On Saturday night (June 27), fans packed Nashville’s Nissan Stadium for Country Music Hall of Famer Alan Jackson’s last hurrah as a touring artist, for what was billed as “Last Call: One More for the Road – The Finale,” marking an end to Jackson’s touring career. The sold-out event celebrated Jackson’s more than three decades of touring, as well as his enduring cascade of music. Fans who weren’t lucky enough to score a ticket to the stadium show filled downtown Broadway in Music City to watch a livestream of the event.
In 1985, Alan Jackson moved from Newnan, Georgia, to Music City in pursuit of his country music dream —or, as he would call it in his 1990 hit, simply “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow.”
Part of the famed “Class of ’89,” he released his debut album Here in the Real World the following year, and in the nearly four decades that have followed, the tall, lanky singer-songwriter with the humble, down-home demeanor, towering songwriting skills, and an unerring devotion to classic country music has collected 26 Billboard No. 1 Country Airplay chart-toppers, two Grammy wins, and membership into not only the Country Music Hall of Fame (2017), but also the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (2011). He’s also a three-time CMA entertainer of the year winner, taking home the accolade in 1995, 2002 and 2003. Beyond being a writer or co-writer on the bulk of his own hits, he’s also known as a writer on songs recorded by Randy Travis, Faith Hill and Clay Walker.
Jackson forged a career based on an accessible brand of vivid musical storytelling that etched small-town vignettes of life, love, loss and family. He’s also built a Country Music Hall of Fame-worthy career by staying true to his traditional-leaning country roots, even as the genre’s sound has continued to evolve and shift, making Jackson a country music standard-bearer to generations of country music artists and country music listeners.
In 2021, Jackson revealed his battle with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a degenerative nerve condition that impacts the peripheral nervous system and causes balance problems. He’s spent much of the past year embarking on his final tour, culminating in his Saturday night celebration, which brought out numerous fellow country artists, entertainer of the year winners and a fellow Country Music Hall of Famer — all to pay their respects to Jackson’s enduring career.
Alan Jackson performs onstage for ‘Last Call: One More for the Road – The Finale at Nissan Stadium’ on June 27, 2026 in Nashville, Tenn.
John Shearer/Getty Images
The first half of the concert saw a parade of top artists taking the stage to honor Jackson by singing some of their favorite songs from his catalog of hits, among them Miranda Lambert, Luke Combs, Eric Church, George Strait, Lee Ann Womack, Jon Pardi, Jake Owen and Little Big Town, as well as members of Jackson’s family, including Adam Wright, “Big City” Brian Wright and Carlisle Wright.
Though an early rain drenched the audience during Owen’s set, the crowd’s enthusiasm wasn’t dampened in the slightest.
“Everyone is a trooper for being out in this rain, supporting a legend like Alan Jackson,” Pardi said during his performance. “Let’s stop talking and get to dancing,” he said before singing “She’s Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues).”
Little Big Town lent their illustrious voices to Jackson’s “It Must Be Love.”
“We are so happy to be here with y’all rain or shine, whatever we get,” said Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman. Of Jackson, she said, “You are part of our romances, our tailgates, our heartbreaks… you are forever woven into our lives.”
Riley Green performed Jackson’s 1998 hit “Little Man,” while Womack performed “Between the Devil and Me.” Texan Lambert performed Jackson’s hit “Dallas.”
Reigning ACM entertainer of the year Cody Johnson performed “Job Description,” a song Jackson wrote solo and included on his 1994 album Who I Am. Johnson recalled hearing this song as a kid and dreaming of living out the song’s tales of being a star performing on the road, and then, as his own star grew, Johnson says he related to the hardships of being miles away from home.
Luke Bryan told the crowd how Jackson served as an inspiration as a Georgian who moved to Nashville dreaming of stardom and who transformed that dream a reality. Bryan performed the grooving “Love’s Got a Hold on You.” Thomas Rhett performed “Small Town Southern Man,” noting how the song aptly fits his life, as he is also the father of four girls and a boy.
“Y’all showed up to party with Mr. Alan Jackson!” exclaimed Lainey Wilson, who performed “Tall, Tall Trees.” The first concert Carrie Underwood ever attended as a child was an Alan Jackson concert; she honored Jackson Saturday evening with a rendition of “Everything I Love.”
Luke Combs performed what he called “one of my favorite songs,” Jackson’s “Hard Hat and a Hammer,” while Eric Church performed a riveting version of the heartbreaking “Someday.”
Portions of the show were taped for the upcoming NBC special that will air at a later date. Near the middle of the show came “Pop a Top Again,” with Bryan, Underwood, Church, Green, Womack, Wilson, and more gathered at center stage for a collective performance of Jackson’s rendition of Jim Ed Brown’s 1967 hit “Pop a Top.”
“We are all here tonight to celebrate a country music giant, Mr. Alan Jackson,” Underwood said.
Other artists including Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, Keith Urban and Zac Brown offered video tributes to Jackson throughout the show. Between sets, footage of various Jackson performances and awards show moments also filled the screens.
Nearly mid-way through the show, another downpour rolled through, along with a delay as fans were asked to take shelter under the covered corridors of the stadium. The show again got underway nearly an hour later.
That’s when Jackson himself took the stage, eliciting thunderous applause from the crowd as he launched into his 1994 hit “Gone Country” and from there kept performing hit after hit, showcasing both the commercial strength and artistic depth of his music.
“These performances, all these nice things people’ve said, it makes me want to tear up a little bit, I’ll be honest with you,” Jackson said.
His headlining set rolled on. There was the comedic “I Don’t Even Know Your Name,” the haunting ode to Hank Williams, Sr., with “Midnight in Montgomery,” the tender “Livin’ on Love” and the somber “The Blues Man,” as well as uptempo hits like “Summertime Blues” and “Who’s Cheatin’ Who.”
He recalled nearly giving up his dream when his first radio single failed on the radio charts, but then came his breakthrough hit “Here in the Real World.” He played that hit, and took fans on a musical journey through more hit songs and the events that inspired them, playing snippets of “Wanted,” “I’d Love You All Over Again” (which he wrote as a 10-year wedding anniversary gift to his wife, Denise) and “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” recalling how his father’s radio mentioned in that song was ultimately displayed in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
He paused at one point early on in his set to take in the love of the crowd, calling it “overwhelming,” but also noted that he was determined not to dwell on “that last show stuff… I’m not dead!”
Though Jackson is calling it quits for touring, he’s still releasing music; in fact, he just released his rendition of “Still the One,” a cover of the band Orleans’ 1976 hit.
“It’s hotter than a hoochie coochie up here,” he said at one point, acknowledging the sweltering summer Tennessee heat, before praising his band The Strayhorns, including some members that have been with him for decades, since his days playing tiny clubs.
“If anybody’s living a really good dream… I’m living it,” Jackson said. “I just want to thank everybody, especially all of you fans… y’all have been so supportive of my music all of these years… y’all always treated me nice and respected the music.”
The crowd roared when he welcomed Strait to the stage for “Designated Drinker” and “Murder on Music Row.”
After the two traded cheers and sipped on celebratory beverages, Strait said, “You did this for me at the Cowboy Rides Away Tour, thank you,” before adding, “I just wanna say, this cowboy rode back in, so we got some hope for Alan… to ride back in.”
More hits followed, with Jackson performing “Little Bitty,” “Country Boy” and “Good Time” as fans held up signs emblazoned with the song’s title. He sailed through “Drive (For Daddy Gene)” and ended with a message in loving memory of his dad, who passed away in 2000.
He also performed “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning),” which Jackson wrote in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack. His performance of the song that Saturday night had the audience lighting up the stadium with cell phone lights. The song ended with American flag images flanking the stage on both massive screens, as some in the crowd began chanting “U.S.A.”
From there, the party vibe resurged with “Don’t Rock the Jukebox,” before Jackson segued back into ballad territory with “Remember When,” as personal photos and videos of his family flashed on the main screen behind him. The nostalgic, romantic tune drew one of the evening’s biggest crowd responses.
Still more hits followed, including “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” (which he originally recorded with the late Jimmy Buffett), then his summer anthem “Chattahoochee,” as fireworks zoomed off into the sky.
Jackson thanked the audience and exited the stage, though his departure was brief as the crowd’s cheers quickly drew him back into the limelight. For his encore, he returned to the stage dressed in a vivid red button-down shirt with gold fringe on the sleeves. He offered “Mercury Blues” and closed with “Where I Come From” (affectionately known among many fans simply as “Cornbread and Chicken,” in reference to one of the song’s more famous lines) as yet more fireworks shot into the sky behind the stage.
Fitting with the soft-spoken, everyman persona he’s been known for for decades, Jackson concluded the show by waving to the crowd as they roared their approval, and saying simply, “Thank you, we love you,” before exiting the stage for the final time.
