Reviews Written by The

Gone Country Magazine

Pros: "One of His Greatest Performances"

Cons: " Sad the show had to end"

KENNY CHESNEY - What can you really say about a Kenny Chesney performance. He is on top of the world right now and is without a doubt one of the hottest performers out there and the 29K at Toyota Park would agree. As the opening notes of "Summertime" hit the crowd went crazy and as the curtain on the stage fell Chesney played Houdini and came out of a box that rose up in the middle of the crowd. He literally started the show in the middle of the crowd and as he made his way to the stage through the crowd the band kicked into "Live These Songs." Chesney had an excitement about him as he bounced around stage and the crowd sang back to him and the energy just kept on coming. "Big Star," followed by "Keg In The Closet," and the crowd was with him the whole time. They were jumping up and down with Chesney and screaming his lyrics back at him as they sang along. Chesney paused for a moment to say "We all have problems in our lives, but not tonight, tonight we are here to forget about our problems and just have a good time listening to some music," and with that he went into "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem." After 5 songs, and about 20 minutes Chesney went into his first slower paced song with "There Goes My Life," accompanied by a video wall that showed video's of nostalgia of kids growing up and moving on as the song lyrics state. He went right back into the energy after this with "Living In Fast Forward," followed closely by "Young." He had this crowd captured the minute the opening notes of his set hit, but with his energetic songs he was able to keep them rocking right along with him throughout the first part of his set.
The second half of Chensey's set kicked off with what he declared "my favorite song I ever recorded," and the carousel appeared on the screen and in the faint distance you could hear the words "And In The Mornin…" and the crowd took it from there bringing a smile to Chesney's face as he went into "Anything But Mine." As this song came to a close he stated that the next song was one of his favorites that he wrote and went into "I Go Back." The crowd remained standing as he performed a medley of slower paced songs that he dedicated to the radio stations that helped make him as popular as he is and as the medley came to an end it was right into "Back Where I Come From." What Chesney does with the on stage video's for this song is pretty amazing. If you have never seen him before, he takes videos of the city he is playing in and runs them in a loop behind him as he sings the song. In Chicago's case things like Wrigley Field showed up (which the south side crowd booed) and when the White Sox showed up a huge ovation followed. It is really something you have to witness in person. Another older tune, "Don't Happen Twice" followed which kept the crowd dancing along with Chesney as he bounced around the stage. The island influenced "When The Sun Goes Down" came next in the set and the crowd was greeted by none other than Uncle Kracker on this one. The crowd went nuts for Kracker and Chesney seemed excited to have him by his side as they sang together on this one. Chesney took time to say that the next song is one of his all time favorite songs and it was since he first heard and he let Uncle Kracker take center stage with his song "Follow Me." Kracker exited after this tune as Chesney and his band went into "How Forever Feels," and as he said goodnight, Chesney exited the stage as his band played on, but the crowd knew that Chesney would be back out for an encore and they were right.

He came back out for his encore with "Who'd You'd Be Today," which is going on to become a sentimental favorite amongst his fans. As he played the song images of fallen heroes showed up on the screen behind him (Hank W ...