Pollstar (06/22/23) Pittman, Sarah

The “Love Rising” benefit concert in Nashville has raised the bar for celebrating LGBTQ+ pride. The event embodies the live industry's support for LGBTQ+ artists by giving them a platform as they battle harmful legislation and raise funds. Love Rising organizer and singer/songwriter Allison Russell said the event's team was “racing against time” to stage the concert before drag bans instituted by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee were to take effect on April 1. She added that she reached out to members of the board of the Americana Music Association's DEI committee as well as other influential advocates. Love Rising took over Nashville's Bridgestone Arena shortly after Lee's signing of the ban. “From our initial conversation to the show day was less than four weeks,” said Bridgestone's Chief Venues Officer David Kells. The technical, musical and promotional talent of our community was quickly put into motion to help make the concert possible. There are few places that can make that happen.” Despite local governments' anti-LGBTQ+ maneuvers, Russell said, “Love is still rising in Tennessee. We've all had so many people reach out and say, 'When's the next [concert]?' We're thinking about ways that we can mobilize our music community to do outreach around voter registration as we go into 2024, so we're not faced with this same kind of imbalance in government ever again.”

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