Luke Bryan Celebrates Grand Opening of Luke's 32 Bridge Food + Drink

Luke Bryan's name is officially in Nashville neon. Monday (Sept. 10) marked the grand opening of Bryan's new establishment — Luke's 32 Bridge Food + Drink — on lower Broadway in Music City.

Bryan is on a short list of country music elite who have tattooed their names to bars and eateries in the booming lower Broadway district. He joins Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, Alan Jackson, John Rich, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley (and a few more) as Broadway's celebrity ambassadors of Nashville nightlife. The trend of celebrity bars is occurring during a time when Broadway bar owners are reporting "unprecedented sales figures thanks to the city’s booming leisure tourism industry," according to the Tennessean.

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Bryan held a ribbon cutting and press conference at Luke's 32 Bridge grand opening Monday afternoon, which led into an outdoor concert just outside the venue Monday evening.

When Bryan first entered the six-level bar, he glanced near the side of the entrance and said, “Oh my God, I didn’t know that was over there," referring to a lifelike wax statue of himself holding an acoustic guitar. Laughing off his wax celebrity, he eased into a candid conference about his new 30,000 square foot venue.

"It’s very exciting being here," Bryan said. "I never could’ve imagined driving down Broadway and seeing my name in neons. ... I never will forget moving to Nashville and the first few things you do is you go to the Grand Ole Opry, you go to the Ryman (Auditorium), you got to Music Row and you go to Broadway and you see the famous honky-tonks that you’ve read about for years."

“A couple of months into town, I played a couple acoustic shows at Tootsie’s and the Stage and I remember just how fun it was just sitting on the stage and having tourists walk in and listen to you play a few songs," he continued. "Then you get a publishing deal and a record deal and all that and next thing you know you’re able to go turn everything into this. … I feel really blessed to be down here and be a part of it."

The "and all that" Bryan could be referring to is his 20-plus No. 1 songs and massive celebrity status. Even with a free block party concert was slated for the evening, Bryan performed an acoustic version of his current Billboard Country Airplay No. 1, "Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset," at the press conference.

"It's the inaugural first performance at a bar that I’ve owned," Bryan admitted, laughing. Bryan's outdoor concert featured performances by Bryan, DJ Rock, Chelsea Field and Jon Langston with special guest appearances from Ryan Hurd ("Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset") and Cole Swindell ("Ain't Worth the Whiskey").

Luke's 32 Bridge features four stages, six bars and two restaurants, one of which is the only rooftop sushi bar in Nashville.

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