It isn’t very often that an artist plays for over 1,000,000 fans at a single venue. It takes a long period of time with huge crowds each time. That is something that only a few artists can probably do. But it is something that Kenny Chesney did last month as he officially played for over 1,000,000 fans during his years playing at Gillette Stadium.
When it was announced before the shows that the weekend would mark the 1,000,000 fans threshold, rumors began to swirl around of what exactly would happen to celebrate the feat. And when Karen D. from Rhode Island was brought on stage during the Saturday night show of the weekend and celebrated as the 1,000,000th fan, we still didn’t know much.
But we have found out! We reached out to Karen to see if she would be willing to chat with us about the experience and thankfully she did! Karen is a pediatric nurse who is also very passionate about dogs and rescuing dogs. She considers herself as a superfan- as she’s been seeing Kenny at Gillette every year going back to 2005 with some years, going both nights. Check out the transcript below of our chat with Karen!
NECM: When you brought these tickets, did you have any idea what these tickets actually were?
KD: I had no idea. I got an e-mail on Wednesday from Gillette saying I had won a Meet and Greet but I still didn’t know I had the 1,000,000th ticket. I didn’t know until Kenny Chesney and Robert Kraft facetimed me the next day.
NECM: How surprised were you to see Kenny and Robert Kraft on Facetime?
KD: I’ve never even Facetimed before. I wasn’t even sure I would be able to open the call properly because I had never Facetimed before prior to that day. I thought security was calling me as I was told someone from Gillette Stadium would be calling between 2 and 4 to inform me how to get my backstage passes. So when they called the next day, I wasn’t expecting it. I just started screaming and laughing. They let me know I bought the 1 millionth ticket. Mr. Kraft said how much he values first responders and that’s when he said he wanted to gift me season tickets for the Patriots. And then Kenny mentioned that he knew I was involved in the welfare of animals and animal rescue, which is when he said he wanted to give me the trip. They wouldn’t tell me how they knew these things about me, I asked, and they just said that they did their research.
NECM: I saw you got a custom guitar- who gave that to you and what does the message say?
KD: When I was backstage for the Meet and Greet and Kenny came into the room he had the guitar and he handed it to me. It says, “Karen, love you a million times, Kenny 2018.”
NECM: So you got to meet Kenny… What did he say to you? What did you say to him?
KD: It went great. I was really nervous. When we first went backstage, we spent a lot of time with some of the management from Gillette- Lindsay, Jess and Kassie. They just sat with us while we waited for everyone to come together, which was great because they kept me really calm. Initially, Mr. Kraft and Jonathan Kraft came in as well as some other members of the Patriots organization and Mr. Kraft presented me with the season tickets. He asked me if I had picked my trip yet and I told him where. He had never heard of Puppy Island but he actually was looking it up on his phone while I was talking to him. He was very down to earth. And then Kenny came in and presented me with the guitar and thanked me for coming to his concerts and supporting him and being the 1,000,000thticket buyer.
NECM: I saw you up on stage during the show, did you use the million seats at all during the show?
KD: I never went to my seats. When we first arrived there, we were told to meet up with the Gillette contact I had. They took us backstage for the Meet and Greet and we were then told we got upgraded to the Sandbar. We went out to the Sandbar after the Meet and Greet but you couldn’t get close to the stage because at that point, everyone had already gotten in for the opening acts. We also got to watch the show from the staging area above the soundbooth.
NECM: How was it being up on stage in front of all those fans!?
KD: It was overwhelming, I was very nervous backstage waiting to go out. I really couldn’t hear him calling my name to come out. So I think he waved twice to come out and I ran out. I didn’t really notice the people. I was just so focused on Kenny and being there in the moment that I didn’t realize how big the audience was. I glanced out a few times but once I got out there, I was very calm.
NECM: What is your favorite Kenny song?
KD: Now it’s going be ‘Don’t Happen Twice’ – cause something like this is never gonna happen twice. But ‘Boston’ is my favorite Kenny song which is what he sang when I came out.
NECM: Has the shock and awe of this whole experience worn off at all or are you still on cloud nine?
KD: It’s going to be hard to compete with Countryfest when I go next year after this.
NECM: If you could say something to Kenny now, what would you say?
KD: Just thank you. This is really about him. He sold 1,000,000 tickets in 1 stadium alone and for him to celebrate with his fans and be so generous, it is overwhelming and I don’t think I can say thank you enogh.