Nashville, Should I go to the Ryman or the Opry House

To me it would depend on the shows. Is the choice between the Opry Legends show on Thursday vs. Friday Night Opry? Have performers been listed for either show? That could help tip the choice.

Ryman is historic and has better acoustics, but the Thursday shows typically feature older acts.

Shows at the Opry House tend to include more current acts mixed in with the older ones.

I have been to several Opry shows at the Opry house, so I would probably pick seeing/hearing something at the Ryman. The appeal of seeing an Opry show is to be in the audience for one of the longest running radio shows in the country. I was last there on a Saturday in March of 2015 and it was consecutive show two thousand, six hundred and something.

Going to both the Ryman and the Opry House were longtime bucket list items for me. Fortunately I was able to hit both in 2016 and here is my feedback:

Go to the Ryman and it isn't even close. It is such an amazing venue with the history and the vibe you get when you are in there. The seats are old school, wrap around church pews. I was fortunate to see both Sturgill and Tedeschi Trucks (this past Saturday) play there and I absolutely love the venue.

I saw Jason Isbell + John Prine at the Opry House for New Years and the experience wasn't quite as great. The venue is significantly bigger (2.3k at the Ryman vs 4.4k at the Opry House), so you don't get that intimate feel you do at the Ryman.

If you prefer Dale Watson to the Thursday show by a significant margin, that might be the deal breaker. Otherwise the Ryman is a more memorable experience (at least for me).

There would have to be a very very substantial difference between my desire to see the acts to not chose the Ryman. Regardless, is probably go to the Ryman if it is a one shot deal. It's pretty damn cool.