NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) -- Preparations for the annual "Let Freedom Sing!" fireworks show in downtown Nashville are ramping up as we approach Independence Day. 

Crews were outside Nissan Stadium on Saturday, June 28, bracing the rain and getting things in place for the one of the country’s largest Fourth of July shows. 

LaFollette-based Pyro Shows has been the mastermind behind Nashville’s Fourth of July fireworks display for more than 25 years. 

Every year, employees fill trucks and trailers with equipment and then drive more than three hours west to start piecing everything together a week in advance.

“Nine, 10 days of the time we’re here, it’s at least a 12-hour day. The Fourth of July, we’re here about 18 hours, and that’s if everything goes perfect, so it’s a lot of hours,” explained Jim Edwards, the crew leader for the show. 

The small-town company spends most of the year planning for Nashville’s Independence Day show while simultaneously putting on other fireworks shows statewide. That includes more than 30 this weekend alone, according to Edwards. 

However, Nashville’s show is a beast of its own. 

“In one word, I would say it’s just insanity. I mean, the amount of fireworks that are shot in 30 minutes or less is just ridiculous,” said Edwards. “I mean, we pretty much go from the pedestrian bridge -- we have to meet a certain fallout area -- all the way to the end of Nissan Stadium parking. There’s not another show we’re shooting that covers this [much] area.” 

This is Edwards’ eighth year overseeing the Music City show. His most important job is no simple task: syncing the fireworks to the live music performed by the Nashville Symphony. 

“If the song is a fast tempo, fast-paced, we’ll shoot very busy shells, and then if the tempo slows down or any particular shell that would fit there, it changes shells, so then we queue that based on how I’ve scripted it,” detailed Edwards. 

Edwards and his crew spent Saturday afternoon putting fuses on their fireworks shells, getting each one, in essence, timed-out and show-ready. 

The week ahead will be filled with plenty of tinkering, placing, and perfecting, but come Friday, July 4, it’ll all be worth it. 

“Soon as that last shell fires and goes off, we just hear this huge roar from the audience, and it does, it gives us such a feeling of accomplishment and pride,” said Edwards.  

According to Edwards, this year’s show will feature new aerial shots, new low-level effects, and new shells will be fired into the Cumberland River. 

The "Let Freedom Sing!" event will feature plenty of family-friendly activities and live performances in downtown Nashville throughout the Fourth of July before the fireworks and drone show starts around 9:30 p.m. Click here to see the full schedule.

News 2 will have live coverage of the show beginning at 9 p.m. Friday, with music and more before the big event.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/behind-the-scenes-crews-prepare-for-nashvilles-fourth-of-july-fireworks-show/