It’s Official!
It’s been rumored for months and now it’s official – Kenny Chesney has named Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum as tour openers for his entire Sun City Carnival tour that will kick-off in April.
Kenny Chesney’s Sun City Carnival Packs Two Firebursts
01.08.2009
Miranda Lambert & Lady Antebellum Join ACM/CMA Entertainer of the Year
Nashville: As the staging is getting built, the scrims screened and the video shot and edited, Kenny Chesney is gearing up for his Sun City Carnival 2009 Tour. Following his Poets & Pirates Tour – the most attended tour in any genre of music for 2008 according to Pollstar – the man who’s already sold out the home of the New England Patriots, Boston’s Gillette Stadium, in less than 10 minutes is looking to pick up the tempo, rock a little harder and increase the fun, friends and music.
To that end, the 4-consecutive and reigning Academy of Country Music and 4-time and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year has looked at his tourmates very carefully – and invited trail blazer country star Miranda Lambert and CMA Horizon winners Lady Antebellum to join his Carnival for the entire summer!
“This tour is going to be a wild ride,” laughs the singer/songwriter from Luttrell, Tennessee who’s been joined onstage by Steve Miller, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Walsh, Kid Rock, Payton Manning and a tuba player. “Miranda came out and did a few shows with us, and the energy is the right stuff… She rocks hard, but she’s country from a place most people forget it’s coming from. And she knows how to have fun, which is as much a part of it as anything.”
Lambert, whose platinum album Kerosene debuted at #1 on the country charts and whose Crazy Ex-Girlfriend won the ACM Album of the Year, is a Texas girl who can pack a punch. Known for her captivating awards show performances, frank songwriting and unbridled concerts, she holds down the second slot on the Sun City Carnival.
Lady Antebellum, who won the 2008 CMA Horizon Award and the 2008 ACM Best New Duo/Group Award, will kick off the party each night. Comprised of lead singer Charles Kelley, vocalist/guitarist/mandolinist Dave Hayward and lead singer Hillary Scott, the trio is also Grammy nominated for Best New Artist.
“You can’t hear ‘Love Don’t Live Here’ and not turn up the radio,” says the man who’s sold over a million tickets each of the past 7 summers. “That was a feel good record, and it seems to match the spirit Lady Antebellum puts out there. They’re fresh and fun and are perfect to start this show.”
“It’s like throwing a party,” Chesney admits. “You wanna get the mix just right… have the music that fits the mood… and I think these acts do that. I’ve been lucky to have people who’ve we brought out with us that are about show, about the fans – whether it was Keith Urban or Rascal Flatts, Montgomery Gentry or Carrie Underwood – all of those acts got it, connected and just made the summers they were out here with us everything you’d want a summer to be.”
With “Down The Road” quickly approaching Top 10 – looking to follow Chesney’s multiple week #1 “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven” from his all genre Top 200 debut Lucky Old Sun in – the summer looks to be hot and getting hotter. Having already sold out his first football stadium, look for a complete tour announcement shortly.
