After name-checking Chattanooga in the hit song "Hometown," country music star Kane Brown has announced he's bringing his Blessed & Free Tour here on May 7, playing one of his hometown's largest venues, Finley Stadium.
Walker Hayes, the singer behind the viral phenomenon "Fancy Like," will open.
Brown announced the Chattanooga show Friday morning, ahead of the Kane Brown Live global livestream concert from the El Rey Theatre through Amazon Music. Fans can tune in Friday night at 10 EST on the Amazon Music channel or watch later for a limited time on Prime Video following the livestream.
Finley Stadium Complex Executive Director Chris Thomas said via telephone that Brown's people reached out to his team about making the show happen here.
"We are so grateful to Kane and his people for making this happen and for him wanting to do it here," he said.
This is the first concert in the stadium that is home to University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football and Chattanooga Football Club soccer in many years, according to Thomas, who took the reins in 2017. It has not been for lack of tryng, however, he said.
"Since I stepped in, there has been good interest from all of the major players and some more independent players, but it hasn't worked out," he said. "And, then COVID hit."
Thomas said the stadium will be configured with seating in both the north and south stands and on the playing surface with capacity being around 24,000.
"They have some pretty cool products now they put down you can drive a crane on," he said.
The Chattanooga show is the first of nine that extend his Blessed & Free headlining tour in which he played every NBA basketball arena, the first artist to do so in a single tour.
Brown, who attended several schools around Chattanooga and North Georgia growing up, was named to Time's list of the most influential people of 2021.
The chart-topping entertainer had his first No. 1 hit with his self-titled debut, which spent a record-breaking 13 weeks at the top of the charts and made Brown the first artist in Billboard history to top all five Billboard Country charts simultaneously. He also produced two of the most-streamed country songs of all time: the seven-times platinum hits "Heaven" and "What Ifs."
Fans can register at kanebrownlive.com to be eligible for presale ticket sales starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 11, at kanebrownmusic.com. A limited number of VIP packages will be available. Ticket prices have not been announced.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354. Follow him on Twitter @BarryJC.