Tonight, Casey closed out his whirlwind first CMA Fest by playing a special acoustic set break performance at the huge LP Field Stadium.
So Sweet (thanks Jen!)
So Sweet (thanks Carman!)
Before he went on, Casey tweeted: “I just hung out with Ricky Skaggs!! 🙂 AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! Awesome!”
And before Casey went on stage at LP Field this photo was snapped by USA Today photographer, Robert Deutsch….”Casey James strikes a guitar-slinger’s pose before performing at the CMA Music Festival’s opening night concert in Nashville.”
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Pics provided by Ana Lucia Perfoncio from LP Field Stadium, complete set here
Photo by Sara Krauss
Casey played So Sweet first and from the reaction of the crowd there and on Twitter, it was amazing. Casey was then in the middle of Drive when the sound to his mic was cut. We don’t yet have an explanation for what happened, but fans on the scene said Casey finished the song anyway, playing his guitar, and then left the stage. The MC who came on after Casey said some nice things about Casey as did the Twitterverse, where supportive tweets and retweets poured in including: cmtt Casey James sounded great until his mic went out. Feel so bad for him. #cmafest and racegrl883 @CountryMusic Casey James was great …. til someone cut the mic!! Redo 😉
Today’s Tenneseean.com had a terrific recap of the show last night, including this about Casey:
10:24 p.m. – Casey James, a season nine American Idol finalist, played a short acoustic set including bluesy ballad “So Sweet” and uptempo “Drive” that, through a few well-placed riffs and ample use of a slide, showed off his carefully honed guitar skills.
“I wish I could tell you how full my heart is to be standing right here right now,” James told the audience. “Thanks for having me out.”
The Boot also reviewed last night’s concert and had these nice things to say about Casey:
Next, fans welcomed Casey James, a contestant on the ninth season of ‘American Idol.’ He showed promise during a brief two-song acoustic set. When he finished, Bill Anderson praised his moxie, telling the crowd, “It’s hard to come out with all these bands that have been playing and perform by yourself. Let’s give him a hand!”
Fanshare had this to say:
“American Idol contestant Casey James, who was in season 9 of the reality TV talent competition, recently performed at the 2011 CMA Music Festival in Nashville. Casey played two sets at the festival, first performing on the Lay’s Stage on Saturday afternoon and on the LP Stage later that evening. However, during his second set he had technical problems as his microphone cut out, while performing the song ‘Drive’.”
Great photos from LP Field by Country Music Tattletale, click here to see the gallery. Here’s a sample:
Casey was also mentioned by Billboard.com, CMT.com (“American Idol finalist Casey James and bluegrass veteran Ricky Skaggs are set to perform acoustic sets during set changes.”), CountryMusicisLove.com, CMT.ca, Reuters and on News Channel 5.
Earlier in the afternoon, Casey played a six-song set at the Lays Stage in front of the Bridgestone Arena. Click here to see photos of Casey on stage courtesy of the Country Music Association.
After his set, and meeting with fans, he tweeted: 
Casey opened with a rousing, electrifying version of Bulletproof that got the crowd going. He slowed it down next with Let’s Don’t Call it a Night. Next was one of Casey’s newer song that is immediately becoming a fan favorite, You Need Some Texas. Casey told the crowd that the next song was new, then kidded that all his songs are new, joking, “No, this is off my second album.” When he told the crowd that he didn’t have an album out yet his fans could be heard loudly telling him “We know!” But he promised it would be coming out “soon” — which led to quite a bit of enthusiastic cheering!!! He then went into another song that has captivated fans, the sweet and sexy appropriately titled So Sweet. He switched guitars and revved up the intensity with Drive. Then Casey closed out his set with the powerful, bluesy, rocking Done Made Up My Mind.
Bulletproof & Let’s Don’t Call It A Night (Thanks to Carman! @CoolCJFan)
So Sweet
You Need Some Texas
So Sweet, Drive, Done Made Up My Mind
Rebekah Pippin of CMA Fest, Daily Hightlights, had this to say about Casey’s Lay’s Stage performance:
“When third-place “American Idol” finalist from Season Nine, Casey James of Texas took the stage, the crowd went wild, especially his female fans. They hollered for him during his sound check, and he waved at his fans while giving them a solid grin. James wore a blue shirt and jeans and the light breeze blew his blonde curls in his face. He joked with the crowd as he said, “I wish the sun would come out” and then opened with his song “Bulletproof” as his fans sang along.
Amy Howard, 25, of Cass City, Michigan, and first-time CMA Fest attendee, said, “Me and my mom are big ‘American Idol’ fans and we love Casey James. We came to the front to see him and the other two in our group stayed in the back because of the heat. He was definitely worth coming to the front for.”
Twitter fans @Cathyanne provided a livestream so fans at home could watch and @kdsaa4 provided live audio so others could listen in. Thanks to Casey’s great fans!
Here’s the link to Cathyanne’s UStream: part 1: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/15271335, part 2: (Drive and Done Made Up My Mind) http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/15271626
Audio of Done Made Up My Mind: http://freedomforumdiversity.tumblr.com/post/6362972851/american-idol-winner-casey-james-performs-at-cma
A snippet of Drive: http://freedomforumdiversity.tumblr.com/post/6362793048/heart-of-the-cmas-bc
Photos:
Photos by Rhonda (rjnelson785), for more click here:
Photos by Gail (wildwillowdes):
Photos by SaraMac_in321, click here for more:
Photos courtesy Cyndee H., click here for more:
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
Photo courtesy of Regina Roberts
After the show, Casey met and posed with pictures with some fans:
Casey and Cathy Anne
Casey and Lisa
Casey and Jen Bussone (SpinnyJB)
Casey and Amber
Casey and Outi
Casey James and @kmb5786
Casey and Karen
Photo by Sara Krauss
Above Photos courtesy of Cathyanne
Casey and Regina (CJFan_Regina)
Casey and Rhonda Nelson (RJNelson785)
Casey and Cindy Hodges (SweetShadows17)
Above From CMA.com
Casey fan SaraMac_in321 (above) tweeted from the GAC Booth: Casey has the biggest crowd around him at this both!!!! Got my hug!!!!
Later in the day, after Casey’s first set, CoojCJFan tweeted: just got back to the room from seeing @CaseyEJames at #cmafest. Crowd was rocking!!! He had the biggest crowd of all the performers!! 🙂
The crowd of fans wanting to meet @CaseyEJames after his set at LaysStage was HUGE!!! Just like the AI summer tour days!! It was AWESOME!!!
Another fan posted this photo from CMA Fest months later, adding “Met him this summer. He’s as sweet in person as he was on the show. Good lookin too!”
Photo by mandy200587
For more from CMA Fest check out the official Casey James Facebook page, the Casey E. James Fan Club on Facebook and Caseymania.
The Casey James Blog 
I’m so happy to see Casey so admired by his fans.
He so deserves praise and attention.
Is that big pic behind them of Casey and his guitar? It sure looks like one of his guitars.
Yes its Casey and his acoustic guitar.
Cool pic. Thanks Alexis
That’s not Casey and his guitar behind him. That was just a pic GAC had for the back drop.
YAY!! Can’t wait for more 😀
Thank you Cathyanne! Naturally, I was too late to catch the livestream, but I did get to see the vids of him tuning up, and it’s great to read everyone’s coverage of the events so far.
Thank you very much Cathyanne for the Ustream of Casey’s set! It was amazing and I loved it!!!
OMG soo cool the Ustream, and the audio, ain’t no going back, that’s for sure. This man is fabulous, thanks so much for the coverage!
Thank you all for sharing the goods. I love this man too much, it’s actually embarrassing!!
I can really relate! I could never admit to anyone but my other Casey girls just how far gone I am over him!!!
@Cynthia: Not a wee embarrassing to fall all over for this guy. We can’t help it 🙂
Yay! He said his alb is coming soon. Define *soon* Casey :))
Nice Shari! Casey is “So Sweet” and awesome! He is a photographer’s delight, no bad angle, simply gorgeous and talented!
Whoever wrote that intro to Casey last night is amazing! Nice to hear the REAL story of his journey, not all the fluff about his hair and AI references.
You are so on the money! Casey is a true artist and wants “it” to be about his music and not his looks. (Told him he’ll never be able to “ugly up” enough for that part to change). Watched the videos and like his mom, so thrilled he was having such a great time! So proud for him!
I’m just over the moon. Bless his heart..he is so happy. Look at that 1000 kilowatt smile!
As one mother to another. I totally understand 🙂 He was definitely happy, really feeling the love and so were all of his fans 🙂
Casey’s appeal to women is undeniable, but it’s not because of his looks alone. Of course he’s gorgeous, but he’s attractive because his singing conveys genuine emotion, passion and soulfulness, and you can’t deny that his voice and performance style ooze sexiness. He is also clearly a kind and intelligent guy. And people don’t acknowledge that these qualities appeal to men, too, who can relate to his feelings and respect him as a person. To top that he is such a skilled guitar player, and the songs he’s introduced demonstrate his stellar songwriting ability and taste. In addition to the ballads, the rock songs really rock. Good music is good music that both women and men enjoy. Therein lies his appeal to both sexes. Casey’s also an individual. He’s not a cookie-cutter kind of artist willing to conform to what’s been shown to work before. He’s writing and performing songs that present him as the unique person he is. I’m so anxious for his album to come out.
Everyone has done great work once again with the pictures and videos!
I just hope we can also perhaps get some high quality videos of Drive and Done made up my mind.
First of all, Casey looks very comfortable being himself on the stage and he is really enjoy his performance in front of large audience. Congratulations Casey and I am waiting for your new CD very patiently!!!!
Casey’s looks are just the icing on the cake. If he didn’t have the talent, the heart and the passion we see in every glimpse what would be the point? It’s the inside shining out that makes him so magnetic. So happy to see his dreams coming true!
Thanks for all of the great videos and pictures everyone! Casey sounds great and he looks so happy performing! 🙂
Yes, I admit I think he is gorgeous, but I never would be this much of a fan unless there was so much more to him than looks. He has so much talent and he is also such a sweet and down to earth nice person!
This was a totally over the top show! Casey was so connected to his fans it was electrifying! The star in him was shining bright! He is such a beautiful person inside and out! But for the people there, that didn’t know him. This show was extremely impressive, the sound was great! I am so proud of what he has accomplished. He is a very deserving young man and I know the BEST is coming his way!
Thanks so much for posting that last video closing with DMUMM, I so wanted to see the whole thing and it was great! It’s amazing to see Casey doing what he loves, he’s inspirational.
I just love the So Sweet, Drive and Done made up my video!!!!
Casey is amazing on those songs., that is now my favorite performance of Casey. 🙂
It is so wonderful to see Casey performing in such a fantastic venue. The songs are all amazing and his performances are off the charts. Can’t wait to buy that 1st album and all the REST after that. THANK YOU so much for sharing all the videos and pictures. Casey’s gonna keep moving up and more folks are gonna see what a great talent he is….
Just wanted to share my cma experience with all other Casey fans and how gracious he is. My friend called me at 5:00 am to tell me she wasn’t going with me and my heart dropped I had so looked forward to this for months!!!I I’m almost in tears thinking who can go with me at this late notice and take off work for these days so I called me oldest son Jason who is the BEST and told him the situation so he got someone to see some if his patients and cancelled some and his wife helped him pack quickly because he didn’t want me to miss the Casey autograph signing and performance, since seeing Casey was the only reason I wanted to go. I had missed meeting him at idol concert (that’s another friend story). We drove the 5 hours to get there and checked into our motel, got a taxi to rush us downtown which I had missed autograph signing but I was gonna see Casey perform!!! Also met some other fans. When he performed everything I had been through was worth it to be there awesome, awesome!!!!!!!!!when he signed autographs after I thought I have another chance after 2 failed attempts to finally meet and just say you are the greatest and when it was my turn next I was so excited he was next to me and they stopped him and he looked at me and said I am so sorry. I was ready to cry not again I was thinking so my son said he’s on the other side so we rush over and I step up to get in line and some woman larger than my short self takes her elbow and pushes me back and I fall back into my son and he says she did just do that you are not gonna this momma after you came all this way just for Casey and he pushed me on up to the line and they are ready to cut the line again and Casey looked at me with those big blue eyes almost like he knew this was important to me and took a picture with me and autographed my bag and finally I got to say “your the greatest”. He is just the most beautiful man onside and out and the best musician I’ve seen in the past 50 years! God bless and keep Casey James. Didn’t get to make the nixa party nut there was someone my son wanted to see and he had sacrificed so much to make my dream come true I had to make one for him. Hope you all had a grat tome wish I could have met you. God bless y’all and maybe next time.
Pingback: Fans Cannot Get Enough of Casey James | The Casey James Blog