Post by BeachTenant on Jul 5, 2007 8:58:46 GMT -5
Nashville: When iconic punk trio The Police
reunited for this year's Grammy Awards, the anticipation was palpable - and when the band went on the road, it was met with an excitement that was undeniable. When the midyear searches were released from Ticketron this week, it made sense that the legendary British band were the only act to outsearch triple and reigning Academy of Country Music and double and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year Kenny Chesney.
“This stuff is just goofy,” says the aw shucks superstar from East Tennessee. “I kinda wish my people wouldn't even tell me. I grew up on bands like the police… To me, they're rock and roll, legends… and I'm just a country singer from outside of Knoxville.”
Chesney, whose The Road & The Radio 2006 Tour outsold even the Rolling Stones and the Dave Matthews Band in North America last year, is too modest. He was also the only country act searched in Ticketmaster's Top 10 for the first half of the year - and that's long before he winds up his Cruzan Rum sponsored Flip Flop Summer trek across America.
“You know,” he adds with a laugh. “I've got some pretty high intensity fans… I shouldn't ever be surprised. After all, I hear'em tailgaiting pretty early in the afternoon… out there in the parking lots, grilling, blasting their music, having a big ole time. They take coming to see us a reason to get their summer on, so I guess it feels pretty cool to know they're wanting to know when we're coming.”
When he's coming depends on what you're after. If it's new music, he's all over country radio with the revved up straightline country of “Never Wanted Nothing More,” which hit the Top 10 three weeks after release. And given the response to the single, Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, his first album of new music in two years, has been rushed from mid-October to a Sept. 11 street date.
And then there's his sold-out Flip Flop Summer Tour, which heads into Seattle's Qwest Stadium this week, which keeps bringing the season's best party to America's major cities. With 3 more NFL Stadiums to go, it's perhaps the most intense summer of Chesney's career - and he's loving the heat.
“I always say we throw it at the fans pretty hard, but it never ceases to amaze me how night after night they throw it back at us that much harder,” he says. “You know those fans are the real reason we get so fired up when we get out there every night… and every time I say to the guys, 'Man, it can't get any better….,' the audience shows us different. We're just glad we get to be the reason for the party.”
Ticketmaster must be pretty glad, too. As acts sail in and out of the touring horizon, Kenny Chesney's become an artist they can count on. No matter who else is on the road, he's a perennial who can't wait to figure out what's next, how loud can the fans get and how do we top it. Not a bad way to make a living, though for the high energy entertainer, it's really just who a matter of Just Who I Am.
reunited for this year's Grammy Awards, the anticipation was palpable - and when the band went on the road, it was met with an excitement that was undeniable. When the midyear searches were released from Ticketron this week, it made sense that the legendary British band were the only act to outsearch triple and reigning Academy of Country Music and double and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year Kenny Chesney.
“This stuff is just goofy,” says the aw shucks superstar from East Tennessee. “I kinda wish my people wouldn't even tell me. I grew up on bands like the police… To me, they're rock and roll, legends… and I'm just a country singer from outside of Knoxville.”
Chesney, whose The Road & The Radio 2006 Tour outsold even the Rolling Stones and the Dave Matthews Band in North America last year, is too modest. He was also the only country act searched in Ticketmaster's Top 10 for the first half of the year - and that's long before he winds up his Cruzan Rum sponsored Flip Flop Summer trek across America.
“You know,” he adds with a laugh. “I've got some pretty high intensity fans… I shouldn't ever be surprised. After all, I hear'em tailgaiting pretty early in the afternoon… out there in the parking lots, grilling, blasting their music, having a big ole time. They take coming to see us a reason to get their summer on, so I guess it feels pretty cool to know they're wanting to know when we're coming.”
When he's coming depends on what you're after. If it's new music, he's all over country radio with the revved up straightline country of “Never Wanted Nothing More,” which hit the Top 10 three weeks after release. And given the response to the single, Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, his first album of new music in two years, has been rushed from mid-October to a Sept. 11 street date.
And then there's his sold-out Flip Flop Summer Tour, which heads into Seattle's Qwest Stadium this week, which keeps bringing the season's best party to America's major cities. With 3 more NFL Stadiums to go, it's perhaps the most intense summer of Chesney's career - and he's loving the heat.
“I always say we throw it at the fans pretty hard, but it never ceases to amaze me how night after night they throw it back at us that much harder,” he says. “You know those fans are the real reason we get so fired up when we get out there every night… and every time I say to the guys, 'Man, it can't get any better….,' the audience shows us different. We're just glad we get to be the reason for the party.”
Ticketmaster must be pretty glad, too. As acts sail in and out of the touring horizon, Kenny Chesney's become an artist they can count on. No matter who else is on the road, he's a perennial who can't wait to figure out what's next, how loud can the fans get and how do we top it. Not a bad way to make a living, though for the high energy entertainer, it's really just who a matter of Just Who I Am.
