Kenny Chesney Takes It to the Limits
Kenny Chesney's big Austin City Limits show premieres on PBS Saturday (Oct. 17). And I have an assignment for you. Watch it, and then come back here and tell me your favorite parts. I want to know if other people see the little nuances I have seen. The whole thing is an hour-long show of Chesney doing his Chesney thing. But it's not quite as rowdy as one of his stadium shows, which means you can really see and hear more. And typically, you're sober when you're watching TV, which is not always the case at one of his concerts.
Some of the seven standouts (the good and bad) for me were:
1. The low stage. At his shows, Chensey is a good five feet above the folks in the front row. So having him on a stage that's only a foot or so high makes him seem more connected to the crowd. Love that.
2. Stupid cowboy hat. I hate that you can never really see Chesney's eyes because of the shadow of the brim of his hat. The cameramen must not know that the eyes are the window to the soul.
3. Moonshine. All these years when Chesney sang "Back Where I Come From," I thought that the second verse ("We learned in the Sunday school, who made the sun shine through, I know who made the moon shine too") meant that he knew that God was in charge of powering the moon's shine. But during this particular performance, he has his pal Mac McAnally sing that and it takes on an entirely different meaning. Like, I know who makes moonshine, and it's this guy named Carl who lives in a shack in the Appalachians.
4. A guitar like Trigger. The Takamine guitar Chesney is playing has a well worn top from flat picking. I never knew Chesney played that hard, that his guitar would get to the point that it looks almost like Willie Nelson's guitar, Trigger.
5. Banjo work. It's crazy good on "Never Wanted Nothing More."
6. Chesney's youth. He talks about growing up in East Tennessee and how everything revolved around "Friends, family, school, girls, sports and church." I wonder if he still feels that way now.
7. The closing. There's an interview nestled into the performance, and in it, Chesney closes by saying, "I like to think that I haven't written my best song yet."
Photo Credit: Scott Newton/KLRU/PBS
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of
Deb says:
Alison, I can’t believe you just now after all these years get he’s singing about moonshine “the home made kind”. LOL!! I think you may need to listen to Key Lime Pie you might be a little surprised about the hidden meaning behind that song. It’s kinda funny if you think about it.
I will watch this show and I’ll let you know what I think.
I been waiting on this for a while.
Jim says:
How can Kenny be so popular when he takes about 4 basic songs and redoes them over and over again with small changes?…
“we were mostly… young”
” the keg in the…closet”
The two songs are just too similar. He’s got to get original again before he gets “mostly…old”
I hope he truns things around.
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Matt says:
He totally copied the ideas in connecting with the audience from Keith Urban’s past two tours. I can say this from experience because I was front row at a Chesney concert this summer and he literally took MY camera out of MY hands and gave it to security. I got my camera back, but no memory card.
lil star says:
I loved the show. I always thought that I would love to see Kenny in concert but, to be honest I think I liked him being closer to the audiance.
I love all of Kenny’s music. I don’t care if some songs are simular. Kenny really puts everything he has in his music. I look forward to all of his future music, and I hope to see more of him on tv specials.
Deb says:
Alison, the show was really good, I agree about the hat I wish he’d wore a ball cap backwards or no hat’s fine with me. I was glad he done Me And You, Don’t Happen Twice, but my favorite part was when he did Old Blue Chair and Somewhere In The Sun although he said he’d never sung it live he did do it for the CMT Pick DVD. Maybe he forgot.
All in all I loved it!!
Matt, you don’t know what your talking about Keith was on tour with Kenny and even said him self that he learned a lot about connecting with fans from Kenny.
timcun says:
I live in Oregon so won’t get to see this show until Friday, October 23.
lioness says:
Kenny is always hiding his eyes behind that hat. Most pictures you see of his eyes showing, he’s squinting. When he accepted the entertainer award last year, you couldn’t even see his face. I use to like Kenny ok, but was at his concert when Keith toured with him and I really connected more with Keith and still do. It’s funny how some artist you seem to connect with more than the other. I think all artist copy from one another. I’ve read in some reviews of some things Ms. Swift has started doing similiar to Keith Urban since she toured with Keith, but that’s the way it goes. I just hope Keith doesn’t start beating on drumcans like she does! lol!
zena says:
What does Keith Urban have to do with Kenny taking your camera and security giving it back to you without a memory card?
If you’re in the front row at a Keith show, he will take your camera, take a pic of you and he and give it back to you, if anything.
I thought the ACL show was great. Agree abt the stupid cowboy hat though!
Pecos Pete says:
With any luck, The Band of Heathens show on Nov.7 on ACL will wash away any of the Chesney funk leftover from his show.
Katrina says:
kenny took amay the camera bk int has something tyo do with i=his proomoters that YOU ARE NOT ALOUD TO RECORD LIVE!! if ur camera took video or able to take video then he would take it away!!