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Post by yoohoo on May 20, 2008 11:15:17 GMT -5
Chesney gets top country award but criticizes vote Mon May 19, 2008 3:33pm EDT
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Kenny Chesney won entertainer of the year for the fourth straight time at the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday -- but said backstage that organizers had devalued the top prize by making it a "sweepstakes" up for vote on the Internet.
Carrie Underwood was named top female vocalist for the second year in a row and 18-year-old Taylor Swift, country music's hottest young star, snagged her first award and stole the show at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with a wardrobe-changing, water-drenched performance.
This year marked the first that the academy let fans choose the top entertainer award -- reflecting the "American Idol" era of entertainment -- and Chesney took issue with that move.
"I don't think it's right that they picked the one award that means the most, that all artists sacrificed the most for, and turned it into ... a sweepstakes, to seeing who can push people's buttons the hardest on the Internet," Chesney said.
"It's a complete disrespect of the artists. I think because of that it really diminishes the integrity of the work."
Chesney, whose fourth win in the top category tied him with best-selling country artist Garth Brooks, was careful to say he wasn't criticizing fans and was appreciative of the academy, even if he took issue with the Web vote.
"It's not tainted in any way and I'm proud to say I'm going down in the history books with Garth Brooks but you've got to admit, it's a different award," he said.
Underwood, an "American Idol" winner who has become one of country music's best-selling artists, opened the show with her latest single, "Last Name," and later joined top male vocalist winner Brad Paisley in a tribute to legend Eddy Arnold.
Former "Idol" contestant Kellie Pickler, who has also been embraced by the country music world but lost the best new female vocalist award to Swift, sang her new single, "Don't You Know You're Beautiful."
Swift, who at the tender age of 18 has already sold more than 3 million copies of her debut album and been pegged as country music's next breakout star, thanked her mother during a brief but emotional acceptance speech.
Swift also delivered what may become the night's best-remembered performance, starting a rousing version of her hit "Should've Said No" in hooded sweatshirt and jeans that were torn away in mid-song to reveal a slinky black dress.
Swift ended the song with water pouring on her from above that left her soaked and shivering onstage.
The night also featured a special Crystal Milestone Award to Brooks as the "best-selling solo artist of all time" and his raucous medley of hits drew a standing ovation.
Brooks, who is married to country crooner Trisha Yearwood, mistakenly referred to host Reba McEntire as "Miss Yearwood" during his acceptance speech
"I butchered it and had a great time doing it," Brooks said backstage. "I called Ms. McEntire my wife. I screwed it up and had a great time doing it."
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Post by BeachTenant on May 20, 2008 13:03:06 GMT -5
I agree with Kenny and understand where he is coming from! This prestigious award is one that has been judged solely by the ACMA members for 43 yrs and should stay that way! Besides, isnt that what the "PEOPLES" CHOICE awards is for? jmo
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Post by yoohoo on May 21, 2008 11:17:39 GMT -5
I can't believe that some people took his comments as negative. I also think he was paying the other nominees a complement at the same time!
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Post by chesneynut on May 21, 2008 11:21:33 GMT -5
I completely agree with Kenny, this award should be treated like the prestigous award it is.. its about the hard work that goes into each song, cd, tour etc. its not a popularity contest, and to me that is what they made it out to be.
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Post by yoohoo on May 22, 2008 11:06:26 GMT -5
Kenny Chesney: I'm Not Ungrateful for ACM Award By Shelley Akers
Kenny Chesney has blogged about why he criticized the Academy of Country Music's new method for choosing entertainer of the year by using fan votes.
"To me, Entertainer of the Year is about the work that goes into it. I don't ever want you worrying about the work; I want you living the songs, being in the moment of the music," the star tells fans on his MySpace page.
"That was my point. Let the people who do the work, judge the work part of it ... let the fans love what we do for that," he adds.
After winning the ACM award on Sunday night in Las Vegas, Chesney told reporters backstage that the organization had turned the category "into a sweepstakes to see who can push people's buttons the hardest on the Internet."
Amid controversy that he was ungrateful for the title, Chesney, 40, tried to clear things up by expressing his gratitude to fans, saying: "I want to thank each of you personally for your part in this 4th Entertainer of the Year Awards. You are not just the reason we do this, you are a lot of what makes us Entertainer of the Year."
This was the singer's fourth consecutive win in that category, tying Garth Brooks for the honor.
Chesney also blamed the media for taking his comments out of context. "Sure, to make me sound ungrateful is a sexy way to spin this to drive viewers. It's controversy, and that sells," he writes.
"So please know I love you. I believe in you and the way you believe in this music, these nights we get to share, the way it call [sic] comes together when we're together. There is nothing like the feeling of being out there with you guys and I live my whole life just for those moments. Thank you for that, because in the end, that is what matters the most to me."
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Post by yoohoo on May 28, 2008 11:05:14 GMT -5
Chesney looks to future and past May 21, 2008
What’s this? Here's an optimist!
Country star Kenny Chesney tells People.com he may "enjoy being a bachelor," but "if I get married again, I'm going to give it 150%."
Context? "I thought I was ready once before, but I wasn't," Chesney, 40, said of his 4-month marriage to Renée Zellweger in 2005. (That was just after she jettisoned rocker Jack White.)
The two have remained close friends -- "the sweetest soul I've ever met" -- but he admits it was hard to cope with the split.
"There was nothing that made me happy," he said. "You can't fall in love as hard and fast as we did and not have some residual effects."
Chesney, who was named entertainer of the year at Sunday's Academy of Country Music Awards, chalks it up "as a life lesson." Not to mention: "This is the happiest I've been in a long time."
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Post by yoohoo on May 29, 2008 10:59:26 GMT -5
Country's top dog
Kenny is a hot ticket
By Cathalena E. Burch cburch@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.29.2008
Kenny Chesney remembers that windy May night at Old Tucson Studios, looking out into the crowd of 3,000 filling the dirt yard. It was 1999 and his career was a series of opening acts for superstars and shows at venues like Old Tucson. "It really doesn't seem like it's been that long ago since I played Old Tucson," Chesney said during a phone interview last Friday morning. "I really liked playing that place." That was his last Tucson show. His 1999 album "Everywhere We Go," which came out a few months after that show, elevated him from George Strait's and Tim McGraw's opening act to arena headliner. Today, the Tennessee native has eclipsed both artists when it comes to drawing a crowd. In fact, aside from reunited Brit-rockers The Police, no one drew a bigger audience than Chesney last year. Not even U2 or Madonna. Billboard reported that Chesney's 2007 tour was the biggest for country music, selling more than 1.1 million tickets and grossing more than $71 million. Is he shocked? As a matter of fact, yes, "(The other acts) play worldwide. I don't. That's all been done in the United States," he said from his tour bus, parked outside Cleveland Browns Stadium for one of his 14 stadium shows this summer. "The fact that we're up there in the same sentence (with U2 and Madonna) is mind-blowing. "I remember being in a Laundromat in college doing our laundry. And we were talking about wouldn't it be great if we could get one song on the radio and all of us go out on a tour bus, just for one summer, and have a great time, just experience it," he recalled, then laughed: "This is our 16th summer." Chesney, 40, built his career one song, one show at a time since the early 1990s. Success came in fits and spurts until his fifth album, "Everywhere We Go," which set his fast-track in motion. It also launched him on a record-setting streak of 24 Top 10 Billboard country hits since 2000 — the longest Top 10 streak of any artist. His latest single, the ballad "Better as a Memory" off his eight-month-old CD "Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates," broke into the country Top 10 two weeks ago. "I'm really proud of my career, and we did it with a lot of hard work and having a lot of fun," he said, then chuckled when told that he has become the example other artists follow. "I would love to go out and tour with him and see his operation," said friend and vocal partner Tracy Lawrence. "It's unbelievable how big his career has gotten." "When I hear that, it's really flattering and it really makes me feel great," said Chesney. "But when other artists say that, they have to understand that they have to sacrifice their whole life. Somebody said to me, 'I think it's great that you set aside a part of your life to give to your music.' You got it all wrong; this is my life." His sacrifices have included less time with his family and personal relationships, including a short-lived marriage to actress Renée Zellweger that made tabloid headlines two years ago. "I work all the time; I'm gone all the time. I know I'm sacrificing relationships and I'm sacrificing being really close to my family," he said. "But the good times definitely outweigh the tough times out here. I woke up this morning and I looked up and my bus is parked in front of the Cleveland Browns football stadium, for God's sake." Chesney's caravan of 50 semis pulls into Glendale this weekend for Saturday's University of Phoenix Stadium tour stop. Country superstars Keith Urban, Gary Allan and LeAnn Rimes open the show. The lineup also includes rocker Sammy Hagar "Sammy Hagar is opening for me. Think about that," Chesney said. "I remember being in my car going to high school listening to 'I Can't Drive 55' as loud as I could possibly get it." Chesney is on the road through September. After that, he'll return to his boat somewhere in the Bahamas and watch the sun move across the sky to the soundtrack of Bob Marley. After a month or so, he will probably pull his guitar out of the closet. "I'll start messing around. The next thing you know, I'm a verse and a chorus into the next song. That's how it usually works. By the end of November, we're already preparing to go through the next summer," he said.
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Post by yoohoo on Jun 2, 2008 10:36:23 GMT -5
Kenny Chesney reinvents country Joel Selvin Sunday, June 1, 2008 Kenny Chesney may be the biggest thing country music has ever seen, but the 40-year-old singer who grew up in Luttrell, Tenn., knows he's not your daddy's country singer. "I don't think that I'm what some of the more traditionalists would call three chords and the truth," he says on the phone from his Poets & Pirates Tour, which arrives next Sunday at AT&T Park in San Francisco. "The songs that I sing tell stories. I think that they are about real life. I think that they hopefully remind people of their first date, the first kiss, the first time they fell in love, the first time they had their heart broke. I've had people tell me that." Chesney is calling from Grand Rapids, Mich., where he was playing that night before heading to Cleveland for the weekend. "I do recognize the fact that when we put together a live show, that's my main focus. Maybe our show isn't as traditional as other artists of this format, but I think that's a good thing. This is kind of a funny thing; we played this town I don't remember the name, and we got a review the next day in the paper of that town - 'Kenny Chesney: the best rock show to come through town this year.' He meant it as a slam, but, hell, we took it as a compliment. "Our show is really edgy. I cut my music that way. I think the stories are country. I think the way I sing them is country. But I like to make music in a live show that will make people realize that they've been to a concert. Our show isn't the kind of show where you walk in and buy a beverage and popcorn and sit down and enjoy the music. This is not that kind of crowd. It's not my kind of music." He just won his fourth straight Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year Award. He has sold more than 30 million records and has been a certified country radio staple since 1999 and his hit "She Thinks My Tractor Is Sexy." He has been making records since 1994 and has scored more than 30 Top 10 hits on the country charts. He sold more than 1 million tickets to his concerts each year for the past six years. Chesney's 2007 tour outgrossed every rock show of the year, and this summer he is running the only stadium tour in the business. He produced the latest album by Willie Nelson and wrote the new No. 1 hit by Rascal Flatts. He is not only the biggest country star since Garth Brooks, but he is also the biggest country star ever, and most people still think of him only as the guy who was briefly married to movie star Renée Zellweger in 2005. But Chesney is a country singer for 21st century America. As the edges of suburbia and rural America blend in our mass-media culture, there are no more pure country musicians. The Eagles, the decadent Southern California rock archetypes, have been more influential on today's Nashville sound than all the traditionalists put together, and while the music remains rooted in blue-collar experience, the musical vocabulary of rock has infiltrated the heart of contemporary country. "I can't help the way I sing," Chesney says. "That's the way I was brought up in east Tennessee. I was consumed by a lot of different styles of music, which is why I think I make the music that I make. I was consumed by country, gospel and bluegrass. But I remember as a kid riding home from Little League baseball practice and hearing Lynyrd Skynyrd. I didn't know who they were, but I liked it. I remember hearing Van Halen when I got into high school. That music was amazing to me. "I started being drawn to a lot of singer-songwriters like Springsteen, Mellencamp and Buffet. That's what ended up turning me on the most was the guys that wrote their songs and sang 'em. When I was a kid, I just consumed a lot of music, and when I got to a point where I was ready to make my own, it all just kind of came out the way it came in." His father was a teacher and his mother a hairdresser. He graduated with a marketing degree from East Tennessee University, where he belonged to a fraternity and played gigs around local clubs. "I grew up where everybody's life is surrounded by friends, family, school, sports and church," he says. "That's all we had. I spent a lot of summers just playing ball out in the yard. I played a lot of basketball and I played all three sports in high school, but I quit growing as a freshman. My sports career ended pretty quick, but music was always in my life. "I just remember always listening to something, and it was always eclectic. I remember hearing 'Take It to the Limit' when I was a kid on a little, small boom box, shooting basketball and going, 'I love this.' It was one of my favorite songs for a long time. It's just crazy how your life turns out, because you know Joe Walsh toured with me some last year, went out on the road and played with the band." Chesney also counts among his admirers Bruce Springsteen, who started a friendship with the singer by writing him a fan letter after Chesney covered his "One Step Up" on his the 2002 album "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems." His open affection for '80s rock echoes his most obvious predecessor in the modern country field, Brooks, who made no secret of his admiration for arena rockers such as Kiss and Journey. "I think the lines are getting blurrier and blurrier and I may have something to do with it, I'm not sure," Chesney says, laughing. "I do believe that people love great music. You can put a genre on it or not. The same people who are going to a Dave Matthews concert are coming to see me. I know it. I see it. I had Dave Matthews on my show last year. He come up and did a couple of shows with us in Atlanta. My fans went crazy. They knew who he was. "I think if the Eagles came out today, they'd be considered country. There's a lot of that music. If Lynyrd Skynyrd came out today, they'd probably be considered a country act - I don't know. Some of my music is more edgier than 'Gimme Three Steps.' It is a little blurrier these days. You still have your core traditional artists - that's never going to change. I think one of the reasons for my success, in my music, I've written songs about how I live my life, how much fun I have, and I think that's kind of bled over to my audience. They don't hear me sing about whiskey and heartbreak that much. I let other guys do that." He keeps a place in Nashville, but manages to spend a fair amount of time around the Virgin Islands. He used some of his country-star capital producing last year's album with Willie Nelson. "When I produced that record for Willie, I was probably in the biggest personal funk of my life. Nothing inspired me. I don't mind telling you, after my divorce with Renée, I was completely uninspired. God could have laid the best song in front of me and I wouldn't have known. I sat there with Willie Nelson the first day and realized all that was going to change. I was never so inspired in my life. When I got done with that record, two or three months with him, I was never more inspired by a person, an artist and a songwriter. I left that whole session and that whole album looking at things in different ways. "When I was looking for inspiration in my life, God gave me Willie Nelson. I left that whole session with a new commitment to being a better songwriter and a better person. It was just a great thing for me in my life. "I'm working on a record now, and I am feeling just a touch of an artistic shift, just a little bit, because of it. You can't spend that much time with the guy and make the record we made and not feel something as an artist. I don't know how to define it or put my finger on it yet. I can't tell you how I feel a shift as an artist, but I know I do. It's going to be interesting to see how this record comes out and what's on it, which is a good thing." On his current Poets & Pirates Tour, Chesney is using different supporting acts. Country superstars Brooks and Dunn will play next weekend at AT&T Park, but in some markets, he is using his pal rock star Sammy Hagar, hardly a cowboy-hat type of guy, although that doesn't matter to Chesney. "I hope when I'm at the point in my career that he is," he says, "that I still approach it with the same type of head space that he's in, because he's just a joy to be around. He is just full of life. That breathes in his music. I think that flows over into the crowd." But it is Chesney who bridges the worlds of country and rock. He is a country boy with a rock 'n' roll heart and he is taking country music to places it has never been before, such as a baseball park in downtown San Francisco. "I do believe that, over the years, I've seen our audience grow," he says, "and I've seen it grow into a pretty diverse, eclectic group of people. I think I have a really strong core country fan base. I think one of the things that's been the secret to our success is that this thing has turned into a lot less of a show and more of an event. That's made our audience really diverse. I've seen that grow throughout the years. "I've seen that we have a lot of people out there who maybe don't listen to country radio every day, who channel surf and listen to a lot of other things, who come to our show and love the music. I've seen that gradually happen the past four or five years. I think that's one of the reasons we can play the Giants baseball stadium in the middle of San Francisco. When I was a college kid dreaming of this stuff, I could have never dreamed that stuff. It's a lot of fun from my perspective." POETS & PIRATES TOUR: Kenny Chesney, with special guests Brooks and Dunn, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan and Luke Bryan, appear at 4 p.m. next Sunday at AT&T Park, Third and King streets, San Francisco. $77-$110. (800) 225-2277, www.tickets.com. To hear Kenny Chesney's music, go to www. kennychesney.com. Kenny Chesney No. 1 Country Hits "She's All I Got" (1997) "How Forever Feels" (1999) "You Had Me From Hello" (1999) "Don't Happen Twice" (2001) "The Good Stuff" (2002) "There Goes My Life" (2003) "When the Sun Goes Down" (2004) "Anything But Mine" (2005) "Living in Fast Forward" (2005) "Summertime" (2006) "Beer in Mexico" (2007) "Never Wanted Nothing More" (2007) "Don't Blink" (2007)
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Post by yoohoo on Jun 4, 2008 11:33:54 GMT -5
Sammy Hagar's gone country with Kenny Chesney and LeAnn Rimes By Saby Reyes-Kulkarni Published on May 29, 2008
If you haven't kept up with Sammy Hagar since his rockin' "I Can't Drive 55" days, you might find yourself alternately shocked, horrified, and amused by Hagar's recent plunge into country music. Then again, the public had more or less the same reaction in 1985 when Hagar was announced as David Lee Roth's replacement in Van Halen. And even going all the way back to his debut in Montrose, the Red Rocker's voice sounds more or less out of place in any style of music — which is to say that the man possesses one of the most distinctive, instantly recognizable sets of pipes to ever come down the pike. One could argue that the only reason listeners associate him so freely with arena rock is because that's more or less constituted the bulk of his career.
Sammy Hagar's gone country for Livin' It Up. Where: University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale Details: Sammy Hagar, Kenny Chesney, and LeAnn Rimes are scheduled to perform on Saturday, May 31. Subject(s): Sammy HagarBut given that Hagar's sound, image, and consciously blue-collar approach to delivering soundbites have practically made him synonymous with Middle America in all its GMC-truck-and-Budweiser glory, it's really not much of a stretch to see him touring with Nashville country singer Kenny Chesney. In fact, go to Hagar's Web site, redrocker.com, and there he is on the main page posing with famous NASCAR driver Kurt Busch. In essence, Hagar should be right in his element — and he has the panache to pull it off. Again, we're talking about a guy who ingratiated himself with Van Halen's fan base in the most oh-shit case of frontman replacement in music history.
So Hagar, with his everyman charm, should be just fine. And why shouldn't he use it to grace country music? After all, songs like "Cabo Wabo" and "Finish What Ya Started," with their bluesy sass, may as well be a stone's throw from country anyway. They're already polished enough, so all they'd require is a little tweaking from a chart-conscious Nashville producer and they could be recast as country hits. But although it would be amusing to hear old Van Hagar chestnuts get countrified in concert, Hagar doesn't have to go that route, as that's essentially what the songs on his 2006 album Livin' It Up already are. And though the album (and current tour) don't feature former VH bassist Michael Anthony, it might as well be him on those trademark vocal harmonies.
And Hagar should jibe a lot better with Chesney — who demonstrated his work ethic by continuing to perform after his foot was injured during the first song at a concert in April — than he did on his infamously feud-plagued 2002 tour with David Lee Roth.
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Post by yoohoo on Jun 9, 2008 11:01:11 GMT -5
Kenny Chesney Run Over With Marriage Reports -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Debra Beste Jun 7, 2008
Is Kenny Chesney getting married? Earlier this week the handsome country singer and bachelor was reportedly ready to pop the question. Spare us the gay marriage and California jokes as the tabloid report claimed he was all set to marry his second wife, and give marriage a second go. But why would he after that first big miss? Kenny Chesney Run Over With Marriage Reports (Image: Wenn)
Chesney, 40, who was married to Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger for four months in 2005, says he was shocked to learn of his apparent engagement. "Kenny Chesney is not getting married. He's not engaged. He's not planning on being engaged any time in the near future," his rep told People magazine.
***
"In fact, he was surprised by the news and isn't sure how or why anyone would've gotten that idea. The country music superstar recently told People, 'I enjoy being a bachelor. I enjoy everything that comes along with it.'" One would hope, even though he would be quite the catch.
The big time country music legend is on tour now with Keith Urban and Sammy Hagar and Kenny was just awarded his 4th consecutive ACM Entertainer of the Year award on May 18, 2008.
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Post by yoohoo on Jun 9, 2008 11:14:12 GMT -5
Chesney ready to wow them at Heinz Field
Country music superstar Kenny Chesney will be back in Pittsburgh this summer for his third performance at Heinz Field in recent years.
Chesney, who performed at Heinz Field in 2005 and 2007, will wow the crowds again there on Saturday, June 14 as a part of his 2008 Poets & Pirates Tour.
The four-time, including current, Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year will perform songs from his platinum-selling "Just as I Am: Poets & Pirates” album along with other favorites.
Chesney’s concert tour has been praised for his tireless performance, providing unmatched energy from start to finish.
He currently has 24 straight Top 10 country singles, the latest hit being “Better as a Memory.”
“I am always in motion and you have to come to terms with that. Out on the road, we do live like pirates, always heading somewhere else,” Chesney said of the hit song. “And a lot of my friends in the islands can be described as pirates 'cause even when they're there, their souls are somewhere out on that water, moving through life with the wind at your back, chasing the sun.”
Buy your tickets today for the concert of the summer. Don’t miss out on the fun!
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Post by yoohoo on Jun 11, 2008 11:26:59 GMT -5
Kenny Chesney hosts memorable all-day show at AT&T Park Guests include Brooks and Dunn, LeAnn Rimes, Sammy Hagar and Steve Miller By Shay Quillen Mercury News Article Launched: 06/09/2008 11:05:23 AM PDT
Kenny Chesney doesn't have the leather lungs of Sammy Hagar or the smooth guitar chops of Steve Miller. He hasn't written as many hits as Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn.
But as an entertainer, country music fans know, Chesney is second to none. And the seven-hour extravaganza he hosted Sunday at San Francisco's AT&T Park - featuring all of the above plus LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan and Luke Bryan - will go down as one of the year's most memorable shows.
Chesney pulled out all the stops for his San Francisco ballpark debut, after years of toiling at Shoreline Amphitheatre and Oakland's Oracle Arena. He seized the crowd before the first note of his set with a visual onslaught that made all that came before it look rather bush-league. The Tennessean first appeared in a Corona Beer commercial that would have been annoying if it hadn't jibed so perfectly with the good ol' beach boy image he's been perfecting in recent years.
The flesh-and-blood Chesney hit the stage next with an 11-piece band, including a four-piece horn section. After about two middling rockers too many, with strobe lights and video screens set to stun, he wisely mellowed things out for his musical statement of purpose: "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems." The slyly witty "Shiftwork" went over well, even if Chesney was only kidding when he introduced George Strait to sing his verse from the recording.
No worries - there would be plenty of real guest stars later.
The unassuming
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chesney, who traded his cowboy hat for a Giants cap halfway through his set, managed to hold most of the party-hearty crowd's attention with a solo acoustic rendition of his own "Old Blue Chair." But after that, introspection went out the window as the star began exposing some local talent. Miller calmly stirred up the crowd with "The Joker" and "Rock'n Me," with Chesney lending more moral support than vocal assistance. After Chesney and his band banged out a couple more, he introduced his good friend Hagar, who enthusiastically took over the stage for "I'll Fall in Love Again" and "I Can't Drive 55," leaving Chesney as the Red Rocker's most visible - and affectionate - fan.
It was after 11 when Chesney wrapped things up with "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," ending a day of music that for many sunburned fans started outside the park in the a.m. with the "Beach Ball Free-for-All," sponsored by KBWF "The Wolf."
Brooks & Dunn were consummate pros throughout their 70-minute set, though the duo's cheesy video display harked back to its '90s heyday. The team got their biggest applause with the patriotic "Only in America" - complete with red, white and blue streamers and the appearance of three U.S. soldiers - and their smash-hit cover of B.W. Stevenson's "My Maria," a perfect vehicle for Dunn's soaring tenor.
Like Chesney, Rimes paid tribute to San Francisco, in this case by tearing through Janis Joplin's arrangement of George Gershwin's "Summertime." Rimes has been maddeningly inconsistent over her career, which reached the national stage when she was only 13, but no one ever said she couldn't sing. Now 25, Rimes focused on her country hits, including a verse of her debut single, "Blue," reinvented as a saloon song for voice and piano. She wisely steered away from her tackiest attempts at pure pop, though avoiding the syrupy megahit "How Do I Live" proved to be too much to hope for.
No-nonsense Californian Gary Allan added a welcome touch of gravitas to the proceedings, even if his low-key personality is more suited to reaching the bar at a honky-tonk than the back row of a ballpark. Newcomer Luke Bryan showed some promise on a short opening set that included his hit "All My Friends Say" and a fun cover of John Anderson's "Money in the Bank."
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Post by yoohoo on Jun 12, 2008 10:49:06 GMT -5
The seven C's of Buffett and Chesney By Shane Harrison The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 06/05/08 There may be a 22-year age difference between Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney, but the two have a lot in common. Aside from having the exact same number of letters in both of their names (oooh, spooky), they'll both be in Atlanta this summer: Buffett for a sold-out show tonight at Lakewood Amphitheatre and Chesney on July 13 at Turner Field. Let's compare and contrast with the help of the letter C: BUFFETT CRADLE: Born in 1946 in Pascagoula, Miss., grew up in Mobile, Ala. COLLABORATORS: A whole slew, including Alan Jackson ("It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"). thingyTAILS: The man has been singing about "Margaritaville" and his lost shaker of salt since 1977. He's also involved with Land Shark Lager, from Margaritaville Brewing Company (bottled by Anheuser-Busch). CARIBBEAN: His Margaritaville Cafe has three units in Jamaica, along with restaurants in the Turks and Caicos, Cancun and the Cayman Islands. He's also run into a little trouble on one of the islands (see Controversy). COUNTRY: There was always country in Buffett's music (just listen to his first Top 40 hit "Come Monday"), but with 2004's "License to Chill," he really embraced it. CONNECTIONS: Chesney was among the guests on Buffett's No. 1 album "License to Chill" (which, by the way, was Buffett's first No. 1 album). CONTROVERSY: Back in 2006, French officials allegedly found the club drug ecstasy on Buffett's plane, but he was fined and released. "I don't know about you, but at a few months away from turning 60, I carry a few prescriptions," Buffett later explained on his Web site, and that's what he claims those pills were. Buffett's ride has also been a target for Jamaican authorities, who mistook it for a drug-smuggling plane. Bono happened to be on board the plane, too. The Jamaicans apologized, and Buffett got a song out of it called "Jamaica Mistaica." CHESNEY CRADLE: Born in 1968 in Knoxville, Tenn., and grew up in nearby Lutrell. COLLABORATORS: The title track of his 2004 album "When the Sun Goes Down," a duet with Kid Rock compatriot Uncle Kracker, was a No. 1 hit. He also joined Tim McGraw and Tracy Lawrence for "Find Out Who Your Friends Are." thingyTAILS: Cruzan Rum and Corona have both sponsored Chesney tours, and his Top 10 country hits includes "Beer in Mexico" and "Keg in the Closet." CARIBBEAN: Chesney has a home in the U.S. Virgin Islands on St. John. He's written numerous odes to the islands, including most of the 2005 album "Be As You Are (Songs From an Old Blue Chair)." COUNTRY: Chesney is easily one of country music's biggest stars of this decade, with No. 1 hit after No. 1 hit and a combined eight entertainer of the year awards from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. CONNECTIONS: A staple in Chesney's concerts is "Back Where I Come From," a tune written by Buffett sideman Mac McAnally. He's the guy who sings Alan Jackson's part when Buffett performs "Five O'Clock Somewhere" in concert. CONTROVERSY: His blink-and-you-missed-it marriage to actress Renee Zellweger had the tabloids in a tizzy. The two married on the beach near Chesney's St. John home in May 2005 and filed for an annulment in September 2005. IN CONCERT Jimmy Buffett. 8 tonight. $136; $36 lawn. Lakewood Amphitheatre, 2002 Lakewood Way, Atlanta. 404-443-5090, 404-249-6400, www.livenation.com/venue/getVenue/venueId/238. Kenny Chesney. With LeAnn Rimes. 3:30 p.m. July 13. $85.50-$106; $45.50 military and students. Turner Field, 755 Hank Aaron Drive S.W., Atlanta. 404-249-6400, www.ticketmaster.com.
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Post by yoohoo on Jul 2, 2008 11:09:37 GMT -5
Fans fight sun, fatigue for concert seats But fans of Springsteen and Chesney will do whatever it takes.
By LAUREN JONES, The Times-Union
All was rather quiet outside the ticket window at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on Saturday morning. A couple dozen people stood in line, hoping to score good seats for one of two big shows coming to the arena in August - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on Friday, Aug. 15, and Kenny Chesney and Miranda Lambert, to play Saturday, Aug. 30. Nearly all of the tickets for the two shows were sold online through ticketmaster.com, but there were still fans who chose to wait in the lines.
On one side of the box office stood the Springsteen fans. They formed a line of about 30 people, the first ones arriving at 7:30 a.m. and pulling numbers from a box to determine the order of buyers in line.
Laura and Mike Pittman stood in the beating sun, tired but calm because they were certain they would be the first people in Jacksonville to buy Springsteen tickets. They said they were in bed at 8 p.m. the night before.
"I feel lucky that my husband got first in line today, so I'm going to buy a lottery ticket," Laura Pittman said.
Most of the Springsteen fans were serious about their mission. The other side was a little more animated. The first people in line for Chesney tickets had been there since for more than a week. James and Heather O'Connell had tents and lots of food and water to keep them going.
"We played PlayStation a lot of the time," Heather O'Connell said.
When 10 a.m. came around, James O'Connell was called to the ticket window. He jumped over and got his tickets. He turned from the window and, holding his tickets in the air, yelled out, "First row, baby!"
The faces of the people walking away from the window, tickets in hand, were lit up with a look of accomplishment.
The Chesney line was gone at about 10:12 a.m. The line for Springsteen was gone at 10:15 a.m. As of Saturday evening, there were still tickets in the upper deck available for Chesney and behind the stage for Springsteen.
Kimberly Waterhouse was trying to get tickets for both shows. She waited in the line for the Springsteen tickets first, then went to the window for the Chesney tickets, but couldn't get the seats she'd hoped for. She said she would go online and try.
"I left my exercise class and came straight here to get the tickets," Waterhouse said.
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Post by yoohoo on Jul 2, 2008 11:11:04 GMT -5
Chesney surfs wave of big hits
By Ken Szymanski Leader-Telegram correspondent Oddly enough, Kenny Chesney would be hard-pressed to find a more fitting audience for his beach-bum persona than in the farmland surrounding Country Fest.
Chesney fuses the storytelling of John Mellencamp with Jimmy Buffett island philosophies. Add some rock riffs, put on a cowboy hat and call it country. It's the escapism - whether from the glum daily news or a job's daily grind - that seduces the fans. Chesney's "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" equals Big Audience.
Opening with "Live Those Songs" and "Summertime," Chesney on Saturday showed off some megastar perks. A giant video screen behind him displayed video clips along with live footage of the band, which included a four-piece horn section. Chesney darted around the stage, working hard while singing songs about kicking back.
Unfortunately, muddy sound prevented Chesney from owning the crowd in the first half of his set. And no matter how much award-winning hype a singer has, many festgoers treat the performers like a bar jukebox - something in the background to talk over and ignore.
Chesney had a pile of hits on his side, though, ones geared toward fans in any condition. "Shiftwork" and "Young" built momentum all the way up the hill. Chesney then hit on all cylinders with "Don't Happen Twice." Singalongs for "When the Sun Goes Down" and "Anything But Mine" brought everyone at the site near Cadott together in a group chorus.
Chesney was joined by Dierks Bentley on vocals for the goofy "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy." An extended coda of Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" allowed Chesney time to sign autographs, shake hands and give his guitar away to a lucky fan.
Earlier in the evening, Bentley went out of his way to include nearly everybody in the audience by saying, "I'm gonna make a toast: To the cowboy hats, the backward baseball hats and the girls that came to rock, especially those in the little white tank tops ... have a beer and maybe a shot." The "white tank top" was a reference to his lyric in one of his biggest songs of the night, "What Was I Thinkin.' "
Anyone not included in Bentley's first dedication was certainly included in his next: "We did a couple of songs for all the single people that are out tonight," he said. "How about one for everyone who came here with somebody else?" This led to "Soon As You Can," a song about lifelong commitment.
For his hit "Come a Little Closer," Bentley grabbed a dancing partner from the audience and spun her until she could barely stand. After she regained her balance, Bentley let her lead the crowd on a singalong of the chorus.
Bentley also cajoled front-row females during "How Am I Doin'," a song he referred to as group therapy for the crowd.
Bentley's band shone on a bluegrass version of "Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)," with impeccable banjo work. A cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" showcased more generous solos, with especially fine steel guitar playing, proving a band can sneak some country into the fest without losing the crowd.
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