TK reviews Kenny Chesney and the Sun City Carnival Tour 2009

Well ladies and gentlemen, the biggest ticket selling act decided again to take his show on the road again in hopes of another successful touring campaign. That artist, country's mega superstar, Kenny Chesney has been tearing it up lately as his Poets and Pirates tour was the most successful tour last year and this year Kenny wanted to make sure that this year's act duplicated that success.

This year's tour entitled, Sun City Carnival Tour boasted a mega lineup full of new acts and of course some of country's heavy hitters. Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Montgomery Gentry, Sugarland and of course Kenny rounded out the loaded lineup this year but the show on the other hand folks, well for this attendee kind of fell a little flat and I'll give you some reasons why.

First let's take a look at the opening act, Lady Antebellum.
TK's take- I love this new band and have loved every single they put out so far. I didn't get to hear Lookin' for a Good Time, but got to hear my two other favorites including I Run to You and Love Don't Live Here Anymore. My beef here is they didn't get to play very long and what is up with that. You only give them like 30-35 minutes, that's just dumb if you ask me. They are an extremely popular act right now and more exposure would of been great for a trio of musicians who are one day going to be leading their own sold out tours. Lady A gets an A from me for their set and I wish they would of gotten a bit more time to perform.

Up next, was that country rocker girl- Miranda Lambert.
TK's take- An act who from which I only know like 2-3 songs, so it wasn't a huge deal. The highlight of her set list was when she rolled out a cover of Joan Jett's I Love Rock and Roll. She is just an average performer if you want my honest opinion and to me, Kenny could of recruited someone else to fill this spot, but she was good to look at so I won't complain too much. Miranda gets a C from me only because I am just not that familiar with her songs.

Country's duo known as Montgomery Gentry was up next.
TK's take- A band who I like knew nothing about actually surprised me here a bit. I know like one song by MG and they actually put on a great set. Very catchy and uplifting songs so they were a pleasant surprise. They kept the crowd pumped up and definitely did their job by getting us all ready for the show. I gotta give them a B because they played to the crowd very well and had a lot of fun on the stage while doing so.

Up next, the highlight of the show, SUGARLAND!
TK's take- I was probably most excited to see Lady A and this band right here, Sugarland. And wow did they deliver. Jennifer Nettles to me has music's biggest and best voice and I'll argue that with anyone. She sounds so amazing live it's scary how good it is. They opened their set with Love, their most current single and just continued to roll out the hits. Their renditions of Stay, All I Wanna Do and Baby Girl were all superb and the two of them just work so well together and have so much while performing.

And that was put out on full display as in the end while doing some classic covers including It's Getting Hot in Here by Nelly, the two jumped into two giant clear inflatable 'hamster like' balls and rolled their way into the crowd. It was like one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Sugarland to me was the highlight of the entire show and get an A from me. They are so awesome live and I have become a life long fan because of it.

Last, the headliner- Kenny Chesney.
TK's take- His entrance was pretty sweet. As the band all came on the stage everyone was wondering where he was and from the middle console he comes flying up on this swing and belts out a classic song over the crowd from his swing and then the second he touched down on the stage the lights all around Soldier Field went off, so that was pretty cool. From there he went into a lot of his old classics including Young, Never Wanted Nothing More, I Go Back and Anything but Mine.

He mixed in a lot of his new things as well including his new single- Out Last Night which has become like an anthem now it seems. He also played Everybody Wants to go to Heaven and Livin in Fast Forward two of my favorite KC songs out there. But for me where I have to vent a little bit was the overall set list which somehow left off two of Kenny's bigger songs including my favorite- You Save Me and the mega hit- Don't Blink. I just didn't like the flow of the set this year compared to last year that included those two songs along with Got a Little Crazy Last Night. I'm all about mixing it up but you can't forget those songs, that just isn't right!

While he still puts on a killer show and is an unbelievable performer, I felt like this was a bit lackluster from last year. He ended the show by playing a collection of other big hits including one by George Strait and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Again songs that didn't need to be performed but were while leaving out some of Kenny's bigger hits. I just didn't get it.

He gets a B from me just because of the fact I was left wanting more Kenny songs and not covers of other ones.

Overall the Sun City Carnival Tour aside from Sugarland and Lady A was a bit on the softer side this year. I think he could of brought some other acts and the show would of been a little better. Still a very fun time don't get me wrong, just kind of bummed because I didn't get to hear some songs I was hoping to really hear by Kenny.

TK