Las Vegas Weekly

April 26, 2009 · 1:55 PM

Photo Gallery: Kenny Chesney kicks it country rock style at The Joint

By Don Chareunsy

Kenny Chesney at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel on April 25.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

By Don Chareunsy, Vegas DeLuxe editor

Country music superstar Kenny Chesney has won eight Entertainer of the Year Awards -- four from the Country Music Association and four from the Academy of Country Music (from 2005-2008), and last night’s nearly five-hour Sun City Carnival Tour stop at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel proved beyond a doubt that Chesney deserves those accolades.

Clad in his trademark tight blue jeans, black cowboy hat and a gray V-neck sleeveless T that showed off … all night long … his tan, muscular arms, Chesney kicked off the night with “Live Those Songs” and ended with a solid, if surprising, cover of John Mellencamp’s “Jack & Diane.” Chesney was the Sun City Carnival party god, and all of his revelers -- a sellout crowd of 4,000 -- were onboard from beginning to end.

Chesney’s scheduled 1 1/2-hour concert included his biggest hits (he’s had nearly 20 No. 1 chart-toppers), including “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” “Livin’ in Fast Forward,” “Young,” “I Go Back,” “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem,” “Summertime,” “Big Star,” “Beer in Mexico” and “When the Sun Goes Down,” and all were performed with a high level of energy you’d expect from a tour titled Sun City Carnival. It was as if every song was the concert finale, so fans certainly didn’t need a shot of Red Bull at any point.

There’s no question that Chesney can rock, but the vocally underrated singer’s slow song moments were tender, with a bluesy, saxophone-backed “Ordinary Road” followed by the bittersweet and sweet “There Goes My Life,” prompting fans to slow dance on the floor and in seats. His nostalgic summer love anthem “Anything But Mine” also was a nice moment for a slowdown.

Chesney has every reason to let fame and fortune go to his head, but the gracious and immensely likable singer thanked opening acts Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert, as well his large band (more than a dozen talented musicians). The only disappointment was the absence of three of Chesney’s hit ballads, “Who’d You Be Today,” “Don’t Blink” and “You Save Me,” but who’s really complaining after an incredible, nearly three-hour set?

Encore! Encore! Encore!

Chesney’s concert was nearly three hours because of an incredible one-hour encore (“I don’t have to be anywhere until 10 p.m. tomorrow,” Chesney reasoned) of party favorite covers that was unexpected, entertaining and thoroughly embraced by the audience. Among the surprising songs and highlights: The Eagles’ “Take It Easy,” The Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker,” Bob Marley’s “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” The Kinks' “You Really Got Me,” Alabama’s “Dixieland Delight,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun” and the concert-closing “Hurts So Good,” another little ditty by Mellencamp. Chesney’s band and crew members took the lead on some of the songs, and it was mostly a hit, including one heavyweight guy who did a strong Bono-esque performance of U2’s “With or Without You.” Now had Chesney covered Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” that would’ve been something.

A non-scientific straw poll of friends, acquaintances and strangers after the concert elicited the following reviews: “phenomenal,” “one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended” and “what a truly incredible performer -- Kenny gives his audiences their money’s worth … and then some!”

At one point in The Joint concert, Chesney said to his fans, “I think Las Vegas is so much hotter when the sun goes down.” It certainly is when Kenny Chesney is around.

Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert

Chesney’s two opening acts, Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert, were impressive. Normally, the audience is half full and lethargic when it comes to the bands before the headliner (case in point: New Hampshire’s Wild Light starting it off for The Killers during The Joint’s opening last weekend). No so with Lady Antebellum and Lambert.

The trio Lady Antebellum are rising stars and could co-headline their own tour now. Recent winners of ACM and CMA awards, as well as two-time Grammy Award nominees this year, Lady Antebellum’s too-short 25-minute set included their biggest hit to date, “Love Don’t Live Here,” from their self-titled debut album. More hits are likely to come from Lady Antebellum, and singers Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott’s movie star good looks certainly don’t hurt. (Hillary is reportedly dating Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers; they were photographed together during last month’s ACM Awards here at the MGM Grand. And Charles is the brother of pop singer Josh Kelley, who is married to Grey’s Anatomy star Katherine Heigl, so there’s a lot of hotness going on in that family.)

Speaking of hot, Lambert, who could pass for Britney Spears’ younger cousin, kicked off her set after an intro of Beyonce’s fierce “Ring the Alarm,” with her most popular hit, “Kerosene,” from her debut album of the same name. Miranda’s M.O. in her albums and onstage is a strong woman scorned who’s not going to take any sh*t from men ever again. The act has grown tiresome on her sophomore album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but Miranda’s sass and charm were infectious onstage -- and on display in her version of “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” -- and won over the crowd who were eagerly anticipating Chesney after nearly two hours.

Miranda held her own despite the night’s most awkward moment, when she restarted the song “Dry Town” after she started bleeding in her expensive Justin Timberlake jeans -- the self-described Texas redneck said the wound was from a recent hog hunting trip … who knows if she was joking? -- and a near wardrobe malfunction when she leaned forward in her cheetah-print, spaghetti-strap top.

A final really loud note

I overheard at least half a dozen audience members on the third-floor balcony area with me complain that the sound was too loud. The sound is incredible, but at volume 10, it makes Miranda’s singing and speaking voice mind-numbingly piercing.

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