Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift Close Out CMA Fest With a Bang - FOX News

Published June 13, 2011

| FoxNews.com

Special guests and sing-a-longs helped enhance the Country Music Association Music Festival fan experience at LP Field.

Taylor Swift closed out the fourth and final night of concerts Sunday with an energetic set that included career-spanning hits such as "Our Song", "Love Story" and "Story Of Us".

"The cool thing about being on this stage is you get a really good view," said Swift pausing to gaze at the cheering audience before launching into her bluegrass infused single "Mean".

Swift had her signature "13" painted on her right hand and Sugarland lyrics painted down her left arm that said: "Remember me in ribbons and curls, love your baby girl." She thrilled the in-field by running through the crowd to a second, roof top stage, where she played the ukulele and sang "Fearless".

Newlyweds Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert both acknowledged their recent nuptials during their CMA Fest performances.

Lambert thanked fans for giving her the best wedding present: her third No. 1 hit for "Heart Like Mine." She said she found out on her wedding day four weeks ago.

At one point, Lambert brought out her newly-formed girl band, Pistol Annies, to play their new single, "Hell on Heels." Backstage, Lambert said the band, with friends Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley, is "everything but a goofy side project" for her.

During her set, the crowd found out how she feels about beach balls being thrown while she's singing. One landed on stage, and she stomped the air out of it with her high heel, saying: "Is it just me or do those beach balls irritate the hell out of y'all?" She then asked everyone to hold onto them while she sang the emotional "The House That Built Me."

Surprise guest Trace Adkins got one of the biggest reactions of the night when he joined Shelton on "Hillbilly Bone." The stadium reverberated each time fans yelled "Yee haw" on cue.

Other full band performers Sunday night included The JaneDear Girls, Darius Rucker and The Band Perry.

Rucker got the crowd on its feet and answering back with a rousing version of "Family Tradition." The Band Perry had tens of thousands of backup singers during their performance of "If I Die Young." The single has sold more than 2 million copies.

The CMA Music Festival TV special featuring performances from LP Field will air later this summer on ABC.

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Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert close out Country Music Association Music Festival - The Celebrity Cafe.com

Country stars made appearances during the final night of concerts at the annual festival Taylor Swift performs at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville on June 12, 2011. UPI/Terry Wyatt

Country stars Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, and Blake Shelton closed out the Country Music Association Music Festival at LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday.

Swift, donning a gold dress and Sugarland lyrics on her left arm, delighted concertgoers by dashing through the crowd to a rooftop stage and performing “Fearless.”

Before running to a second stage, Swift performed some of her most popular hits, including “Love Story,” “Mine,” “Our Song,” and “Story of Us.”

“The cool thing about being on this stage is you get a really good view,” she told the audience during her set, according to ABC News.

The award-winning singer-songwriter took to her Twitter feed following her performance to thank those who were in attendance for the festival’s finale.

“Just played the last night of CMA Music Fest (um, you guys were amazing!!),” she wrote. “Then I went home and baked until 2:41 AM.”

Newlyweds Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton also closed out the festival, with the “Heart Like Mine” singer thanking fans for giving her another No. 1 hit and The Voice judge bringing out special guest Trace Adkins to perform “Hillbilly Bone.”

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CMA Music Fest: <b>Taylor Swift</b>, Miranda Lambert close out LP Field <b>...</b>

Click to see a gallery of photos from Sunday night's CMA Music Festival show at LP Field (this image of Taylor Swift: Larry McCormack/The Tennessean).

Duo the JaneDear Girls opened the last of four CMA Music Festival stadium shows at LP Field with a set that included the thrusting rock of initial single “Wildflower” and the contemplative ballad “Saturdays In September.” After band member Susie Brown performed a brief and energetic fiddle showcase of “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” and “Orange Blossom Special,” Brown and Danelle Leverett closed with current single “Shotgun Girl.”

Jimmy Wayne’s powerful solo set found him playing deft guitar and performing his country hits “Stay Gone” and “Do You Believe Me Now?” along with a cover of the Hall & Oates pop staple “Sara Smile.” Wayne is a rich-voiced singer-songwriter, with a presence that proved capable of captivating a mass live audience.

The Band Perry followed Wayne with a set that traded on accessibility and harmony. Single “If I Die Young” was the group’s best-received song, with a stadium full of fans singing along.

Darius Rucker, who still leads guitar-pop group Hootie & The Blowfish on occasion, opened his country set with “Alright,” and included “Come Back Song” and “I Got Nothin’.” Rucker upped the applause ante with his version of the Hootie single “Only Wanna Be With You,” and his up-tempo song, “This.” Rucker concluded with a medley of past country hits, cementing his appeal with contemporary country fans.

Tracy Lawrence played a set prior to Blake Shelton’s stage turn, singing “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” and other hits. And then Shelton took the stage with “It’s All About Tonight” and delivered a set that included runs through J. Geils Band “Centerfield” and Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative.”

Shelton offered up “Kiss My Country (expletive),” a song that disparages anyone who doesn’t embrace a Confederate ideal, but his warm baritone is more inclusively appealing than that tune’s lyrics. He ended with summertime hit “Honey Bee” and duet “Hillbilly Bone,” with Trace Adkins.

“This next artist I’m going to bring out is a country music innovator, and she is going to melt your faces off,” Shelton said, introducing wife Miranda Lambert. Shelton isn’t impassive, but neither is he incorrect. Lambert began her set with the propulsive “Kerosene,” then delivered the humorous and poignant “Only Prettier.”

“I want to say thank you for the most amazing country fans in world,” Lambert said, before singing ballad “The House That Built Me,” the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music song of the year award winner.

Lambert then introduced her trio partners in The Pistol Annies, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe, and sang “Hell On Wheels,” before closing her set with “White Liar” and “”Gunpowder and Lead.”

Cross-genre superstar Taylor Swift concluded the night with a hit-filled coda. Swift opened her set at 11:35 p.m., with much of LP Field still filled with fans, preceded by a volume-up recording of Tom Petty’s “American Girl.”

“She’s sold more albums this year than any other human being on the planet,” said GAC’s Storme Warren, introducing Swift, whose CMA-ending set reached its climax with “Our Song,” a composition about shared melody, rhyme and memory. Swift’s set was a fitting end to a festival that put music at the forefront, and that spotlighted the interaction between fans and recording artists.

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