Thomas Rhett, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Lainey Wilson are the first performers confirmed to take the stage during Nashville’s Big Bash, the highly-anticipated annual New Year’s Eve celebration taking place live in Music City. CBS, which airs the five-hour celebration, revealed the first three artists in the lineup on Monday (October 2).

The annual New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash features dozens of performances hosted at locations across Nashville, Tennessee. The main stage is located in Nashville’s Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. Performers to take the stage in previous years include Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Luke Bryan, Sheryl Crow, Miranda Lambert and others, noted a CBS press release issued Monday.

“Building on what we have established over the last two years by focusing on our artists, the fans and the vibrancy of downtown Nashville, this year’s lineup is shaping up to be our most exciting yet. We will celebrate 50 years of the iconic southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, the skyrocketing Lainey Wilson and country music superstar Thomas Rhett, with over a dozen artists and special guests still to be announced,” executive producer Robert Deaton said in the release. “Nashville is quickly becoming THE destination for New Year’s Eve, and we are honored that CBS wants to help us continue to show off our music and incredible city with a new multi-year deal!”

The hosts and additional performers will be announced at a later date, officials confirmed on Monday. The show will be broadcast live on CBS and available to stream on Paramount+ on December 31 (7:30-10:00 PM, ET/PT, 10:30 PM-1:05 AM, ET/PT).

Photos from around Defiance. Taken May 31, 2018.