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Although hours before showtime the Nashville skies looked dark and ominous, rap superstar Nelly was able to finally take the stage in Middle Tennessee after two near misses at Bonnaroo<\/a>.<\/p>\n Born Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., better known by his stage name Nelly, was scheduled to perform at the Manchester, Tennessee, music festival in 2020<\/a> and again in 2025, but neither performance took place due to Bonnaroo cancellations\u2014one caused by the pandemic and the other by massive flooding at the festival site<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Tuesday night, Nelly showed the crowd it was worth the wait.<\/p>\n Chingy and Ja Rule opened the show which also had DJ sets pumping out hip hop favorites in between.<\/p>\n When the lights at Ascend Amphitheater went out just before Nelly took the stage, the crowd knew things were about to get ‘hot’. And they did\u2014not because of the weather, but because of the energy cascading off the stage and into the audience, which stayed on its feet dancing all night.<\/p>\n Nelly opened his set with “Where the Party At,” with bass pumping so loud it could probably be felt across the street. Backup dancers gyrated as Nelly rolled through a string of crowd favorites such as “E.I.,” “Country Grammar,” “Ride Wit Me,” “Dilemma,” and of course, “Hot in Herre.”<\/p>\n While Nelly brought out several collaborators \u2014 including Murphy Lee, Kyjuan, and his nephew J-Kwon \u2014 other featured vocals, such as Kelly Rowland\u2019s on \u201cDilemma\u201d and Tim McGraw\u2019s on \u201cOver & Over,\u201d were delivered via pre-recorded tracks.<\/p>\n