About 18 months after Luke Combs revealed plans to transform Nashville’s iconic Wildhorse Saloon from a nostalgic, boot-scootin’ Second Avenue mainstay into a massive, rebranded, and redesigned entertainment complex, the four-story, 67,000-square-foot venue opened its doors.
Friday night, Combs’ Category 10 welcomed some of the singer’s most passionate fans into the space for a VIP viewing and a private Combs concert.
“I said, ‘You gotta open up more than a bar,’” Combs’ manager Chris Kappy recounted to the crowd packed onto the dancefloor ahead of Combs’ set. “You gotta open up a sports club, an entertainment venue. You gotta open up the biggest thing in Nashville, and that’s exactly what this building is.”
Collin Reed, director of Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc., which owns Category 10, explained: “This is a multi-faceted entertainment place and is going to kick it up a notch.”
Category 10 touts six interior bars, three stages, a retail area, and four indoor entertainment experiences. A 7,000-square-foot rooftop will open in early 2025. Even the bathrooms are Instagram-ready.
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Luke Combs’ Category 10 Rooftop to Open in 2025
Combs’ songs or interests inspired the themes in each space. Upon entry, his honkytonk greets guests with two bars, a gift shop, and a stage with a multi-story backdrop decorated with dozens of the singer’s signature trucker hats.
Hurricane Hall is the venue’s main room and boasts downtown Nashville’s largest dance floor and stage. A jaw-dropping $800,000 light fixture that uses light and sound to emulate a hurricane is a central piece of the cavernous room. The dance floor can accommodate world-class line dancing and concerts with a capacity of 1,500 fans. It is also home to Combs’ Beer Never Broke My Heart bar and his wife’s Neon Dream bar, complete with signature cocktails.
On the second floor, the Still is inspired by Combs’ songwriting. It’s an elevated lounge and bourbon bar stocked with spirits Combs chose.
The 5 Leaf Clover Sports Bar feels more Las Vegas than Nashville. Situated on the third floor, The 5 Leaf Clover has a mix of lounge and table seating. There are massive screens to show multiple major sports events. For the true enthusiast, a real-time sports ticker wraps around the room.
While it isn’t open yet, Combs’ rooftop bar, The Eye, is projected to have the most extensive outdoor deck in the Lower Broadway area.
And because of the way the venue’s point of sale system is structured, guests can visit bars in each space without having to close tabs and open new ones.
Luke Combs Played Hits For Nearly an Hour
However, all eyes were on the stage Friday night when Combs appeared a few minutes after 8 p.m. to play for nearly an hour. The massive light fixture, boomed like thunder and dropped strings of lights to mimic rain, telling fans he was on the way.
“This is pretty wild, I’m not gonna lie,” Combs said from the stage. “Seeing this place come alive, this isn’t something I thought I’d ever be a part of. We toured really hard this year. We put on some really good shows, and we had a lot of fun doing that. My life is filled with things I’m not sure I deserve.”
Combs’ band joined him on stage, and the charismatic chops they cut headlining stadiums were on full display. He fittingly opened the show with his smash “Hurricane” and followed with “Cold As You.”
“The Kind of Love We Make” morphed into a massive singalong. Clad in jeans and a navy blue button-down, Combs told fans that he sings because it’s the only thing he’s good at, and he writes songs because it’s hard.
Luke Combs Writes Songs Because It’s Hard
“There’s a lot of songs that mean a lot to me,” Combs said. “This is one of them.”
He followed with “Beautiful Crazy.”
Combs’ set also included “Forever After All,” “Fast Car,” and “Beer Never Broke My Heart.”
“We haven’t played a club show in a long time, and it feels pretty damn good,” Combs said. “This would have been the nicest place I played six years ago.
The show ended, and fans poured through the honkytonk past a holler and swaller band playing a Creed cover and onto Second Avenue.
Category 10, located at 120 Second Avenue North, opens to the general public today, November 2. For more information, visit www.category10.com.
Photographer Credit: Catherine Powell
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