| Concert Review of Kenny Chesney at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre on Sat Aug 11, 2007 |
| Event Date |
| Sat Aug 11, 2007 |
| Source |
| Chicago Sun-Times |
| Search for Tickets |
| http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/767989 |
| Concert Review Preview |
| Chesney's music takes 2nd place to day of alcohol MUSIC REVIEW | Many fans dedicated to drinking, not listening to his hit list August 13, 2007 BY BOBBY REED Party guests sometimes ignore their host. So it goes for many fans at a Kenny Chesney concert, where the fun atmosphere and the ubiquitous libations often take center stage, making the music itself tangential entertainment. Like his hero Jimmy Buffett, Chesney has become the ringmaster of an alcohol-fueled circus that begins with tailgating in the afternoon and ends with a concert in the evening. Thanks to hit singles and a rabid, expanding fan base, Chesney has become one of the biggest concert draws of any genre. At showtime on Saturday night, the parking lots surrounding the sold-out First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre were littered with debris from fans who had arrived hours earlier: beer cans, liquor bottles and food wrappers, grilling equipment, a miniature swimming pool and the wooden ramps of a bean-bag game. Inside the venue, sweaty vendors sold "regular'' margaritas ($10) and "yard" ones ($15) beneath signs emphatically declaring "Alcohol sales will begin at 4:00 p.m.!'' Chesney took the stage at 9:05 p.m., opening his set with three songs that celebrate the act of imbibing -- "Beer in Mexico," "Keg in the Closet'' and "Summertime.'' By that hour, fans were either so excited (or intoxicated) that the quality of the musical performance hardly seemed to matter. Chesney competently sang numerous big hits, delivering a predictable set list familiar to anyone who attended his concert at Toyota Park in September or purchased his 2006 concert disc, "Live: Live Those Songs Again." Wearing a sleeveless University of Illinois T-shirt, blue jeans, cowboy boots and a black cowboy hat, Chesney belted out concert staples like "Back Where I Come From," "Don't Happen Twice" and "How Forever Feels" before encoring with "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy.". |
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| User Comments |
| The sound quality on the lawn was TERRIBLE. It was quiet and muffled. Kenny seemed like he was just going through the motions. I think all the years of touring have finally caught up with him. |
| Had Cheap seats. Could not hear him either. Nothing outstanding about the performance. Just average. |
| Lawn seats, awful. Couldn't hear anything. Not happy with his boring entrance, thought he was known for his entrances... No special tributes, guests, no crowd interaction. Very disappointing... |
| I agree with others- the sound sucked, especially toward the end, didn't seem to end with any big finale, surprised by all the great songs that were left out. Was actually just really disappointed overall. |
| This clown is past him prime!! A total waste of money. |
| Kenny performed great! Although it may appear to many that he left out many great songs, those many people are right for the sole reason that Kenny has SO MANY great songs. I am sure that many of his die-hard fans and other country music fans could listen to him play for 3-4 hours. I admit that the lawn is not a very good seat, but you get what you pay for. I too purchased a lawn seat and agree that the sound was not the best but being that I have worked at many shows and understand how set-up goes and operations, this is not something that Kenny Chesney himself could have fixed. The production company and amphitheater should have addressed audio concerns well before the day or week of the show. |
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