Tag Archives: Trip Around the Sun

KENNY CHESNEY CLOSES 2018 TRIP AROUND THE SUN TOUR IN BOSTON

Hits a Million Tickets at Gillette Stadium, While Breaking His Own Record

121,714 Over Two Nights in Foxborough Means 1,090,326 Since 2005; 1.3 Million in 2018

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — With an opening video welcome from the New England Patriots organization that included Robert and Jonathan Kraft, head coach Bill Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady, tight end Rob Gronkowski, wide receiver Cordarelle Patterson, offensive linemen Marcus Cannon and David Andrews, plus Patriots Broadcast Analyst Scott Zolak and members of the Massachusetts State Police Mounted United, the greater Boston area was all in for Kenny Chesney’s 18th and 19th shows at Gillette Stadium. With two night attendance of 121,714 – as Chesney’s team worked to make more tickets available this morning – the 8-time Entertainer of the Year not only broke his own attendance record, but he surpassed the million ticket mark by over 90,000.

“This is so much bigger than all of us,” Chesney told Saturday night’s crowd. “It’s like destiny.”

Certainly the man Variety called ‘Country music’s only true long-term stadium act’ and The Wall Street Journal deemed ‘The New England Patriots’ Other Star’ hit the stage both nights intent on rocking the packed stadium with everything he had. By the time guitarist Kenny Greenberg swooped in to a vamp on Bachman Turner Overdrive’s ‘Taking Care of Business’ in the show opening ‘Beer In Mexico,’ the East Tennessee songwriter/superstar was covered in sweat from racing from one side of the 40 foot strut to the other. Throwing himself at the music, the audience cheered – often for 40, 60, 90 seconds between songs – and sang the songs back with a fervor that pushed the energy even higher.

“This entire summer has been a new threshold in terms of how No Shoes Nation has come at these songs, these shows, these moments,” reflected the man who just notched his 30th No. 1 Billboard Country single. “Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, something else would happen… And then we saw a whole new response, whether it was the cheers, the way the audiences sang or the looks on people’s faces. It was incredible.”

Invoking Robert Kraft’s philosophy that sports, music and traditions bring people together, the only country artist on Pollstar’s Mid-Year Top 10 Tours thanked the assembled audience for allowing him to become one of their traditions. Sharing the love of sports and music, Chesney closed both nights with ‘The Boys of Fall,’ his ode to the honor code of high school football players everywhere.

He also played ‘(She Comes from) Boston’ both nights. Saturday, he brought millionth ticket purchaser Karen Duggan on stage, explaining that she represented each and every one of them before performing the song about the island dwelling expat to the capacity crowd.

“The spirit of the people of Boston have been part of this journey since the first year we started playing stadiums. They love life, they work hard, they believe in music – and they understand how much I see their lives in my own life. I’d’ve never believed when I was young that I would play, let alone sell out the stadium where the Patriots play. But when I hear those voices as I hit that stage, I’m sure glad unthinkable dreams come true.”

Over a dozen years, Chesney rocked 1,090,326 people across 19 shows in Boston. Chesney also had another platinum summer. With just under 1.3 million total attendance, he racked up 1,298,088 tickets sold across 19 stadiums and 41 total shows on his Trip Around the Sun Tour.

Photo Credit: Allister Ann

Catching up with NECM Artist to Watch Brandon Lay

New England Country Music 2018 artist to watch Brandon Lay has had a busy spring. He has played several stadiums as part of Kenny Chesney’s 2018 Trip Around the Sun tour which will continue all summer, leading up to the seemingly annual end-of-summer party at Gillette Stadium, and also put out his new single ‘Yada Yada Yada.’ Brandon was kind enough to take some time to talk to us as he geared up to play AT&T Stadium in Dallas this past weekend.

Brandon has been touring and building a following basically since he moved to Nashville in 2010. Last year he officially put out his debut single ‘Speakers Bleachers and Preachers’. The autobiographical song describes his upbringing. While the writing is specific to his experiences, fans from all walks of life have been drawn to the song and related it to their own lives. As Brandon explains, “I grew up in a small town in West Tennessee, right between Memphis and Nashville, Jackson is my hometown. Life pretty much revolved around playing ball, going to church, and going to school and chasing girls around Jackson. It’s a quite literal approach we took to writing the song. There were some lines in it like the Kroger Parking Lot and the Kenny Chesney line and the Black and Milds that are so specific, but it was cool to see people fill in the blanks. Maybe those weren’t the exact details of their upbringing but its cool to see people relate to it.”

We joked with Brandon that his teachers might be upset they didn’t make the song (he said they aren’t, he caught up with some recently who were very supportive), one person who did make the cut was now tourmate Kenny Chesney, with Lay singing “Any Chesney song gonna make her dance.” The line was not an attempt to butter Kenny up for a spot on his tour, it was just part of  Brandon’s life experiences. In fact, the first concert he ever went to was Kenny’s local stop on his first headlining tour. Though at the time we talked, he was only 3 weekends into the Trip Around the Sun tour, Lay says its already been an “electric” experience- “I’ve been really surprised at how many people have actually made into the stadium for our set. We kick off at 5 followed by OD (Old Dominion) and Thomas Rhett and obviously Kenny. The crowds have been great and I’ve learned so much already just from Kenny and his crew. It really is a dream situation so we’re trying to take advantage of it… (it’s) been a life changer already that I’m thankful for.”

One song fans have been hearing at his live shows is his new single ‘Yada Yada Yada’ which to us sounds like a warm breeze feels. It’s the perfect song for summer. Brandon says the song is “the other end of the spectrum” as far as his writing and style from ‘Speakers Bleachers and Preachers.’ “Since SBP was so literal with the way we wrote it, I wanted something that was kinda the opposite of that and a little unexpected. I’ve been in Nashville while writing songs and I’ve gotten to write with a lot of other good writers. Coming out of the gate we wanted something that gives that sense of background and we just decided to follow it up with something that’s just fun and didn’t try to move the world.” The song really hits the spot as a carefree summer song that we know we’ll be whistling along to all summer.

Of course the highlight to any New Englander’s summer is the 2 nights Kenny Chesney brings his tour to Gillette Stadium. Last year Brandon played a pregame party at Toby Keith’s at Patriot Place but was able to check out both nights, something he described as being “unlike any other” and he can’t wait to be a bigger part of it this year.

In addition to 2 nights at Gillette Stadium in August, Brandon will be playing a free show at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den on June 7th. You can follow Brandon on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to check out brandonlay.com for a full list of tour dates and info on his upcoming debut album due later this year.