"You know it's just surreal, but what a way to start out our year and our tour," said Chesney of the July 26 sell out of the Poets & Pirates tour at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. "I was home for Thanksgiving, thinking about how far we've come and the people who've been a part of it, like the fans that have come out and rocked with us in Boston for years. Boston, Massachusetts? A kid from outside Knoxville like me? It's kinda crazy.
"But it's amazing how people everywhere like to get together, have a party, forget about what's bothering them," Chesney said. "I try to make these shows be the kinda thing people can build a summer around - all the memories, the friends, the good times. Boston, when you guys buy all these tickets so fast, you make me feel like we're connecting just the way we hope we can."
Joining Chesney for this year's show will be Keith Urban, Sammy Hagar, LeAnn Rimes and Gary Allen.
"It's gonna be a big day of all kinds of music," said Chesney. "I am a fan of every one of these acts - and they each bring something a bit different to the mix. Whether it's Sammy's hardcore rocking or Gary Allen's West Coast cool, LeAnn Rime's freshness and just everything about what my good friend Keith Urban does, this will be a day where you're gonna be engaged from the moment you get there."
"There isn't a kind of show I don't like playing," Chesney said. "But there's something about the stadium shows, an intensity to them, and last year, an odd kind of intimacy. There is no rush like it - and the fans, especially ones at far back, they are so in the music, we can feel them from the stage. Right now, I gotta tell you: I'm starting to get psyched about getting back to rehearsals and getting out there."
