (including all U.S. Men’s National Team games)
- A concert series at GEODIS Park
- Community events like youth camps, a 5K, and the InterNASHional Night Market
Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp CEO Deana Ivey summed it up pretty simply: “Summer Kickoff brings together soccer and great live music in a way that only Music City can. There’s truly something for everyone to enjoy, from concerts to World Cup watch parties and kid-friendly activities for visitors and our local community.”
“There’s Not a Bad Seat” at GEODIS
Rhett, who recently attended his first Nashville SC match, spent a lot of time discussing the energy inside the stadium, especially from a fan’s perspective.
“The energy in this building is unmatched to me, and so I know that if the energy is like that for asoccer game, it’s going to only be just as amazing for a concert as well.”
He also pointed out something artists actually care about (and fans don’t always think about): the layout. “I love to be able to find faces in a crowd. And even though this place is big, I feel like you can kind of look left, look right, and look to the back and see people, to be able to connect with people,” he explains.
What to Expect From the Thomas Rhett + Niall Horan Show
During the press conference, TR confirmed both he and Niall Horan are playing full individual sets… and then something extra at the end.
“We’re going to both do our own sets and then finish with a really nice 30-minute encore together. It has always been one of my dreams to sing a One Direction song with Niall. So hopefully we—I don’t know if he wants to do it or not, but I’m going to force him to do it.
We’re keeping our fingers crossed!
A Very Nashville Kind of Growth
Beyond the concerts and watch parties, there was a bigger theme running through the announcement: Nashville isn’t the same city it was even a few years ago.
Rhett, who grew up locally, put it pretty bluntly: “We have become a big city at this point.”
He talked about watching the city evolve, from Titans and Preds games to now Nashville SC, and how the global interest in Nashville has changed everything.
“Whether I go to Europe or Australia or Canada, people are like, ‘Oh, I want to go to Nashville so bad.’ Like, the city has done such a great job of making this such a desirable place to be.”
The Bigger Picture
This summer kickoff isn’t just a one-year thing, it’s more like a test run for what GEODIS Park can be outside of match days. Between the World Cup schedule break, upcoming Olympic matches in 2028, and Nashville’s constant push to bring in major events, this feels like the start of something bigger.
And if Rhett’s right? And we think he is. “It’s going to be a blast.”
