Post by 1kennychesney on Jun 11, 2007 12:04:46 GMT -5
Music Review: Chesney knows how to please party crowd at Heinz Field
Monday, June 11, 2007
By John Young, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, PA
"I think this concert started at 10 this morning in the parking lots!" exclaimed Kenny Chesney Saturday night from the Heinz Field stage. "I've never seen anything like it."
You have to wonder if Chesney intended the hyperbole in his latter comment. Chesney encroaches on Jimmy Buffett's turf more with each passing concert season. Cruzan Rum banners just replace those for Margaritaville, and straw cowboy hats trump parrothead regalia. A fair portion of the audience, mostly middle-aged, considers the concert to be one long drinking party.
Chesney acknowledged the prevailing mood in introducing "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems": "We're here to listen to some music and have some fun." And just for emphasis: "No problems!"
There is an important distinction to make, however. While the music Jimmy Buffett plays seems almost incidental to much of his audience, the vast majority of Kenny Chesney fans remain very into his music at this point, many singing loudly along to every lyric. And, frankly, Chesney's music typically rocks where Buffett's lilts.
Certainly Chesney's Tennessee vocal twang was evident, but he owed at least as much to Bryan Adams and Badfinger as any country great on rousing crowd-pleasers like his opening salvo of "Beer in Mexico," "Keg in the Closet" and "Summertime." "Young" even copped a bit of the horn line and "oo-oo-oo" backing vocals of Paul McCartney's "Jet." It took some ballads to emphasize the pedal steel and fiddle in Chesney's 11-piece backing band, but even slower songs like "The Good Stuff" and "Anything but Mine" proved muscular and melodic.
The wild card of Chesney's set came 16 songs in when Joe Walsh suddenly appeared and led the band through "Rocky Mountain Way" and "All Night Long." Walsh even took the lead vocals, with Chesney joining him at the same microphone just on the choruses. At a five-act, 61/2-hour show, where collaboration was in surprisingly short supply, Walsh's appearance at least brought Brooks and Dunn back out for some guitar and harmonica soloing. And just about every musician in every band joined in the backing vocals at the close of "All Night Long."
Some acts would choose to wrap it up after such a guest appearance, but Chesney led his band through two more tunes, including his hit "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," before the obligatory encore.
Texan Pat Green kicked off the proceedings at 4:30 p.m., as the first diehards straggled into the stadium. Green noted that the no-shows would later hear "they missed a damn good show" from him, and he was largely correct. He certainly proved his vocal mettle on arena-sized hand-wavers such as "Dixie Lullaby" and a cover of U2's "With or Without You." Unfortunately his thingyy, high school-coach demeanor grew a bit thin, particularly as he kept admonishing the crowd that having a great show is "not up to us; it's up to you!"
Sara Evans delivered the most impressive songs and vocals during her 45 minutes. While Green never joined her for their duet "Finders Keepers," he did come out with a towel to wipe her face in mock supplication. She earned the pampering, belting out big country pop like "I Keep Looking" and "Born to Fly." The emotional climax of her set came during her ballad "You'll Always Be My Baby," which featured a memorable chorus and lyrics sure to move most parents.
Sugarland, meanwhile, looked and sounded like it could have been invented to star in a Disney Channel film. While musically competent and very well received, their continual mugging and cloying lyrics quickly wore thin. "One Blue Sky" was about the power of hope. "Everyday America" was about learning to smile even when falling down. "Baby Girl" was about a dreamer moving to Nashville. The positivity runneth over.
Brooks and Dunn interestingly explored country's secular and religious extremes. While Christian metaphors abounded (the path to heaven as a "Red Dirt Road," the baptism granted by a woman's eyes in "Brand New Man"), the encore song "I Believe" tackled the subject directly in discussing finding "more and more truth to [Christ's] words." All this coexisted with a bevy of songs about women and drinking, most obviously when provocative videos of female dancers accompanied "Rock My World (Little Country Girl)." The audience sang along to nearly all of it as the duo and their 10 bandmates crammed mostly hits into a 15-tune set that ran just over an hour.
As for the headliner, he appears poised to keep drawing crowds in the tens of thousands and making the incredible living that must afford. The formula "sell a giant party and provide a pleasant, familiar live soundtrack" obviously works for him -- oh, yeah, and for that other guy coming to the Post-Gazette Pavilion June 23.
Monday, June 11, 2007
By John Young, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, PA
"I think this concert started at 10 this morning in the parking lots!" exclaimed Kenny Chesney Saturday night from the Heinz Field stage. "I've never seen anything like it."
You have to wonder if Chesney intended the hyperbole in his latter comment. Chesney encroaches on Jimmy Buffett's turf more with each passing concert season. Cruzan Rum banners just replace those for Margaritaville, and straw cowboy hats trump parrothead regalia. A fair portion of the audience, mostly middle-aged, considers the concert to be one long drinking party.
Chesney acknowledged the prevailing mood in introducing "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems": "We're here to listen to some music and have some fun." And just for emphasis: "No problems!"
There is an important distinction to make, however. While the music Jimmy Buffett plays seems almost incidental to much of his audience, the vast majority of Kenny Chesney fans remain very into his music at this point, many singing loudly along to every lyric. And, frankly, Chesney's music typically rocks where Buffett's lilts.
Certainly Chesney's Tennessee vocal twang was evident, but he owed at least as much to Bryan Adams and Badfinger as any country great on rousing crowd-pleasers like his opening salvo of "Beer in Mexico," "Keg in the Closet" and "Summertime." "Young" even copped a bit of the horn line and "oo-oo-oo" backing vocals of Paul McCartney's "Jet." It took some ballads to emphasize the pedal steel and fiddle in Chesney's 11-piece backing band, but even slower songs like "The Good Stuff" and "Anything but Mine" proved muscular and melodic.
The wild card of Chesney's set came 16 songs in when Joe Walsh suddenly appeared and led the band through "Rocky Mountain Way" and "All Night Long." Walsh even took the lead vocals, with Chesney joining him at the same microphone just on the choruses. At a five-act, 61/2-hour show, where collaboration was in surprisingly short supply, Walsh's appearance at least brought Brooks and Dunn back out for some guitar and harmonica soloing. And just about every musician in every band joined in the backing vocals at the close of "All Night Long."
Some acts would choose to wrap it up after such a guest appearance, but Chesney led his band through two more tunes, including his hit "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," before the obligatory encore.
Texan Pat Green kicked off the proceedings at 4:30 p.m., as the first diehards straggled into the stadium. Green noted that the no-shows would later hear "they missed a damn good show" from him, and he was largely correct. He certainly proved his vocal mettle on arena-sized hand-wavers such as "Dixie Lullaby" and a cover of U2's "With or Without You." Unfortunately his thingyy, high school-coach demeanor grew a bit thin, particularly as he kept admonishing the crowd that having a great show is "not up to us; it's up to you!"
Sara Evans delivered the most impressive songs and vocals during her 45 minutes. While Green never joined her for their duet "Finders Keepers," he did come out with a towel to wipe her face in mock supplication. She earned the pampering, belting out big country pop like "I Keep Looking" and "Born to Fly." The emotional climax of her set came during her ballad "You'll Always Be My Baby," which featured a memorable chorus and lyrics sure to move most parents.
Sugarland, meanwhile, looked and sounded like it could have been invented to star in a Disney Channel film. While musically competent and very well received, their continual mugging and cloying lyrics quickly wore thin. "One Blue Sky" was about the power of hope. "Everyday America" was about learning to smile even when falling down. "Baby Girl" was about a dreamer moving to Nashville. The positivity runneth over.
Brooks and Dunn interestingly explored country's secular and religious extremes. While Christian metaphors abounded (the path to heaven as a "Red Dirt Road," the baptism granted by a woman's eyes in "Brand New Man"), the encore song "I Believe" tackled the subject directly in discussing finding "more and more truth to [Christ's] words." All this coexisted with a bevy of songs about women and drinking, most obviously when provocative videos of female dancers accompanied "Rock My World (Little Country Girl)." The audience sang along to nearly all of it as the duo and their 10 bandmates crammed mostly hits into a 15-tune set that ran just over an hour.
As for the headliner, he appears poised to keep drawing crowds in the tens of thousands and making the incredible living that must afford. The formula "sell a giant party and provide a pleasant, familiar live soundtrack" obviously works for him -- oh, yeah, and for that other guy coming to the Post-Gazette Pavilion June 23.
