Kenny Chesney Rocks Crowd at Target Field During “No Shoes Nation Tour”

Last Friday night (July 12) the "No Shoes Nation Tour" rocked a sold out crowd at Target Field in Minneapolis.

The night opened with country new comer Kacey Musgraves. I don't have much of an opinion to give on Kacey's Musgraves, mostly because the sound was terrible, we could barely make out any thing she was singing. From what I do know about Musgraves and her songs, it had the potential to be a good show, but again, whoever the sound tech is... not their best work.

Following Musgraves was the Eli Young Band, who I was excited to see (besides Kenny, of course) but again... same problem. The Eli Young Band came across as very energetic and seem to be putting on a really good show, but it was again... difficult to hear them. I don't know if it was something to do with Target Field or the sound guys, but the first to acts of the night were very difficult to understand or even hear clearly. Though the guys were interacting and having a lot of fun with the audience, somebody needed to check the levels.

Zac Brown Band was the co-headliner of the night. This is where the sound started to get better. While Zac Brown was on stage things were clear and loud, as a concert should be. Where the Brown Band lacked was showmanship. I felt like I could have just turned on my i-pod and got the same thing. Zac Brown and every body in the band who was singing have great vocal talent, but it was almost to "spot on" and not a lot of show. My favorite part of their performance was actually when they covered Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and the ENTIRE stadium sang along. I don't want to make it sound like they were terrible, they were actually very good and very talented... I was just surprised at how much they just stood playing their instruments and not much interacting. Bringing the crowd into your world as a musician is why I like to go to shows. There just wasn't much interaction with them and us.

TIME FOR THE HEADLINER KENNY CHESNEY!!! I have not ever seen Chesney in concert until "No Shoes Nation Tour" and he made me a believer... I will see him again! Kenny Chesney came onto to stage with TONS of energy and he didn't miss a beat or tire out through his entire show! Remember a paragraph ago I said Zac Brown Band covered Metallica and the entire stadium went crazy and sang along... same thing happened with just about every song Chesney sang.

From "Beer In Mexico", "Young" to "When I See This Bar" Kenny Chesney was exciting to watch. Chesney opened with "Big Star" and the second the chorus hit Target Field ERUPTED in song with Chesney... and you could tell he loves what he's doing, because when the sold out crowd started singing along to his opening song, Chesney's body language was filled with excitement and face was over taken with a huge smile. There were periods throughout the night where Kenny would just stop, put his hands on his hips, smile, look around and take in the entire crowd singing to him.

Chesney even had some surprises for his fans at Target Field, including changing out his normal cowboy hat for a Minnesota Twins baseball hat and during one of my favorite songs, "The Boys of Fall", Kenny brought out Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder and retired Steve Hutchinson. Ponder and Hutch, along with Chesney, signed a Vikings helmet and Ponder walked out the stage and gave it to a fan, Chesney then did the same with a Twins batting helmet.

Though that was a nice touch, Kenny Chesney did not need to bring out the Vikings players to add anything to his show. It was already GREAT. From start to finish Kenny Chesney have everything he had for the fans and Target Field and it was worth every dime spent to get to see that show.

My favorite moment of the show was going down with 98-Country listeners and winners to the "No Shoes Nation Tour". Judy and her daughter Dawn were ecstatic to win the tickets to the show, but once we got in the 98 Country hummer and headed down to the show, I told them I had one more surprise for them... but they couldn't have it until we got to Target Field. That surprise was getting to back stage and meet the Eli Young Band. They were VERY excited. Judy and Dawn shared with me how they didn't really know what to say, but they did notice, in Judy's words, " they are all so good looking and have nice arms." HA! Best part of the night for sure!

Here's Judy and daughter Dawn with the Eli Young Band.