For Immediate Release
1 August 2005
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Kenny Rocks Nearly 55,000 -- Give or Take A Few Hundred Boats -- in Pittsburgh
Sold-Out Stadium Show Captured for ABC Special To Air Nov. 23


   Pittsburgh, PA: If you don't count the well over 3,000 people on boats anchored in the rivers surrounding Heinz Field, Kenny Chesney still managed to rock close to 55,000 people in Pittsburgh for the final show of his Somewhere in the Sun Stadium-Sized run. Thankfully, the good folks from ABC were on hand to capture what was a very magical evening.

   "Every one of the big shows was awesome," says the soft-spoken Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year, "but there was just something about Pittsburgh. Those people came primed and ready to rock -- and they really, really pushed us. When we all walked offstage, everybody in the band, the crew was just grinnin' -- 'cause that show was hands down the best stadium show ever, even better than (the 2003) Neyland Stadium (Homecoming); and Neyland was amazing for all of us."

   With two fistfuls of hits and a few surprises, Chesney kept the crowd of 54,133 on their feet from the time the kabuki screen dropped and the chorus of "Young" surged. Indeed, the high-energy show connected so hard with the fans The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette headlined their review, "Chesney's energy heats up Heinz Field."

   "It just seems like this entire summer, the momentum's been crazy," says the man whose tour is the most attended show of the first half of this year in any genre. "Just when you're sure there isn't any more energy in the universe, you get to a show -- and the fans show you. I mean the people coming out are craaazy, crazy fun. They start tailgating and laughing and hanging out in the early afternoon, so I kinda just think I'm pretty lucky they let me come to their party."

   When Chesney got word the tailgating had spread to the river, the always-up-for-anything singer/songwriter couldn't resist seeing it for himself. So TV special or not, he jumped into a Gator and took off for the water -- where he signed boats, sipped drinks and laughed with the gathered fans who'd found a way to get even more literal about the man whose introspective rumination on island life Be As You Are: Songs From An Old Blue Chair debuted at #1 earlier this year without a single or a tour.

   "That is the thing about the people who love my music; they KNOW how to have a good time," Chesney admits with a laugh. "You can hear 'em out there having fun. You realize the party is all about their friends and hanging out and making memories, so to be part of that, well, it's pretty cool. I only hope all these people realize, they're helping us make memories, too."

   Directed by Gary Halvorson and produced by Robert Deaton and George Flanigen, "Kenny Chesney: Somewhere In The Sun" marks the Luttrell, Tennessean's network special debut. The show -- which airs on ABC on Nov. 23 -- will juxtapose the high intensity stadium show and full-tilt road life with Chesney's more laidback existence in the islands, offering a strong portrait of the man whose hits include "There Goes My Life," "When The Sun Goes Down," "Young," "Anything But Mine," "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem" and "Big Star."

   Chesney's in the midst of finishing The Road & The Radio, which arrives in stores Nov. 8. Waist deep in his most successful tour ever, look for Chesney, guests Gretchen Wilson and Pat Green to keep tearing the tour straight through to August 28 at Louisville's Freedom Hall. He'll also be at Farm Aid Sept. 18 in Tinley Park, Illinois.

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