The MGM Grand Garden Arena hosts the Academy of Country Music Awards show Sunday. The seats that country fans will fill for the show won’t be around much longer.
MGM Resorts International is conducting a pull-out-and-replace operation for all 13,500 seats at the arena. The work starts in October and will take about a year and a half.
The project is running in sections. The venue won’t be totally dark, but it might have some extended dark periods. The material in the seats (if not the occupants) will be recycled.
The strategy is to keep as much activity as possible, though the Latin Grammy Awards show on Nov. 12 is the only event on the books after the work starts. ”Weird Al” Yankovic on Sept. 18 is the last show booked before the renovations.
The American Music Awards are next up, scheduled for Memorial Day, after Sunday’s ACM Awards. The arena’s seat-swap schedule has us in stat mode.
By-the-numbers look at the ACM show and its stars
100 million-plus: ACM Awards host Shania Twain’s global record sales, making her the top-selling country artist in history.
3: Twain’s Strip residencies. The “Still the One” superstar headlined at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace from 2012 to 2014 and at Zappos Theater in two runs from 2019 to ’22 and 2024 to ’25.
3: Keith Urban’s Strip residencies and the number of theaters in which he has headlined. Urban, who heads up Saturday’s ACM Next Wave: Country’s Beach Bash at Mandalay Bay, has headlined the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood (PH Live today) and BleauLive Theater at the Fontainebleau over the past several years.
60: Years since the ACM Awards debuted at the Hollywood Palladium.
23: Years since the ACM Awards first took place in Las Vegas, at Mandalay Bay Events Center (Michelob Ultra Arena today) in 2003. Reba McEntire hosted.
4: Years since the ACM Awards last played Las Vegas. Dolly Parton hosted the 2022 show at Allegiant Stadium.
1: Times the show has played T-Mobile Arena (2017).
15: Blake Shelton’s age when he wrote his first song, untitled, about an unnamed girl and a guy named Bird.
12: Years Shelton spent as a judge on “The Voice,” ending in 2023.
6: The most Entertainer of the Year Awards won, by Garth Brooks (who’s not part of this year’s broadcast).
14: Years since Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney, aka Dan + Shay, met.
2: Months after that meeting until the duo signed a music publishing deal.
1: The NCAA division for Jacksonville State University’s football team, where Riley Green (host of Friday’s “Riley Green & Friends” show at Topgolf) played quarterback.
2. Number of starts for Green at Jacksonville State, in his junior year.
612: Total yards amassed by Green, on 55-for-100 passing.
18: Tracks on performer Kane Brown’s latest album, “The High Road,” are about a half-dozen more than on a typical album.
21: No. 1 hits by performer Thomas Rhett on the Billboard U.S. Country Airplay charts.
0: Top-selling hits recorded by Rhett’s first band, the punk rock outfit High Heeled Flip Flops. The teenagers dyed their hair black and sang in British accents.
10: Years since the Red Clay Strays rose from playing bar gigs to topping the Billboard charts. The 2022 single “Wondering Why” went viral, sending the band to nationwide fame.
15: Years since Jordan Davis graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in environmental science.
500 million: Streams amassed by Flatland Cavalry.
2000: The year Carter Faith and Braxton Keith were born.
20-plus: Homes in which Ashley Cooke had lived by age 18.
9: Nonconsecutive weeks Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” co-written by Miranda Lambert, spent at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, the longest run on those charts ever by a female country artist.
10: Years Zach Top played guitar three hours a day, between the ages of 5 and 15.
11. ACM New Male Artist of the Year Tyler Wetmore’s age when he taught himself to play piano.
8: ACM New Female of the Year Avery Anna’s age when she began journaling and singing Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard classics.
2: Consecutive awards shows at the Grand Garden Arena being conceived by Emmy Award-winning Las Vegas set designer Andy Walmsley, covering the ACM Awards and AMAs.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
ACM Awards week events
(Full schedule and details at acmcountry.com/61ACMawards)
— The “Whiskey Jam Welcome Party” at Ole Red Las Vegas: Thursday with Anna, Caroline Jones, Jenna Paulette and The Band Perry.
— “ACM Lifting Lives Country on the Green: Riley Green & Friends”: Topgolf Las Vegas on Friday, with Lauren Alaina, Randy Houser and Rodney Atkins, with Green as headliner.
— “ACM Next Wave: Country’s Beach Bash”: Mandalay Bay Beach on Saturday, headlined by Keith Urban, with performances by Ashley Cooke, Braxton Keith, Dasha, Flatland Cavalry, Tucker Wetmore and more.
— ACM Awards show: Sunday at MGM Grand Garden Arena,The show is set to broadcast on Prime Video at 5 p.m. PT. The livestream is also available on Amazon Music channel on Twitch, as well as in the Amazon Music app.
Tickets: AXS.com.