Nashville, TN (Kenny Chesney Official Website) - Having topped the Billboard Country Singles charts for the past three weeks 'Living In Fast Forward,' Kenny Chesney's more than got the 'radio' portion of his nearly triple platinum album and current The Road & The
Radio 2006 Tour title covered. And tomorrow night at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio, after weeks of rehearsal in three different cities, the reigning Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year is making good on the 'road' portion as well.
'It felt like it was never gonna get here,' laughs the high energy performer, who will be the only country act bringing his show to football stadiums this year. 'You know, you're looking at sketches, and you're tweaking the way the lights are set, and you're editing video and shifting the set list and you just keep thinking, all I wanna do is get out there and play for the people… You know, bring it back alive 'cause that's where the passion really connects. This band, these songs are meant to be live - and when you're going through everything it takes to get out there, well, that's all you can think about: how great this is gonna be when we get that other factor in there: those fans who just kick it up another three levels.'
Preparations for this year's tour were even more intense than previous outings. Beyond the advance work - which began in August, long before his Somewhere In the Sun saw its millionth fan - Chesney, band, crew and staging were setting up in not only Nashville, but Evansville, Indiana and Dayton, Ohio for four days.
'We had to find buildings big enough to actually get the stage set-up, and that's not really something you can do just anywhere,' admits the man who recently shared the cover of Billboard with Mick Jagger and U2's Bono as one of the three most successful acts of 2005. 'And trying to find coliseums that can handle the stage, that can give you consecutive days, that don't have basketball, hockey or arena football… you have NO idea.
'Needless to say, we DID find two - and we had to truck everything to two different places to do it, but I can honestly say, last night it came together… and I think it's gonna be even better than last year. I sure hope so… cause the stage is a little longer, the sand pits are a little bigger and we're gonna play a whole lot longer.'
Look for Chesney's set to expand to nearly two hours - and for him to play four songs from his latest album, in addition to the return of a couple older songs that have been missed. 'It's amazing how much music we have to draw from,' says the pride of Luttrell, Tennessee. 'There are songs I really want to play, that we've had to let go of… The medley is completely different. It's crazy to look back at where we've been and see how much music we've made.'
