Photo Credit: Isaac MacDonald
During Alan Jackson’s farewell concert in Nashville, Taylor Swift’s on-screen video message was met with a strange combination of boos and cheers.
At Nissan Stadium in Nashville, country legend Alan Jackson held his farewell concert, filled with tribute performances and sentimental video messages from countless country artists. But as Taylor Swift appeared on screen to deliver her message, the record-setting singer-songwriter was nearly drowned out by a sea of boos (and cheers) from the crowd.
Numerous artists gathered at the stadium on June 27 to honor Jackson, with tribute performances from Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Eric Church, Cody Johnson, Riley Green, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Jake Owen, Jon Pardi, Thomas Rhett, George Strait, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson, and Lee Ann Womack.
Throughout the night, videos chronicling different chapters of Jackson’s storied career played on screens beside the stage, as well as messages from artists not in attendance. These included messages from Keith Urban, Zac Brown, and Kenny Chesney, as well as NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But before Jackson took the stage, Grand Ole Opry announcer Kelly Sutton noted, “We have one more video.”
Then, Taylor Swift’s face appeared on-screen, but the beginning of her message was immediately drowned out by a deluge of boos from the crowd. Notably, there were also cheers—but the resulting cacophony was such that attendees couldn’t hear much aside from the ending of Swift’s message: “I appreciate you so much for the ways that you have just treated me and the other artists and writers with such support and encouragement over the years. And I am so excited for your show.”
Even though Swift began her career in country music, her meteoric rise to pop superstardom has still evidently left many country purists disgruntled.
Though Swift wasn’t physically present at Jackson’s concert, she was in Nashville just days before, supporting fiancé Travis Kelce during the annual NFL tight end summit, Tight End University, co-founded by Kelce, George Kittle, and Greg Olsen.
The couple has been in the spotlight quite a bit in recent weeks as speculation surrounding their upcoming nuptials has intensified. Some reports suggest that Swift and Kelce plan to tie the knot as early as next week, but neither has publicly confirmed such plans.
