Kenny Chesney finished out his two-night stand at Mohegan Sun with a two hour concert on Saturday.
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Kenny Chesney played Mohegan Sun Saturday night.
In box office terms, Kenny Chesney is “bankable,” a performer guaranteed to sell tickets, multiple nights in arenas, sold out shows at stadiums, wherever…whenever.
His two night stand at the Connecticut casino was no exception and the singer met all expectations with a wire-to-wire, full-throttle performance.
Chesney’s mass appeal is the not-so-secret to his success from his mash-up of new and traditional country to his parroting of the "Parrothead" motif made famous by Jimmy Buffett. You don’t have to like country to like Kenny, but if you do, you’re still going to like Kenny.
Chesney seems as unassuming and genuine as one could be when 10,000 people are shouting your name. At times during the night he seemed taken aback by the rabid response from the crowd.
He opened the show with the rock-country “Feel Like A Rock Star” after eight minutes of pomp-and-circumstance that included t-shirt cannons and a heavily-sponsored video montage. Chesney was backed by a seven-piece band and flanked by three cameramen who quarried his every move for the video screen.
While he has no doubt gotten mileage from re-hashing Jimmy Buffett’s island themes with songs like “Beer in Mexico” “Pirate Flag” and “Summertime,” Chesney’s true calling is the pure new country hits that put him on these big stages.
Songs like “I Go Back,” “Living In Fast Forward,” and “How Forever Feels,” were the real highlights of the night along with an emotional tribute to the victims of Newtown with “On the Coast of Somewhere Beautiful.”
Chesney went back to island country for a bit with the song “When the Sun Goes Down,” but returned to his roots with the set closer “The Boys of Fall.” He encored with his 1999 hit “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.”
The show was bolstered by two solid opening acts; The Eli Young Band and Kacey Musgraves.
The Eli Young Band has been at it for over a decade and has recently garnered hits with “Crazy Girl” and “Even If It Breaks Your Heart.” While those songs were well-received, it was the covers of Lynyrd Skynrd’s “Gimme Three Steps,” and Tom Petty’s “Learning to Fly,” that garnered the most attention from the crowd.
Musgraves offered a half hour set that seemed to hit home with smoldering country songs like “Merry Go Round,” and “Mama’s Broken Heart” which she wrote for Miranda Lambert. In fact, Lambert is a good comparison for those looking to pin a tag on Musgraves who seems ready to assume a starring role.
