NASHVILLE, TN. (SONY BMG) - The trucks rolled in... The stage got built... The 70,000 pounds of sound gear got flown… And at 9:10 on March 23,
Kenny Chesney tore into this year's set-opener - and the 2005 Somewhere In The Sun Tour officially began! Though it had been delayed for two weeks due to an ankle injury the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year sustained in the islands, it was full-tilt, all-energy
Kenny Chesney who took the stage like Grant took Richmond all those years ago.
"When the screen came down, I felt like I was about 16 years old, running out onto the field Friday night to play football," said the incredibly moved musician the following morning. "The energy was absolutely unbelievable... better than I've ever seen it... and after everything that happened before we got to Green Bay, it meant the world to me. The fans have no idea: I was as happy to see them, I promise, as they were to see me."
Somewhere In the Sun, which features red-hot redneck woman Gretchen Wilson and "When The Sun Goes Down" duet partner Uncle Kracker, is the next chapter in touring reality that includes last year's 1.2 million-ticket-selling Guitars, Tiki Bars & A Whole Lot of Love Tour, which was out-attended only by Prince's Musicology Tour, and 2003's million-selling Margaritas'n'Senoritas Tour, which included breaking George Strait's Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo record - and being the first act since the Jacksons to play Knoxville's Neyland Stadium to over 67,000 at what was deemed a Homecoming Concert. Look for Sun to triple-repeat the stadium action - hitting D.C., Boston and Pittsburgh's equally high temples of football before it's over.
"You can run the show all you want, but when you've got those people out there, it's a whole different thing," says the man who beat Usher, Outkast, Evanescence and Norah Jones for the fan-voted Favorite Artist Award at this year's American Music Awards. "We played for an hour and 50 minutes, and we didn't stop - 'cause once you've got those people, you gotta keep it up… no excuses, no pausing, no breathing even! You're just hitting it and hitting it, hitting it more, hitting it harder, then getting even deeper!! You can't beat that feeling… and you sure wouldn't want to stop."
Though Chesney's ankle is taped, his physical therapy has been enough of a success that there's no hindering his movement or stage attack in any way. Not only is the man who debuted at #1 on Billboard's all-genre Top 200 Albums chart with the soul-searching no-singles, no-tour-driven Be As You Are: Songs From An Old Blue Chair in January rocking, he feels good doing it.
"My ankle held up really REALLY well both nights," he reports. "I can run, jump, two-step - and the folks who come to my show know what THAT means - everything we do, I can do as hard as I always have. It's high intensity, and there's never a moment where I'm worrying about it."
Look for Kenny to hit Fargo and Minneapolis this weekend, then look for the man nominated for Video, Hottest and Male Video - along with director Shaun Silva nominated for "I Go Back" - at CMT's first annual Music Awards April 11, then onto the Academy of Country Music Awards May 17th live from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and your living room via CBS, where Chesney is nominated for Entertainer, Top Male, a pair of Vocal Events and Album for his CMA Awards Album of the Year When The Sun Goes Down. And of course, given the tour's breadth, there's a good chance you can find him in your own hometown - IF you can get tickets!
