Alan Jackson delivers emotional speech at Nashville farewell concert 14%
By Bryan West0% Audrey Gibbs0% Nashville Tennessean0%
6/28/2026, 6:09:55 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 30 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Halo Effect, and Appeal to Authority, with Anecdotal as the most egregious example at 18.7% saturation with 192 hits. Analysis detected 1,653 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,029 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 30.1% and a BS Rank of 14% (19,000 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 86.80% of the article peer group.
NASHVILLE − Tens of thousands of fans packed Nissan Stadium on June 27 knowing that years from now, they'd have their own answer to Alan Jackson's question: "Remember when?"
Remember when the rain came down and the lightning delayed the show for an hour?
Remember when George Strait stepped on stage?
Remember when a baby shown on screen during "Little Bitty" had the audience saying "aww"?
Remember when the stadium chanted "U.S.A." after "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"?
Remember when the voices screamed every word to "Don't Rock the Jukebox"?
Remember when a sea of fans danced during "Chattahoochee"?
Remember when country music gathered to celebrate one of the most honky-tonk, boot-scootin', generation-spanning, country-defining voices?
Remember when.
**Alan Jackson's farewell concert: **George Strait honors his fellow country music star in rare appearance
Before taking the stage to celebrate Jackson's catalog, artists including Luke Bryan, Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Jake Owen, Little Big Town and Jon Pardi joined members of his family on the red carpet, where they shared personal memories of the country icon.
Nephew Adam Wright remembered moving to Nashville with his wife, Shannon, when they were struggling to make ends meet.
Jackson would invite them to his home, hand him $100 and tell him to pick one of the cars in his garage for a date night.
"I always loved the '56 Chevy Bel Air," Wright said.
"It was a very sweet thing, very thoughtful thing for him to do.
Very much like what my granddad would have done."
Nephew Brian Wright recalled nights as a child watching his uncle rehearse with his band, Dixie Steel.
"I remember the song.
I remember the light shining on the instruments.
I remember Budweiser cans laying around and everybody having a good time," he said.
"Next thing you know, he moves off to Nashville and has a long career in country music."
**Crowd boos, cheers Taylor Swift message: **The singer paid tribute at Alan Jackson's final show in Nashville
Great-niece Carlisle Wright became emotional remembering the moment Jackson surprised her with an invitation to perform at his farewell concert.
"He goes, 'I want you to play at my last show,' " she said.
"I'm trying to hold back tears ... getting to honor him tonight is truly one of a lifetime."
Lainey Wilson called Jackson one of the "kindest people" she's met, saying he was "exactly like I thought he would be."
Luke Combs remembered Jackson's words after presenting him with the CMA Entertainer of the Year award.
"We got to have kind of this moment walking through the tunnel," Combs said.
"It was just me and him.
I had never met him in my entire life.
I remember him just telling me, 'That was a taller hill you just climbed.'
And that was like all he said.
I was like, 'Damn, that was really poignant and just matter of fact.'
Then as soon as I looked to my left and looked to my right, he was gone."
**The full set list: **Plus, every A-list guest at Alan Jackson's last show
In 2004, Jackson penned "Rainy Day in June," a ballad that captures the loneliness and heartache of losing a relationship through the imagery of an unrelenting summer storm.
As lightning rolled over Nissan Stadium and rain delayed the concert for an hour, the song became an unexpectedly fitting soundtrack to the final stop of his farewell tour.
About 40 minutes later, the stadium video boards flashed an "All Clear" message in highlighter green, and fans streamed back to their seats as Brooks & Dunn's "Brand New Man" blasted through the speakers: "I saw the light, I've been baptized."
After well-wishes from fellow country stars Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and Taylor Swift played on the video boards, Jackson stepped onto the stage in a silver, shimmering shirt and greeted the crowd with a simple, "How y'all doing tonight?"
before launching into his hit "Gone Country."
The Country Music Hall of Famer paused after the opening songs to thank the crowd and the artists who had spent the evening celebrating his career.
"These nice things people said, it's just overwhelming," Jackson said.
"It just makes me wanna tear up a little bit."
He thanked the all-star lineup that honored him before joking that the tribute show had briefly felt more like his own memorial service.
"We're not going to dwell on all this sad 'last show' stuff," he said.
"Earlier it felt like a funeral and I was up in heaven watching all these people sing my songs."
Instead, Jackson told the crowd he wanted them to treat the night the same way they had treated his music for decades.
"Two-step up and down the aisle, do whatever you want to do, sit back and relax, have a good time, have a drink," he said.
"We'll try to play something you like."
For the next two hours, that's exactly what he did.
The 67-year-old's set traced the career that made him a country music institution, moving seamlessly from reflective ballads like "Drive (For Daddy Gene)" to easygoing anthems like "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere."
And when it came time to say goodbye, there was only one way to do it.
Jackson closed the night with three of his signature hits: "Chattahoochee," "Mercury Blues" and "Where I Come From."
Why is Alan Jackson retiring?
The Grammy-winning country artist announced his retirement from touring in May 2025 during the final stop of his "Last Call: One More for the Road" tour at Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum.
Since 2011, Jackson has battled Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, an inherited neurological disorder that damages the peripheral nerves, affecting movement, balance and sensation.
The disease, which runs in Jackson's family, has affected his ability to move and stay balanced on stage.
It is generally not fatal, although it is slowly progressive, causing muscle weakness and loss of sensation in the extremities.
How to watch
The concert will air as a NBC prime-time TV special and stream on Peacock later this year.
*This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: *Alan Jackson delivers emotional speech at Nashville farewell concert*
Speakers
6speakers36%attributed speech662writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Selected voice
100%flagged-word coverageLainey Wilson
21 attributed words5.7% of attributed speech77% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.