Big concerts like Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” require precise choreography, gargantuan sets, pillars of fire and lots and lots of practice. And now Nashville’s newest and largest rehearsal campus, called Rock Nashville, has the capacity to handle such shows.

It’s opening this week seeks to solidify Nashville as the nation’s hub for music and touring — and the 55-acre campus in Whites Creek builds on an established industry for the city.

If it’s any sign of things to come, fire cannons shot off — indoors — during the Rock Nashville ribbon cutting on Tuesday.

“Nashville is really evolving from just the home of country music really to the home of live entertainment more broadly and more globally,” said Rock Nashville CEO Andrea Shirk. “We’ve built 610,000 square feet. The soundtrack facility is 375,000 of that, with 15 studios ranging from small studios to support local regional acts all the way up to our largest studio, 95-foot-tall building. And the ability to host stadium and arena level shows.”

Justin Barney WPLN News

Rock Nashville ribbon cutting

Rock Nashville’s arrival could become a transformative rehearsal space, and it shows how one of Nashville’s big players has gotten bigger while navigating hurdles along the way.

A growing industry

The city already had a large and beloved rehearsal space: Soundcheck. Funded by Glenn Fry of The Eagles and founded by longtime Eagles guitar tech Bob “Norton” Thompson, it opened in 1993 in a nondescript building along the Cumberland River near downtown. 

Kenny Chesney was one of their first clients. Vince Gill got locker number one. 

It became a go-to space to rehearse, which Nashville has long been known for. Paul McCartney famously said that he came to Nashville for the three Rs – riding, relating and rehearsing. 

Soundcheck became the biggest rehearsal space in the Southeast, and a favorite for artists like Hozier. He spent so much time in Nashville there was speculation that he lived here — a rumor I entertained in an interview the last time he was in town.

“No I don’t live here,” he said, “but I’ve spent more time in this city than most American cities this past year. I spend a lot of time rehearsing here, so usually I’ll rehearse for a tour here in Nashville. It’s got great rehearsal spaces and places to store gear.”

Soundcheck was big. But it had big competitors. The biggest: Rock Lititz, an enormous 150-acre rehearsal campus in the tiny town of Lititz, Pa. There, two brothers realized that touring was more than a wall of amps and artists were needing a giant space to rehearse with screens, trapeze wires and pyrotechnics. 

Rock Lititz is where Taylor Swift rehearsed the eras tour. Soundcheck wasn’t quite at that level. 

‘Worldwide talent’

And then a challenge came out of left field: Oracle came to Nashville and bought the land where Soundcheck had been leasing. It was hard on owner Ben Jumper, who attended the Rock Nashville opening.

“ Oracle bought everything on that riverfront and we had to vacate. I didn’t like being pushed out.” he said.

Jumper hoped that the two could work together. He formed a plan. “We thought we might negotiate that we build this [campus] down there. And then be a part of it.” He took it to CEO Larry Ellison, “but Mr. Ellison wasn’t having it.”

Soundcheck found another way. And they teamed up with Rock Lititz to create Rock Nashville. 

Rock Nashville combines the two companies and a lot more. The campus includes 47 offices. Yamaha keyboards, JBL speakers and Sure microphones all have offices in the facility. The goal is to provide everything a touring band could think of — and then a little bit more. They even have a barber.

“This will draw worldwide talent,” Jumper said, “and that’s something that I don’t think we ever really focused on.”

Jumper is happy with the deal. His daughter, Kindal Jumper, is GM of Soundcheck now. And she cut the ribbon at the ceremony.

Ripple effects

Rock Nashville is part of an important ecosystem for physical music. When they moved out to Whites Creek, it left a lane for smaller touring companies. 

JPACK, which specializes in music storage for musicians, opened up in Berry Hill. Co-owner Andy Sheridan said there is so much work happening that musicians needed a place closer to Music Row.

“For the people that are doing a lot of back and forth that are running around town that are, you know, doing this and that, just being close is. Super, super convenient,” Sheridan said.

And while music is often so digital now. Many musicians make it on a laptop, and you listen on your phone. But so many of the things we don’t even think about are still analog. Many of those businesses are building Nashville’s future as the home of live music. 

Rehearsing isn’t a business that everyone thinks of, but in Nashville it’s a growing part of the economy. And it’s big business. The price to use the 95-foot studio at RockNashville is $12,000 per day. Storage at JPACK is considerably less.

Proximity and location are still important to the music industry, especially touring. And businesses are investing in Nashville. Last year, AEG opened it’s own venue, The Pinnacle and Live Nation announced that they would be opening their own venue, The Truth.

“If you’re Coldplay … you can’t practice in your mom’s basement, you know?” Sheridan said. “You need a place to go.”