ACM Awards news

Country star Parker McCollum to headline 2024 ACM Awards benefit in The Colony

Parker McCollum will headline the 2024 ACM Awards Lifting Lives concert in DFW.

Photo via Parker McCollum/Facebook

UPDATE 4-23-2024: The entire concert lineup has been revealed and includes Old Dominion, Jordan Davis, Kameron Marlowe, Ashley Cooke, along with additional surprise guests.

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The ACM Awards will make Dallas-Fort Worth a country music mecca for the second year in a row when they arrive in May. Among the many Awards-adjacent events will be the ACM Lifting Lives LIVE benefit show, headlined by Texan Parker McCollum.

Officially called "Parker McCollum and Friends: ACM Lifting Lives LIVE, Presented by Choctaw Casinos & Resorts," the concert, a release says, "will raise money and awareness for ACM Lifting Lives, which works to improve lives through the power of music with a specific focus on health-related initiatives that use music therapy as a way of healing."

The show will take place on the golfing green at Topgolf in The Colony on May 15, the night before the 59th ACM Awards at The Star in Frisco. (Also exactly a month before McCollum takes the stage in College Station with another Texan, country icon George Strait.)

Fans might remember that the ACM Lifting Lives benefit was the event that Morgan Wallen was slated to headline in 2023; he had to cancel due to illness the day before and was replaced by Jason Aldean. Also taking the stage for the sold-out show were HARDY, Lainey Wilson, ERNEST, Bailey Zimmerman, and DJ 13lackbeard.

Additional performers for the 2024 edition will be announced in the coming weeks, organizers say.

"I am truly honored that ACM Lifting Lives has given me the opportunity to host the Parker McCollum & Friends: ACM Lifting Lives event this year at Topgolf in The Colony, TX,” McCollum says in the release. “The work they do to improve lives through the power of music and the funds they raise are vital to helping folks in and out of our country music community. I can't wait to have some of my really talented friends join me for a great night supporting the mission of ACM Lifting Lives and help them continue their incredible work."

General admission tickets on the green will be available to ACM Members, ACM A-List subscribers, 59th ACM Awards ticket holders, and Topgolf Friends and Family through an exclusive presale starting Thursday, March 21 at 10 am. Remaining tickets will be available for a general public on-sale, beginning Friday, March 22 at 10 am, through ACMLiftingLives.org/Concert. Tickets are $150.

All proceeds will go to ACM Lifting Lives, whose beneficiaries include the ACM Lifting Lives Autism Lab at Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and their annual Music Camp for individuals with Williams syndrome. The nonprofit also gives to various organizations that provide mental health support for the country music community, the release says.

McCollum, a native of Conroe outside Houston, earned his first ACM Award for New Male Artist of the Year at the 2022 ACM Awards. He also won “Breakthrough Video of the Year” (a fully fan-voted honor) at the 2022 CMT Music Awards and earned two back-to-back CMA Awards nominations (2022 & 2023) for New Artist of the Year. He made his RodeoHouston debut as the Opening Day act in 2023.

He's currently on the road for a 41-date "Burn it Down" tour in support of his latest album, Never Enough.

“We have been massive fans of Parker for years, and we couldn’t be more excited that he chose to volunteer his time to help us raise money and awareness in his home state, says ACM Lifting Lives Executive Director Lyndsay Cruz in the release. "We can’t wait to party with the fans in North Texas so soon.”

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World Cup and world affairs

World Cup chief assures Dallas tournament will go on amid global turmoil

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DALLAS (AP) — FIFA's World Cup chief operating officer says the tournament is “too big” to be postponed because of global turmoil caused by the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran.

Speaking Monday at the International Broadcast Center for the 48-nation tournament, which starts June 11, Heimo Schirgi said FIFA continues to closely monitor the Iran war and its fallout.

“If had a crystal ball I could tell you now what is going to happen, but obviously the situation is developing," Schirgi said. “It’s changing day by day and we are monitoring closely. We’re working together with all our federal partners and also our international partners in evaluating the situation, and we basically take it day by day and at some stage we will have a resolution. And the World Cup will go on obviously, right? The World Cup is too big and we hope that everyone can participate that has qualified.”

The tournament, expanded from 32 nations to 48, is scheduled for 11 U.S. venues plus three in Mexico and two in Canada. While the Trump administration has imposed a travel ban on four of the nations that have qualified — Iran, Ivory Coast, Haiti and Senegal — it says it will make an exception for players, team officials and immediate relatives.

Schirgi said FIFA is in constant contact with Iran's soccer federation for updates, but he wouldn't share any details about those conversations.

FIFA officials were in Dallas for the announcement of plans for the city's fan festival that will operate for 34 days during the World Cup and to view construction of the broadcast hub at the downtown convention center — about 20 miles from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, where nine matches will be played.

“Given the state of the world today, this will be a great opportunity to bring everyone together,” Schirgi said. “For you who have not experienced the World Cup, the World Cup is very special because it’s truly global and it brings everybody together. We witnessed that in Qatar, in Russia, everywhere. People were amazed how international this whole thing is.”

Schirgi also addressed FIFA's surprise decision last month to add a 48-hour window for ticket sales. FIFA has been criticized for ticket prices as high as $8,680 for category one seats — the best in the lower bowls — $5,575 for category two and $4,185 for category three. Tickets for the first round range as high as $2,735 for category one, $1,940 for category two and $1,120 for category three.

“It was basically giving an opportunity to fans who have applied and were not successful for tickets in their category to offer them a different category of tickets,” Schirgi said “So if you have applied for a category three ticket for a specific match and you haven’t got it because we don’t have enough category three tickets, we offered those people because they applied early — we said instead of having a category three ticket, would you like a category two ticket?”

After criticism, FIFA said in December it was selling a few hundred $60 tickets for every game to the 48 national federations in the tournament, to be sold to their regularly attending fans.

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