Aaron Tippen Gave Free Concert to Military on NAS Pensacola

On June 21, Aaron Tippin gave a free concert in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida.

The concert was held on the Pensacola Naval Air Station Portside Field. Admission was free for all military, although it was open to the public, but civilian tickets had to be won from Cat Country a local radio station that was sponsoring the show.

According to the Military Police at NAS Pensacola's Main Gate, approximately 5,000 attended the concert. Security was tight with additional military police covering all building and areas of the base. People brought lawn chair and blankets and sat on the field to watch the show.

This writer sat in the second row. Concession stands were set up and sold sodas and beer, as well as corn dogs, fried dough and other favorites.

Cat Country 98.7 was the main sponsor for the free event. The main act was Aaron Tippin, a Pensacola native. Opening acts were Woody Bradshaw and Stephan Cochran. The concert was scheduled to start at 6:30 but due to technical problems, it didn't get underway until about 6:45.

The Pensacola Naval Color Guard performed the colors, or presentations of the flag, while the Corry Station Performing Arts Company sang the national anthem. First to open was Woody Bradshaw of Pascagoula, Mississippi, who started off the show with his song "Don't". Bradshaw continued on and performed a moving cover of Tim McGraw's song "Live Like You Were Dying" which moved the entire crowd into participating in singing the chorus, he finished the set with his new songs "The Last thing you do" and "Friction".

Next up was Stephan Cochran, a former marine turned country music artist. He opened his set with "Thinkin I'm Drinkin", "Friday Night Fireside", and "When a Hero Falls", a heartfelt song about his experiences in combat in Afghanistan. He finished his set with a Tim McGraw cover of "If You're Reading This" a story about letters that soldiers write to their families in case they are killed in combat, which moved the mostly military crowd to tears.

Aaron Tippin, wearing a black T-shirt with "Ready to Rock" on the front, started the main show with his hit "Ready to Rock (In a Country Kind Of Way)". His energetic and lively show continued on with "Come Friday", "My Blue Angel", "You've Got to Stand for Something", "I Got It Honest", "There Ain't Nothing Wrong With The Radio", "I'll Take Love Over Money", "He Believed" and "Working Man's Ph.D.".

He finished the set and was cheered by a standing ovation from the crowd who shouted encore for 6 minutes. Tippin came back on stage and performed his hits "Where the Stars And Stripes and the Eagle Fly" and "Kiss This", while the cheering crowd stood and shouted and sang along. He ended the show with this quote, "I have never been more proud to be an American than I am today!"