The Grand Ole Opry has ended its itinerant ways and returned home for the first time since a May flood damaged the building. A host of country music's enduring legends joined some of today's biggest names on stage Tuesday night to kick off the “Country Comes Home” celebration. They began with a stirring rendition of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken?” as the curtain rose at the Opry house for the first time since May. The nation's longest running live radio program never missed a beat, moving around town to venues such as the Ryman Auditorium and War Memorial Auditorium, as laborers worked feverishly for 5½ months to repair the Opry house, the show's home since 1974. “I think the flood goes completely unnoticed if this building's not underwater,” Brad Paisley said in a news conference before the show. “I think everybody in the country goes, ‘Yeah, there's another flood,' if this doesn't happen. ... It's completely metaphorical in its destruction as it is in itss rebirth.” The Opry's stage sat under nearly 4 feet (1.2 meters) of water at the flood's height in early May. A monthslong restoration project cleaned the building and replaced the stage, dressing rooms and audience seating.
