KENNY CHESNEY SETLIST
DAN + SHAY SETLIST
OLD DOMINION SETLIST
CARLY PEARCE SETLIST
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After a couple years of start and stop, it was finally Here and Now in Kansas City--
Pandemic delays have backlogged the entire concert industry for the last couple years, from the smallest club shows to the largest festival and stadium extravaganzas, but all is now finally on a more “normal” track.
After initially being announced in Sept 2019, four-time CMA and four-consecutive-time ACM Entertainer of the Year Kenny Chesney finally brought his massive Here and Now Tour to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, playing the football stadium for his seventh time.
Like its geography, the Kansas City date is about in the middle of the 41-show spring/summer tour, which started in late April, and solid support acts Old Dominion, Dan + Shay, and Carly Pearce made for a full evening of entertainment for the almost 58,000 fans that attended.
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The reigning ACM Female Artist of the Year Carly Pearce would get things started exactly at 5pm, with an eight-song, thirty-minute set in support of 2021's breakout 29: Written in Stone (Big Machine Records) that proved to early attendees, why she was worthy of the accolade.
Dressed in blue with pleated skirt and white boots, Pearce started atop a center pedestal, but quickly made her way down to connect with the crowd. After 2020 hit, “Next Girl”, she asked “Is anybody drinking?” as a lead-in to “Hide the Wine” as a light rain began, remarked how glad she was not to have to be cleaning Airbnb homes any more like when she started, and ended with “I Hope You’re Happy Now” a 2019 duet with Lee Brice that topped the Billboard charts.
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Rain became heavy between sets, but magically seemed to let up as rising Nashville band Old Dominion took the stage next, fresh from a short-notice, free pop-up show the night before at The Truman. The five-time ACM / four-time CMA Group of the Year is out in support of 2021's Time, Tequila & Therapy (on RCA Nashville) and has become familiar to Chesney fans, having supported on the last couple tours.
Vocalist Matthew Ramsey picked up a xylophone for latest single, “No Hard Feelings”, the band worked in a couple covers mid-set- a Keith Urban single OD guitarist Brad Tursi co-wrote and Foo Fighters’ “Learn to Fly”, a tribute to their departed drummer Taylor Hawkins, and an impressive extended guitar intro prefaced 2017’s “Can’t Get You”.
Top ten single, “I Was on a Boat That Day” would end their set and was prefaced by Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Part 2” with the band not realizing it was once a KC Chiefs stadium anthem that had everyone participating with its Chiefs-custom lyrics. “We changed the way the sun was shining!” Ramsey exclaimed the end, taking note of the clearing skies.
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Four-time GRAMMY winners Dan + Shay started their sixty-five-minute set with one of their biggest hits, “10,000 Hours”, a 2019 collab with Justin Bieber that both topped charts here, as well as north of the border. The duo, Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney are out in support of 2021's Good Things (on Warner Bros Nashville) and even had Mooney’s grandfather in the audience, dedicating 2016’s From the Ground Up” to him.
Love ballad “You” is the latest single from the new album and that was followed by a Bill Withers verse that would preface 2021’s” Lying”. Before “Give in to You”, Smyers mentioned his wife Abby is from the Kansas City area and a huge Chiefs fan, which instantly got the crowd on their side, and the band ended with the chart-topping hit (that Abby even sings background on), “Tequila”.
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Though landlocked in middle of America, Kansas City was “goin’ coastal” with plenty of built-up pandemic energy in high anticipation for Kenny Chesney’s two-hour hit-filled set. His No Shoes Nation fans had tailgated both within and outside of the stadium lots for hours beforehand and the venue has become the site of memorable shows, both to the artist and audience alike, with the cover photo from his 2017 double-live album even being shot here.
“Every time we’ve gone to Kansas City, it feels like it’s the first time I’ve been there – and the way the fans sing along, you can tell how many of them have lived these songs in their own lives”, Chesney would post following the show.
The set began with a bang, roaring out with 2007’s “Beer in Mexico” which quickly established the good time vibe, and continued without pause on 2010’s “Reality” and Chesney singing, “We need a rock 'n' roll show in the summer to let the music take us away”
New band additions guitarist Danny Rader and seasoned South African drummer Nick Buda shined throughout, with regular bass player/background vocalist Harmoni Kelley also adding an additional flourish and electricity to the songs.
Fans swayed and swooned to the island vibe songs of “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem” and “When the Sun Goes Down” and the rain had long past when Chesney brought out members of Old Dominion to help out on 2014’s “Save it for a Rainy Day”, a song they all co-wrote.
Chesney had worked up a sweat only a few songs in, occasionally only stopping a moment to takes things in and thank the crowd. Ballads like “There Goes My Life” provided him a brief respite, but momentum quickly ramped up again quickly with back-to-back-to-back radio hits, “Living in Fast Forward”, “Young”, and “Noise” followed by the crowd singing the chorus of 2014’s “American Kids” back to Chesney and band.
As the main set wound down, Chesney turned to his early roots with 1998 hit, “How Forever Feels” (which has ended most primary sets on the tour thus far) but then mentioned the exemplary hospitality of the Chiefs organization and his awareness of how strong football is in the local culture and decided (somewhat last-minute) to finish with his 2010 ode to the sport, “The Boys of Fall”.
The two-song encore stayed with his early successes, beginning with 2000’s “Don’t Happen Twice” and Chesney singing, “You haven't changed a bit, you didn't think that I would remember, how could I forget” maybe an in-part appreciation to all the longtime fans in the audience, and the night would end with 1999’s “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” with the crowd singing along, that one last time.
Although the Here and Now Tour was fraught with unavoidable delays, Kenny Chesney’s seventh time playing Arrowhead Stadium turned out to be his luckiest- drawing an all-time personal best attendance to the venue, banishing away the rain, and providing anticipating fans with six hours of solid entertainment and some No Shoes Nation joy.
KENNY CHESNEY TOUR DATES
JUL 12 STATELINE, NV LAKE TAHOE OUTDOOR ARENA AT HARVEYS
JUL 13 STATELINE, NV LAKE TAHOE OUTDOOR ARENA AT HARVEYS
JUL 16 SEATTLE, WA LUMEN FIELD
JUL 19 BEND, OR HAYDEN HOMES AMPHITHEATER
JUL 20 BEND, OR HAYDEN HOMES AMPHITHEATER
JUL 23 INGLEWOOD, CA SOFI STADIUM
JUL 27 BOISE, ID FORD IDAHO CENTER AMPHITHEATER
JUL 28 SALT LAKE CITY, UT USANA AMPHITHEATER
JUL 30 DENVER, CO EMPOWER FIELD AT MILE HIGH
AUG 6 MINNEAPOLIS, MN US BANK STADIUM
AUG 10 COLUMBIA, MD MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION
AUG 11 SYRACUSE, NY ST. JOSEPH'S AMPHITHEATER AT LAKEVIEW
AUG 13 EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ METLIFE STADIUM
AUG 18 COLUMBUS, OH HISTORIC CREW STADIUM
AUG 20 DETROIT, MI FORD FIELD
AUG 26 FOXBORO, MA GILLETTE STADIUM
AUG 27 FOXBORO, MA GILLETTE STADIUM
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Carly Pearce |
Carly Pearce |
Carly Pearce |
Carly Pearce |
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Old Dominion |
Old Dominion |
Old Dominion |
Old Dominion |
Old Dominion |
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Dan and Shay |
Dan and Shay |
Dan and Shay |
Dan and Shay |
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Kenny Chesney |
Kenny Chesney |
Kenny Chesney |
Kenny Chesney |
Kenny Chesney |
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Kenny Chesney |
Kenny Chesney |
Kenny Chesney |
Kenny Chesney |
Kenny Chesney |
| john ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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