“It’s Not About The Money, It’s About The Fans…”

With the end of 2008 behind us, tallies are still coming in about last year’s touring season. Although you’ll always find Kenny Chesney’s name at the top of the list of number of tickets sold, you’ll very rarely find him topping the highest grossing tour, and 2008 was no different. Pollstar released it’s figures yesterday and Kenny’s 2008 Poets & Pirates Tour was the # 1 attended tour in any genre and the # 4 overall tour, with the lowest aggregate ticket price on the list.

Kenny says “It’s not about the money, it’s about the fans. There will always be tours that gross more than us, because I believe in trying to make it possible for anyone who wants to come out and rock with us to be able to do it. To me, I measure how successful these tours are by the faces we see – and last year, I saw some pretty happy people everywhere we went. That they’re a lot of fans there makes me feel like we’re part of their summer, and part of how they’re living their life…People make all kinds of claims about how many tickets they sell or how much they make, but they do it before the numbers are published. I don’t think anybody in my camp’s head is there; it’s always been about how do we make this show the best thing we can for the fans.”

Reflecting back on the summer of 2008 and how it related to his own concert experiences growing up, Kenny says “It’s weird to realize these shows could be some people’s memories, the way the concerts were for me and my friends growing up are so much a part of who we were – and are. But I know how important those moments are, and I think our fans know that, too. It’s why they come out early and tail-gait… It’s why they cram into the Sand Bar… and why they sing even louder than we do on ‘Back Where I Come From’… I think it’s why they keep coming out, and why we keep pushing harder to be more every year. They know that, and we do, too.”