Rocks 53,416 @ Met-Life Stadium, “Good Morning America” Concert

Kenny Chesney hit Manhattan hard – with a bring on the sun “Good
Morning America” Summer Concert Series performance in Central Park
Friday morning, followed by a sold out show for 53,461 shrieking country
fans at Met-Life Stadium on Saturday night. With two appearances on
People.com and a photo session with iconic rock photographer Danny
Clinch, Chesney made the most of his time in New York.

“There is so much history here, in terms of the music,”
Chesney said of his 100th stadium show in less than eight years. “This
is my third time playing the Meadowlands, and every time I hit that
stage, I think of all the people who’ve played there – and I listen to
that crowd all day, getting fired up and you have no idea the way those
fans inspire us! You just wanna get out there – and give them everything
you’ve got. To me, that’s what it’s all about.”

Taking the stage at just after 8:30, it was an almost two
hour set that included old favorites, songs from his #1 Billboard
all-genre Top 200 Albums debut Life On A Rock and a intimate
man-and-his-guitar rendition of the Grammy nominated “You & Tequila”
that found the crowd singing the chorus unaccompanied back to the
8-time Entertainer of the Year. Eric Church joined him for a
particularly heartfelt “When I See This Bar,” a song that celebrates the
people we are and the places we come of age.

In addition to giving a youngster in the crowd a signed
acoustic guitar, Chesney paid homage to the two NFL teams that play in
Met Life Stadium – bestowing a team helmet for the Giants, and another
for the Jets to two more eager fans. Equally eager was the female fan
who climbed on stage towards set’s end and danced with the sweat-soaked
singer for almost an entire song.

“The fans are unbelievable,” Chesney said after. “They
come early, they rock hard and they throw down a gauntlet. You need to
measure up, and it’s awesome when you hurl everything at them, and you
feel even more energy coming back at you”

Though rain plagued the soundcheck for Chesney’s 4-song
mini-set for “Good Morning America,” the weather cleared for the nearly
5000 who showed up. In addition to performing, the show featured
Chesney’s Spread the Love Fund, established to help the amputee victims
of the Boston Marathon bombing. With heart-shaped signs sprinkled
through the crowd, many wearing Spread the Love shirts (http://images-staging.musictoday.com/Stores/kennychesney050913.asp), it was the single greatest visibility hit the charity has had since its inception.

“What people don’t realize,” Chesney says of his
commitment to the fund named for his Wailers’ collaboration, “is that
just because the tragedy isn’t in the news, it’s not over for the people
who lost limbs – or their families. They need physical therapy, more
equipment as time goes on, new limbs and continued care, and that won’t
change because other bad things happen… I want to try, and appreciate
‘Good Morning America’ for their help, to not let these people be
forgotten: not in terms of the help they might need, or the love and
support.”

Chesney heads into Detroit’s Ford Field this weekend,
then wrap up his No Shoes Nation tour with two nights at Foxboro, MA’s
Gillette Stadium August 23-24.