Kenny Chesney loves 'Burgh folks on their boats
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If you were tailgating on or near the Ohio River prior to the Kenny Chesney show in June at Heinz Field, you may have witnessed the country superstar cruise through the packed lots in a pickup truck and end up on top of a houseboat banging out acoustic songs.
If you missed it, you can see it in "Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D," a new concert film opening Wednesday that was shot over six nights in five locations on the Sun City Carnival Tour.
Why the 'Burgh?
"I think I played that stadium now four times," he says in a phone interview, "and it's always been a very special night. It was important for me to capture the energy of that stadium and energy of the people, of the boats on the river.
"One thing I look forward to are the people on the boats. It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon and they were already acting like it was 9 o'clock at night. For a guy like me -- the guy they're coming to see -- it makes you feel really good. It just so happened last year, there was a guy who had a mini-stage set up and he was down there singing, so me and my guitar player, Clayton, and Wyatt, my piano player, went down and started playing for people. We captured that in 3-D, too, and it's a really cool part of the movie. It captured why I like to come to Pittsburgh in the first place. One of the reasons that place is so special is I do feel a commonality with the people there who come see us play. I feel like I grew up just like them. I come from a family who had to work for everything they had but still love to have a good time on Friday and Saturday."
For Kenny Chesney, a Knoxville, Tenn., native and former high school football star, the work of writing songs and paying his dues in clubs and opening slots has paid off -- dearly. His career started to take off with his fourth album, 1999's "Everywhere We Go," and went to the next level three years later with the chart-topping "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems." He's now charted 19 No. 1 country hits, sold more than 35 million records and, over each of the past eight summers, sold more than a million concert tickets, to become one of the top touring acts of the decade. The movie attempts to tell the whole story, combining scenes from the most recent tour with extensive archival footage showing how he got there.
"I look pretty bad in a mullet," he says "I practically had a mullet back in '93. You go, 'Why am I not selling any records?' Just look at your picture, dude!," he adds, cracking up.
First Published April 18, 2010 12:00 am
