Blake Shelton rolled into CMA Fest like he owned the damn place—and by the time he brought Trace Adkins out on the Nissan Stadium stage, it was pretty clear he just might. The crowd had already been whipped into a frenzy after a weekend stacked with legends, hitmakers, and neon-soaked chaos. But when those first swampy guitar licks of “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” dropped? Total eruption. The entire stadium turned into a redneck revival.
No announcement. No buildup. Just pure, unfiltered country mayhem—the kind of wild-card moment CMA Fest diehards dream about catching once in their lives.
Blake had already set the tone earlier at Spotify House, ripping through fan favorites like “Ol’ Red” and “Boys ’Round Here.” Say what you will about the guy’s time on The Voice or his Hollywood glow-up—put him in a barroom, and he’s still as gritty and grounded as ever. But when he hit the Nissan main stage? That’s where the real fireworks started. Mid-set, Shelton looked out over a sea of cowboy hats and sunburned shoulders and grinned like a man who knew exactly what he was about to do.
Then Trace Freakin’ Adkins stormed out like a damn linebacker in a black hat.
The place lost it. Gone. Screaming, stomping, spilling beer in disbelief. Trace hadn’t hit a main stage like this in years, but the second he launched into “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” it was like the mid-2000s came roaring back with a vengeance. That song—ridiculous, glorious, and completely bulletproof to criticism—still slaps like a shot of Fireball on a 100-degree day. Loud. Loose. Unapologetically rowdy.
But Blake wasn’t done. Nope.
He and Trace doubled down, tag-teaming chaos with “Hell Right” and “Hillbilly Bone.” It was country music stripped of pretense—two deep-voiced titans leaning all the way into the good-time grit that made them icons in the first place. Shirt sleeves were flying. Beer cans were in the air. And not a single pyro blast was needed. Just two friends raising hell in front of 60,000 fans.
In a weekend loaded with superstar moments—Brooks & Dunn with Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll tagging in Shaboozey—Blake and Trace still managed to steal the spotlight. No flashy tricks. No overproduced spectacle. Just two legends reminding everyone how fun, reckless, and loud country music used to be—and still can be.
And you could see it in Blake’s face: this wasn’t just another gig. It was a memory in the making. A moment that said, “We’re still here. And we’re still damn loud.”
If you missed it live, don’t worry—the CMA Fest: The Music Event of Summer airs June 26 on ABC and drops on Hulu the next day. But fair warning: it won’t hit the same through a screen.
This one? It was meant to be felt in the dirt, in the sweat, and under the lights—with a little bit of badonkadonk in the air.
