Kristi's Thoughts: A Decade of Kenny

This weekend was yet another Kenny Chesney concert for Deborah, Elizabeth, and myself. His 'Goin' Coastal' tour stopped in at Cowboys Stadium yesterday with acts Uncle Kracker, Billy Currington, and The Zac Brown Band opening for him. The concert was in a word, AMAZING. I don't know if it was the company, the fact that I hadn't seen him perform live in 2 years since he took last year off, or the fact that he's a freakin' superstar, but it was FANTASTIC!

Yesterday's concert got me to thinking about all the other times that I've seen Kenny, most times with Deborah & Elizabeth. Kenny is kind of our thing. It started in college at SFA. Our first concert seeing him was Friday, October 26, 2001 at 8 pm at W.R. Johnson Coliseum on campus. The cost of the ticket was $25 and that was for floor seats!!! It was right before Kenny hit the big time and it was FABULOUS. We were inches from him. I have the BEST close-ups! And that's what began a decade of Kenny. Sometimes we let other people tag along with us, but it's typically just us...and we LOVE it!

2001 - Greatest Hits Tour

Me, Deb, Elizabeth, & Kate

Our last semester together at Stephen F. was Summer I of 2002. Deb & I graduated that summer and Bets (Elizabeth) had one more year of school left. Most of our other friends graduated in May of that year, and/or moved, so the three of us lived together. The theme of that summer was No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems...Kenny's 2002 CD. We knew the words to EVERY single song and listened to it 24/7. It was greatness. That will always be a very special summer & cd for us that we will never forget.

Today I spent a large part of my afternoon going through lots and lots and lots of photos to find all our Kenny ones. I find it super hard to believe that we didn't go to his 2002 or 2003 concerts, but I found no evidence to suggest we did, and my memory is obviously not that good. 2002/2003 may have been the time period that Deb went to see Kenny in IL with her sister, when they lived up there. At least one of us was representing. ;)

Bets & my next KC concert was in 2004 at Smirnoff Music Centre in Dallas, June 5, 2004 at 7:30 pm. Lawns seats were $27.50, plus all the super fun ticketmaster fees. :P Courtney came with us to this concert. She'd just had major back surgery a little over a month before so we wheeled her around in a wheelchair, which led to better lawn seats for us. Ha!

2004 - Guitars, Tiki Bars & A Whole Lotta Love Tour

Me, Court, & Bets

On April 8, 2005 we traveled to Madison, WI for yet another Kenny concert at the Kohl Center at UW-Madison! Bets & I had flown up to Chicago, IL for a long weekend with Deb, who lived in Rockford, IL at the time. Yes, we'll travel far and wide for our Kenny. ;-)

2005 - Somewhere In The Sun Tour

Bets, Deb, & Me

On July 22, 2006 we saw Kenny at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco. We had LOTS to celebrate! We were seeing Kenny together AND Bets & Kevin had JUST gotten engaged the night before! Plus Deb was finally living back in Texas. All was right with the world!

2006 - The Road & The Radio Tour

The day the music died. My 'The Road and The Radio' cd bit the dust in my piece of junk computer. It got stuck in the cd slot and the computer ate it. I nearly cried. :( Of course I had to quickly buy another.

We saw Kenny at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the The Woodlands on June 15, 2007. It had rained lots in the days leading up to the concert, so since we had lawn seats we took a tarp and quilt to sit on. Someone how my booty still ended up getting soaked. Also, carrying out a wet, muddy tarp at the end of the night was hellacious. Leaving the pavilion was like a cattle stampede, people were even mooing. Our tarp was disgusting and huge and took two of us to carry it. It kept bumping into people and they were upset they were getting dirty. Pretty soon we starting purposefully knocking people with it so they would move and we could get out of there faster. It was completely ridiculous at the time, but we soon were cracking up about it. It's still hilarious to us to this day!

2007 - Flip Flop Summer Tour

Bets, Me, Deb, & Catina

We headed back to Pizza Hut Park in Frisco on May 3, 2008 at 5:30 pm. Tickets were $58 for section 115 Row 6, plus the convenience fees. It was a beautiful day and tons of fun. It's the concert where Deb & I acquired our 'She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy' green baseball caps. Whoooo! The margs were pretty good too. ;)

2008 - The Poets & Pirates Tour

There's something sexy about the rain...or so the Kenny song goes. Court & I went the Kenny concert at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco on May 2, 2009 amidst the rain, lightening, and thunder. Court & I waited around at my apt awhile but I talked her into heading over to the concert. We had to park a little ways away and wade through the water. As we were walking to the concert, through the ridiculous circumstances, Court commented "Only stupid people do this." Maybe she was right, but I was NOT going to miss MY Kenny! And she's an awesome sister for going along with my hair-brained ideas. We arrived part way through Lady Antebellum's performance and got to see Miranda Lambert. We were bundled in raincoats, plastic covers, and our caps. Kenny's band struggled to get on-stage equipment covered as the weather got worse and the lightning crew closer. We moved under a canopy, with a million other people, during Kenny's performance. Kenny had been singing less than an hour and was soaked to the bone and continued to sing, changing the playlist to sing his "There's Something Sexy About The Rain." At the end of his performance he told everyone that he'd be back in a few weeks and to get the hell out of there because the storms and lightning were way to close. We struggled to get back to the car through the flowing streams that had flip flops floating down them and finally made it out of there.

Rained-out 2009 - Sun City Carnival Tour

Kenny returned to Pizza Hut Park in Frisco on May 17, 2009. It was just Kenny, no opening act. Seating was first come first serve. It was a terrific make-up performance. Kenny sang for hours. After he finished his songs he began to sing other fun, random ones. It was great! It definitely made up for the crazy rain-out before. What a great guy to return and do another concert! See why I love this man?! Hehe!

Make-up 2009 - Sun City Carnival Tour

Kenny didn't tour in 2010. I guess everyone, even Kenny, needs a break sometimes. He didn't really take a break though. He came out with his album 'Hemingway's Whiskey' in the fall of 2010.

And that leads us back to this weekend and his 'Goin' Coastal Tour'. Again, it was awesome and just reminded us, not that we needed it, how much we love our Kenny!