Neither Snow, Nor Sleet Could Stop No Shoes Nation
Setting a New Milwaukee Record for the East Tennessean Superstar
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Never mind all the snow piled up in the parking lots, the No Shoes Nation came out in full force for Kenny Chesney’s Trip Around the Sun Tour 2018, drawing 43,526 to Miller Park stadium. That number marks a personal record at Miller Park for the man The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Jon Bream called “the high-energy country music stadium king.”
If the temperature outside was in the 30s, you’d never know it from the temperature generated by the fans who rocked through a blistering 28-song set. Laughing after the show, Chesney confessed, “It was freezing. I couldn’t move my fingers to play on some songs, but the audience was so incredible…it didn’t matter! They were rocking so hard and so hot we couldn’t stop ourselves.”
Indeed, Chesney — in the spirit of the night – played just one ballad: Scooter Carusoe’s now classic “Anything But Mine.” Otherwise, it was a high-octane night filled with Chesney’s most propulsive hits, including “American Kids,” “Out Last Night,” “Big Star,” “Noise” and the brand new and screaming up the charts “Get Along.”
“For a brand new song,” Chesney marveled, “they sing every word of that chorus like they’ve known it for years. I think it’s partially because it’s an idea people are so hungry for right now: getting along with people, even the ones you don’t know, because the world is becoming such a loud, angry place.”
The 8-time Entertainer of the Year also brought a surprise guest with him. With their duet “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” climbing the charts, David Lee Murphy strode from the wings, acoustic guitar already on for a three-song mini-set that also included his signature “Dust On The Bottle” and “Party Crowd.”
“It’s amazing the way the crowd responded to David Lee and that real classic party kind of country music,” Chesney says. “You know, ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’ is sitting at #9, and you can feel how much people love that song when you hear them screaming like that when you hear them screaming and singing along like that when they hear the intro.”
Marking a second straight sold out stadium on Chesney’s eagerly anticipated Trip Around the Sun Tour, the man The Wall Street Journal deemed “The King of the Road” heads into Minneapolis’ US Bank Stadium blazing. Though it may not feel like summer in some of these early dates, the two hour-plus shows celebrate all the things that No Shoes Nation represents.
“The best thing about No Shoes Nation is, above all, the music,” Chesney says. “Like me, they live their life in these songs. Happy, sad, big win, life lesson, it’s all there – and when they sing you can tell, the songs are as much theirs as they ever were mine. Maybe that’s part of what makes the energy at these stadium shows this year so electric.”
Kenny Chesney’s “Trip Around the Sun Tour 2018” with Thomas Rhett, Old Dominion + Brandon Lay
May 5 US Bank Stadium Minneapolis, Minn.
May 19 AT&T Stadium
May 26 Mercedes-Benz Stadium Atlanta, Ga.
June 2 Heinz Field
June 9 Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, Pa.
June 16 MAPFRE Stadium Columbus, Ohio
June 23 Chase Field
June 30 Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium Denver, Colo.
July 7 Centurylink Field
July 14 Arrowhead Stadium
July 21 Busch Stadium
July 28 Soldier Field
August 4 Ford Field
August 11 Nissan Stadium
August 18 MetLife Stadium
August 24 Gillette Stadium
August 25 Gillette Stadium
(Gillette show will have Dierks Bentley, Brothers Osborne + Brandon Lay)