Congratulations to Kelsea Ballerini for winning the ACM Award for New Female Artist Of The Year! The New Artist winners were announced earlier but it was during Ballerini’s set at ACM Party For A Cause that she received her award! She was thankful it wasn’t on the show because they would have gotten an “ugly cry.”
The tears were flowing as Ballerini struggled to be able to speak after the shock of it all. This is Ballerini’s first time being nominated and winning an ACM Award. She recalls attending last year, just to watch and winning has meant so much to her.
ACM Party For A Cause Headliner, Carrie Underwood surprised the crowd a few times Friday night, but she also received a surprise of her own! Underwood was presented with the ACM Lifting Lives Gary Haber Award and gave an emotional speech upon doing so.
Photo Gallery
It was announced prior that Underwood would be receiving it as a special award, but she didn’t expect to receive it during her set at ACM’s PFAC. She got emotional even after when she was singing “Jesus Take The Wheel.” She wiped tears from her eyes and couldn’t get the words to come out. Thankfully for Underwood, the crowd knew all the words and they sang along for her!
WATCH CARRIE UNDERWOOD ACCEPT ACM LIFTING LIVES GARY HABER AWARD
With the ACM Party For A Cause Festival just a few short days away, I thought it might be fun to post a recap of my very first PFAC experience! Prior to the introduction of this multiple day star-studded music filled event, there were free shows on Freemont Street at night during The Week Vegas Goes Country. While those free shows continued during the 2013 ACM Week, they were discontinued the following year.
The first annual Party For A Cause Festival was hosted at The Orleans Hotel and took place Friday April 5th and Saturday April 6th, 2013. This event provided fans with an entire “ACM Experience,” as well as introducing fans to some philanthropic causes including Outnumber Hunger and the Wounded Warrior Project. The ACM Expo was free, but you had to pay to get to the festival inside to see the artists performances.
Just look at the list of autograph signings and performances! Such a FULL packed schedule of country music FUN for the fans!
Day 1, Friday 3/5/13:
Performances by Cassadee Pope, Florida Georgia Line, Justin Moore, Brantley Gilbert, and headlining the first night was The Band Perry!
Florida Georgia Line performing on the Outnumber Hunger stage!
2013 was also the first year that Luke Bryan co-hosted the Awards Show with Blake Shelton, replacing his previous co-host Reba McEntire. The Academy cleverly named this duo “Bluke” and there were “Flat Blake’s” and “Flat Luke’s” passed out at the festival.
Fans inside a restaurant at The Orleans propped their “Flat Luke’s” up in the window for all to see!
Along with this, there was also an amazing contest to win PIT TICKETS at the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards!!
The First Annual Party For a Cause Festival is also where I met the owner of this website, Jencita. I had orginally found her on Twitter, met her in person in Vegas… and now, 3 years later, we will be road-tripping together to Vegas for the 4th Annual Party For A Cause Festival!
Contributing author Jess & site owner, Jencita!
As you can see from that photo, night had fallen. I had won myself a pair of VIP bracelets to Kip Moore‘s late night performance at Freemont Street, so I had to hurry back to the hotel and change and get ready to see one of my favorite artists up close from the pit! Freemont Street was insane, so many people because there were such great artists, all performing for free! It was just a matter of how early you wanted to get there so you could be close enough to see! I definitely miss that aspect of ACM Week!
Day 2, Saturday 4/6/13
Day 2 of the party hosted Dustin Lynch, Love and Theft, Kix Brooks, Lee Brice, Hunter Hayes, Eli Young Band and headliner Dierks Bentley.
Dustin Lynch cranking everyone’s tractors!
The First Annual Party For A Cause Festival was obviously such a success that they are still continuing the tradition 3 years later. If you are heading there this year, make sure to check out our Party For A Cause Survival Guide!
Which artist performance or event are you most excited for this year?! Besides the opportunity to see and meet some of my favorite artists, I’m kind of most excited for the free Red Bull as you leave the festival gates at night to give me some energy for some late night fun! It will also be my first chance to see Maren Morris, Chris Lane, Chris Janson and Granger Smith. I’m very excited to see all of them for the first time!
With a little over a month until the ACM Awards, the first round of performers have been announced! Pretty excited about the first 5 Artists and can’t wait to find out the rest.
ACM PERFORMERS ANNOUNCED
Carrie Underwood
Cam
Keith Urban
Kenny Chesney and
Florida Georgia Line.
The ACMs will air live from Las Vegas on Sunday, Apr. 3 at 8/7c. Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley are set to co-host the star studded event!
