Eric Church, Florida Georgia Line and Thomas Rhett will all soon head to the Gulf Coast for one big weekend of music. The three acts have been announced as the headliner for the 2018 Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam, held August 31 to September 2, in Panama City Beach, Florida.
The annual event, which began in 2013, has hosted some of the biggest acts in country music, including Lady Antebellum, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Toby Keith, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean and more.
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“Last year was absolutely amazing, and we’re beyond excited about our headliners and can’t wait to get our entire lineup out there for this year,” Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam Executive Producer Rendy Lovelady says. “We’re proud to have built this into the biggest country music festival in the Southeast, and we love showing off our fourth headliner – the beautiful beaches of Panama City Beach.”
The festival comes in the middle of an especially busy time for Rhett, who just kicked off his 2018 Life Changes Tour, and will also open for Kenny Chesney on Chesney’s 2018 Trip Around the Sun Tour.
“Being on a Kenny Chesney tour, I think is a dream that I’ve had since I was 19 years old,” Rhett says. “[Jason] Aldean’s done it, Eric Church has done it, Miranda [Lambert] has done it. Anybody who is somebody has done that tour and there’s a reason for that and it’s because Kenny has perfected the art of learning how to entertain 70,000 people for two hours.”
Rhett joined Chesney previously for two shows at Boston’s Gillette Stadium, where the “Marry Me” singer took plenty of notes.
“I feel like I got to learn so much even in just those two days of watching how Kenny connects to the person in the front row, and the person in the nose bleeds,” explains Rhett. “That’s a very hard thing to do, and so I’m anxious to get out there and obviously do our set, but then just learn so much from Kenny. I think that’s every artist’s dream is to one day headline stadiums.”
The 2018 Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam kicks off every afternoon at 2:00 PM, allowing guests plenty of time to enjoy the beach before heading to the festival grounds. Special tickets are available for military personnel. More artists for the 2018 Gulf Coast Jam will be announced at a later date. Tickets will go on sale on Sunday, April 15. More information can be found at GulfCoastJam.com.
Photo Credit: Instagram/ThomasRhettAkins
