NASHVILLE, TN. (BNA Records) - The Heartland: It's been happening pretty much everywhere
Kenny Chesney tickets are put on sale: the box office opens, the tickets are gone. And this morning was no exception - as the tickets for the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year's Somewhere In The Sun Tour went clean so fast in Omaha's Qwest Center, a second show had to be added after only 16 minutes!
"We're just glad we had the open date," says the man whose introspective Be As You Are: Songs From An Old Blue Chair returned to #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart in spite of not having a single or a tour to support it. "When I heard there were over 300 people in line at the Qwest Center Box Office when the show was gone, I'm glad we could just keep going… Because I remember those moments of not just wondering whether I would get a good seat, but IF I would get a ticket to certain tours, tours I really wanted to see.
"Obviously, we're out here rocking with and for the fans - so, I wanna make sure that everyone who wants to see us, gets to see us. I just had no idea it would get this crazy."
Bob Romeo, the TBA Global Events consultant and show promoter, agrees there's something going on. "Kenny's the only other act I've seen in Omaha that's gone clean that fast since Garth Brooks at the Aksarben Center back in the mid-90s. And the only other person I've seen that's had to add multiple shows in Omaha was Garth Brooks at his height as well."
While the Qwest Center only opened in September 2003, they've played host to the biggest names in rock, pop, country and black music. Chesney's 20 minute sell-out bests shows by Eric Clapton, George Strait, Prince, Van Halen, Bette Midler, Simon & Garfunkel, the Eagles and Metallica - to put it into a bit of perspective, and it not only marks the first time an act has sold out the building in one day, his 19,000 tickets for the Somewhere in the Sun Tour marks the largest number of tickets ever sold in Omaha in 90 minutes.
Des Moines experienced a similar tsunami - as their show at the Iowa State Center went clean in 30 minutes. And in Champaign, Illinois, people camping out for their tickets took on a whole campground effect - with over 50 tents being pitched in the February cold as people waited for the chance to buy tickets to Chesney's Assembly Hall Somewhere in the Sun show.
"I think with the whole winter blahs reality," Chesney says with a laugh, "they know we're gonna bring the summer with us no matter what time of year it is! We've been so busy rehearsing, getting the stage, the lights, the video right… I know I could use a little time in the sun… and it's like that right until I hear the band start kicking into the show, and you know, right about then, everything just feels a little warmer and a whole lot easier. Hopefully they're getting the same thing out of getting tickets to see us as we are getting out of getting the music ready to come see them!"
Somewhere In The Sun kicks off with a doubleplay in Green Bay, Wisconsin March 10-11, following a Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo performance on March 9 - where Chesney currently hold the attendance record. Be As You Are continues selling at a brisk pace - and his triple-platinum-plus CMA Album of the Year When The Sun Goes Down has yielded it's 4th hit in the #11 in Billboard and Radio & Records and rising "Anything But Mine." Look for Kenny Chesney on the road and on your radio dial from now until whenever.
