Nashville, TN (Kenny Chesney Official Website) - Rip a page from any of Kenny Chesney's lyrics and it's immediately apparent that he is as much a product of the heartland as anyone currently making music today. The man who cut Bruce Springsteen's 'One Step Up,' filmed CMT's hybrid concert series 'Cross Roads' with
John Mellencamp and has song numerous songs about the soul-satisfaction of living in small towns put his itinerary where his heart is - opening the second leg of his The Road & The
Radio 2006 Tour June 1st in Evansville, Indiana.
'It's a funny thing about these kinda towns,' the reigning Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year allows. 'They may not be big or flashy, but they're like where I come from: real basic, pretty simple and all heart. The people that live in those places, that come from those kinds of towns, they remind you about everything that's good about folks, so it's great to be able to start our next leg right smack in the middle of it all.'
Still with 9 stadiums on the books, Kenny Chesney looks down The Road & The Radio for an even bigger summer. CMA Horizon winner Dierks Bentley will join the reigning Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year for the entire second leg of the tour - with double-platinum sensation Carrie Underwood providing the third slot on most of the dates.
After Evansville, it's two nights in Grand Rapids, then onto Fort Wayne, Indiana, as Chesney maintains the same high-intensity stage show, state of the art production and limitless energy that has always marked his concerts. In addition, there could be any number of surprises popping up - because when Kenny Chesney takes a stage, anything can - and often does - happen.
'Having Dierks and Sugarland on the first half of the year sets the bar pretty high,' says the man who recently graced the cover of Billboard as one of the 3 most successful acts of 2005 alongside Mick Jagger and U2's Bono - and whose support has helped Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Gretchen Wilson and Montgomery Gentry become headliners in their own right. 'So for the summer, I knew we were gonna need to come up with something pretty special. Dierks actually had that opening slot, so he's a natural as he's coming into his own to be out here with us... and when we started looking around for someone who all the people who've been coming to see us, who have some pretty high expectations, we knew we needed someone who'd really stand out. Needless to say, I think Carrie Underwood's the real deal... and I'm psyched she's gonna be on the road with us.'
This year's The Road & The Radio Tour is an unprecedented ticket-office-slamming business - with a plethora of 2nd shows needing to be added, in some cases within mere moments. So while the second leg of this year's tour is being announced, look for even more shows to be added to the 25-million seller's itinerary this summer.
The Road & The Radio 2006 Tour
Summer Leg
June 1 Evansville, IN
June 2-3 Grand Rapids, MI
June 4 Ft. Wayne, IN
June 15 Phoenix, AZ
June 16 Las Vegas, NV
June 18 San Diego, CA
June 21 Salt Lake City, UT
June 29 Greenville, SC
July 4 Milwaukee, WI
July 6 Louisville, KY
July 14 New York, NY
July 16 Boston, MA
July 20 Memphis, TN
July 27 Hartford, CT
July 28 Bristow, VA
July 30 Pittsburgh, PA
August 3 Madison, WI
August 5 Detroit Lakes, MN
August 10 Charlotte, NC
August 11 Raleigh, NC
August 13 Virginia Beach, VA
August 17 Birmingham, AL
August 19 Atlanta, GA
August 24 Cleveland, OH
September 1 St Louis, MO
Sept. 3 Noblesville, IN
