The iHeartCountry Festival, originally scheduled for May 2 at the Frank Ervin Center in Austin, will go forward as a virtual event on Oct. 23 that will air on iHeartMedia country stations nationwide with a video stream on LiveXLive beginning at 7 pm.
The seventh annual festival has added Morgan Evans, Gabby Barrett and Riley Green to the originally announced lineup that includes Dierks Bentley, Lady A, Sam Hunt, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Dustin Lynch and Jon Pardi. Performances were recorded live on stage in Nashville.
“Despite this year’s pandemic, we are honored to still be able to host one of country music’s most anticipated nights with an iconic lineup of the genre’s biggest artists,” iHeartCountry Executive VP of Programming Rod Phillips said in a release. “Although fans won’t be able to celebrate in person, the show will be available to our millions of listeners across our iHeartCountry stations nationwide and through the exclusive stream on LiveXLive.”
The Festival is presented by Capital One, with cardholders offered the opportunity to enter an exclusive sweepstakes for the chance to virtually play in the iHeartCountry Capital One Trivia Night with Kelsea Ballerini, hosted by Premiere Networks-syndicated country morning show host Bobby Bones. Players will receive an item signed by Ballerini and the Trivia Night winner will announce Ballerini virtually during the iHeartCountry Festival. The sweepstakes runs from Sept. 22 through Oct. 4.
The online presentation of the iHeartCountry Festival follows the recent iHeartRadio Music Festival, which was held as virtual event Sept. 18-19. Additionally, in lieu of a live ceremony, the winners of the 2020 iHeartRadio Music Awards were revealed over Labor Day weekend on company stations and on the iHeartRadio app.