Chesney Previews Big Revival Tour
This week, Kenny Chesney joins Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton to preview the concert tour of the summer, The Big Revival Tour, featuring Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Jake Owen, Brantley Gilbert, and Cole Swindell. Kenny tells Lon he’s about to begin rehearsals here in Nashville, and the tour will begin in March, with stadium shows starting in May. Kenny told Lon, “I’m anxious to get back out there and feel the energy again, and feel that connection, especially now with my new music. It’s just going to be a really fun experience.”
First things first, Kenny told Lon how he spent the winter holidays: “I spent Christmas in East Tennessee with my family, and then went to New Orleans for New Year’s Eve. That was a lot of fun. We’ve been watching a lot of football since August, so we went down for the Sugar Bowl, the Alabama-Ohio State game, so it was just a lot of fun.”
Kenny Chesney’s Big Revival tour will combine arenas and stadiums, with the first stadium show taking place on May 2nd in the new San Francisco 49ers football stadium. Kenny told Lon: “To be the first to play there is going to be a great energy. Also, to play the Rose Bowl later in the summer, I never would have ever imagined, all the years I watched the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, to be able to set up our stuff and play music there is something I’d never dreamed of.”
So what will be different about this tour than previous Chesney shows? “That was why we took a year off. I didn’t want to do the same show I did the year before. It gave me the opportunity to change my show musically. We’re going to have a lot of bells and whistles out there. But I want to make it all about the music. We have flown in from the back of the stadium, but I think we’re just going to go up there and play. There’s this anticipation with me and the band. We’ve got our rehearsal stuff all planned out, and we’re starting in just a few days!”
Joining Kenny for the stadium shows will be Jason Aldean. Lon asked Kenny how that came about: “The idea started in 2009, and last year we talked about what we wanted to do, and I didn’t think Jason would be interested, but when we brought it up, he was all about it. It’s a testament to him and his team. They don’t have to do this, because they’re doing their own stadiums. But the fan experience is something Jason cares about, so to be able to merge two tours like this for 11 or 12 really special shows, if I was a fan, I’d really want to see that. It’s going to be pretty special.” So will you be doing some songs together? “Oh no doubt about it. I saw Jason the other night, and that conversation has already started, so there’s going to be several things that we do together.”
There are a few stadium shows Jason can’t do, and in his place will be Eric Church. Eric toured with Kenny two years ago. Lon asked Kenny how they decided to add Eric to this year’s tour: “We had a great time when he was on the road with us in 2013, and I didn’t think he’d do it again, but I was at George Strait’s last show in Dallas, and I was on Eric’s bus, and he was telling me how much fun he had with us in 2013, and he said, ‘If you ever want me out there again, I’d like to do that again.’ I thought he was kidding. Found out he was serious. So I’m really glad he’s coming back.”
Also returning to Kenny’s tour is Jake Owen. This will be third time for Jake to join Kenny. “Jake is going to be on the majority of the arena shows. Jake did the McGraw tour, and also opened for us a few years before us. As many times as he’s toured with me, this is actually the first time he’s doing the main stage with me. He’s not doing the stadium shows because he was on the stadium shows with me and McGraw. But he’s doing a lot of shows with us in the arenas, and I’m excited to have him out there, he’s had a lot of hits since he was out with me, and I think he’s getting better and better. I love the guy, and look forward to having him out there with me.”
Brantley Gilbert is also part of the Big Revival Stadium Tour this summer. “I’ve never really spent a lot of time with Brantley, but I’ve been watching his career from afar, and seeing his success, and he’s obviously doing something right, and I respect what he’s doing, because he’s doing it like I did: Slowly.”
There’s a new artist on The Big Revival Tour: Cole Swindell. “I only met him one time, that was last month. Luke Bryan introduced me at the awards show we did in December. My dressing room was next to Luke’s and he goes, ‘Cole Swindell really wants to meet you,’ and Luke had that grin on his face, and he goes, ‘I’m gonna try to embarrass him, but he’s a big fan of yours, has been for a long time, and he really wants to meet you.’ I’d never met him til then. He just grinned real big. It was good meetin’ him, and I obviously heard his songs on the radio this year, it’s pretty unbelievable to have two songs released and two number ones. That’s pretty impressive for someone who used to sell t-shirts for Luke. I don’t think my merch guy could write songs like that!”
In the past you’ve done a couple unannounced, pop up shows in advance of your tour. Can we expect that this year? “I think so, we’ haven’t played in a while, so I think we’ll do a couple things like that. You can rehearse all you want, but until you play in front of people, it’s good to do those things. So we’ll pop up and play somewhere I’m sure.”
The cities and dates for the arena shows will be announced shortly. There’s one more stadium show that will be announced soon too. So look for big news from Kenny Chesney in the next few weeks!
Here are the dates for the Kenny Chesney & Jason Aldean stadium tour:
5/2/15 San Francisco, CA Levi’s Stadium
5/16/15 Dallas, TX AT&T Stadium
6/20/15 Green Bay, WI Lambeau Field
6/27/15 Seattle, WA CenturyLink Field
7/18/15 Minneapolis, MN Target Field
7/25/15 Pasadena, CA Rose Bowl
8/1/15 Kansas City, MO Arrowhead Stadium
8/8/15 Denver, CO Sports Authority Field at Mile High
8/15/15 E. Rutherford, NJ MetLife Stadium
8/28/15 Boston, MA Gillette Stadium
These five shows will feature Kenny Chesney & Eric Church:
Category: Audio
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
