NASHVILLE, TN. (BNA Records) - Having sold well over a million concert tickets for the third summer in a row - and besting U2 by over 200,000 tickets as the biggest ticket seller for the first half of 2005 -
Kenny Chesney is all about the live performance. In addition to being the only country act to play football stadiums this year - with standing room shows in Boston, Pittsburgh and Washington, DC - the reigning Country
Music Association and Academy of Country
Music Entertainer of the Year found himself the only country act nominated for three awards at the Billboard ROAD WORK 2005 Touring and Conference Awards: Top Tour, Top Draw and Top Package. And in top
Kenny Chesney form, his Somewhere In The Sun Tour - featuring Gretchen Wilson,
Uncle Kracker and
Pat Green - walked off the Top Package, over Ozzfest and the Anger Management Tour with
Eminem and 50 Cent.
"When you think of doing anything bigger or more than Ozzy, you kinda don't know what to say," admits Chesney, who could not attend the ceremony due to finishing his upcoming ABC "Kenny Chesney: Somewhere in the Sun" special. "I mean, Ozzy and all those guys he's got out there rock, and Eminem and 50 Cent flat tore it up this summer. It says a lot about our fans, though… the way they come out and party with us, starting at 2 o'clock most afternoons - grilling out, blasting music, laughing and throwing Frisbees out in the parking lot… THAT makes it as much an event as who I bring out on the road with me.
"Though don't get me wrong! Who I bring out is very VERY important. We work very hard to get the right mix, to make sure the people that tour with us know how to have fun, to throw it at the crowd and catch what gets thrown back.
Gretchen Wilson, Kracker, Pat Green - and even Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Montgomery Gentry, some of the other acts who've been out there with us. To me, if we do our job right, we walk off that stage feeling as good as the fans do when they leave the venue."
Accepting for Chesney was Randy Phillips, the AEG Live President and CEO. As a partial owner of Kenny Chesney tour promoter Louis Messina's Messina Group, he was able to convey the impact of Chesney's touring, music and commitment to the assembled industry crowd.
"Randy gets it," says Messina with his classic carny understatement. "If I couldn't be there, I wanted someone who truly understands what Kenny's accomplished the old fashioned way, by getting out on the road and playing to the fans, building that base. It's been amazing to see Kenny come into his own, starting with the George Strait Festival shows… building into the biggest ticket-seller just about in pop music, let alone country. We're all really proud of him and what he's created, especially in terms of bringing music to the people."
With The Road & The Radio hitting the stores November 8th - easily one of the most anticipated new records of the 4th quarter, the project's lead single "Who You'd Be Today" sitting at No 4 on the country charts after only 4 weeks and "Kenny Chesney: Somewhere In The Sun," his ABC network television airing on Nov. 23, the singer/songwriter from Luttrell, Tennessee has plenty to keep him busy before rolling into the "39th Annual CMA Awards" Nov. 15, where he's again nominated for Entertainer and Male Vocalist of the Year.
