Chicago/Nashville: With his high-energy, higher-good vibes Sun City Carnival spreading across three pages of Entertainment Weekly, Kenny Chesney hit Chicago’s Soldiers Field with his sails full and his mind on rocking the fans who’d braved afternoon rains to spend one magical evening under the stars with the man who The Los Angeles Times called, “The People’s Entertainer.” And from the moment the 4-straight Academy of Country Music and 4-time and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year emerged from the behind the video console at the far 30 yard line, it was obvious Chesney had come to play. 

“So many amazing nights have already happened this year,” Chesney said immediately after. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all, there’s nothing new you can see or experience out here, something like that rain in Dallas and the way those fans stuck with us… or the people on their boats in the rivers around Pittsburgh… or even just the way you’re sure it can’t get any louder, any better, any more – and it does… Well, that’s the thing that keeps you fired up, that keeps you wanting to throw harder, and there is nothing like that to a bunch of ole boys like us.” 

And after blazing through his set, Chesney took a hard left at what is traditionally the set and hurled himself head first into “Take It Easy,” igniting perhaps the world’s largest Keg In The Closet show on his Corona Extra sponsored Sun City Carnival Tour. What followed was a free-for-all of ad hoc playing, homages to influences that included Steve Miller’s “The Joker,” Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” George Strait’s “The Fireman” and John Mellencamp’s “Hurt So Good,” as well as an extended turn on Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” that featured vocals from Wailers Band mate Drummy Zeb. 

The Chicago Tribune proclaimed, “Kenny Chesney can sing… Chesney’s talent for singing stories about good times and bad. He did it with his own brand of country baritone. One with less twang and more heart. But it made it easy to see past the frat party Kenny Chesney concerts have become, and see how deep this country megastar’s talent really runs,” while The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, “Chesney sells concert tickets by the tractor-load. Even in this bad economy, the country superstar filled Soldier Field on Saturday night, just as he did last year.”