Country musician and East Tennessee native Morgan Wallen put together a two-night concert at Neyland Stadium this past weekend, drawing more than 156,000 tickets across the Friday and Sunday night shows.
According to Country Chord on X, Wallen broke the record for the largest weekend attendance at Neyland Stadium at 156,161 tickets sold, beating out The Jackson 5 with 148,407 across three shows in 1984.
One of the staples of Wallen’s shows is that he has a “walkout” entrance that typically features a sports star or celebrity from the city. Wallen brought Tony Vitello and the Vols baseball team out for the Friday night walkout but was all football for the Sunday finale – the former Gibbs High School baseball player brought out Josh Heupel, QB Nico Iamaleava, WR Bru McCoy, and VFL Peyton Manning in full uniform.
Heupel spoke about the experience during his Wednesday press conference with the media.
“You can’t beat seeing Peyton in his uniform, you know what I mean? Tried to get him to come back for one more. He said he’s done.” pic.twitter.com/V5Tzt3XmjM
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) September 25, 2024
More from RTI: On-Field Video Shows What Josh Heupel Told Nico Iamaleava After the Game
“There are very few nights during the season where you get a chance to do something like that, so it was a lot of fun,” Heupel said of the event. “Obviously a tremendous artist. But he was just so welcoming. When we got to the stadium and his family was there, it was a really cool experience. It was a home game of a different kind, to walk off to the full Neyland Stadium and no football on the field. It was a really cool environment. You can’t beat seeing, seeing Peyton in his uniform, you know what I mean? And I tried to get him to come back for one more and he said he’s done. But it was a neat experience. And Nico and Bru having a chance to be a part of it, it was really, really neat.”
Rocky Top, you’ll always be… pic.twitter.com/D0AlYcQIZr
— morgan wallen (@MorganWallen) September 23, 2024
Here’s what the entrance looked like from the show:
Heupel, McCoy, and Iamaleava participated in the walkout less than 24 hours after the Vols’ 25-15 win over No. 15 Oklahoma in Norman on Saturday night. The Vols have an open date this weekend before turning to SEC play on the road against Arkansas on Oct. 5.
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) September 23, 2024
