Kenny Chesney Brings His Sun City Carnival Tour to Indianapolis

Over six years have passed since I have been to a concert that rocked a stadium like it did at the Kenny Chesney concert on Saturday, September 19, 2009, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Not only was this my first big concert in over six years (unless you count the No Doubt concert back in July), but it was my first time in the new Lucas Oil Stadium. Boy, was I in awe at how big it was compared to the RCA, or Hoosier as I still liked to call it, Dome, but that's another story.

Traveling with my 13-year-old daughter and two of her friends, we had planned to arrive for the start of the concert at 4 p.m. However, we didn't arrive until after 5 p.m. when the second act, Miranda Lambert, was performing. I will have to be honest and say I didn't pay much attention to her or even the third act, Montgomery Gentry, since I am not really a fan of either. I just hated that we missed the Zac Brown Band. One of my daughter's favorite songs is "Chicken Fried," and after hearing the Haygoods in Branson sing their version of the song this past summer, I was looking forward to hearing the real thing, but it wasn't meant to be.

Next to Kenny, I was looking forward to seeing Sugarland. As a new fan of the group, I was very impressed with their hour of singing some great songs. I had told the girls on the way to the concert how great I thought it would be if Jon Bon Jovi showed up as a guest and sang "Who Says You Can't Go Home" with Jennifer Nettles. Unfortunately, for this huge Bon Jovi fan, that didn't happen. Instead, Kristian Bush filled in as the male part, and even though he wasn't as good as Jon, he did in a pinch. During the song I did think it was cool how they showed points of interest around Indianapolis by flashing the pictures on the huge video screens behind the band and on each side of the stage. One song that I wish they would have sung was "Joey." It's probably one of my favorite songs next to "It Happens," "All I Want to Do," and "Everyday America." One day soon I can see Sugarland heading their own tour, and I would definitely go see them again.

The anticipation was killing us as we waited for a half hour or more for Sugarland's set to be taken down and Kenny's set to be assembled. Over the past year I have become a huge fan of Kenny's, and in actuality, I have probably been a fan even a few years before this, not realizing that some of the country songs I hear and love are sung by none other than Kenny himself. I used to pay more attention to who sang what song, but as I have become a busy single mom of two children, my attention to details has become less as you can probably imagine.

As I looked through my binoculars from our nose bleed seats at the opposite end from the stage, I noticed the band making their entrances and knew Kenny wouldn't be too far behind. I kept watching the stage for him through my binoculars, and when the crowd began yelling and screaming, I suspected I was missing something that I wasn't seeing in my binoculars. Sure enough, I was. Kenny was dangling on a swing in the middle of the stadium, hanging high above the crowd singing one of his hit songs whose name escapes me now since I was too busy trying to snap a couple of pictures. For the next 45 minutes, Kenny sang his heart out with his rockin' country songs, such as "Summertime," "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem," "Living in Fast Forward," "Out Last Night," and "Beer in Mexico."

When the songs slowed down, Kenny sang some of the songs we know just as well as the fast ones like "Anything But Mine," "Everybody Wants to go to Heaven," and "There Goes My Life." Then we had the pleasure of having special guest Mac McAnally accompanying Kenny on "Down the Road." Kenny managed to get around to two of my favorites, "I Go Back" and "When the Sun Goes Down," in which Kenny drug Jennifer Nettles out to help him sing making it even more fun and flirty.

Throughout the concert, Kenny managed to wander around on what looked like a huge black plus sign extending from center stage. He was constantly slapping the hands of the fans in what was called the sandbar, or the area around the plus sign. I wish I could have been down there getting a slap on my hand. This is just truly awesome when someone as famous as he is can reach out to the fans. To me, that shows he does care about each and every one of us.

As the lights dimmed, we knew the concert was over unless Kenny chose to do an encore. The crowd kept yelling and screaming, hoping he would come back out.

After a few minutes of blackness except for the stars in the sky we could see since the roof on the stadium was open, Kenny did return to the stage along with a sign that said, "Thanks, Kenny, for giving us a great life." I didn't see who gave him the sign, but soon he drug Miranda Lambert, just as he had Jennifer, out onto stage with him as he flirted and sang "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" with a little help from Miranda.

For the rest of the encore, Kenny had the Zac Brown Band and Mac McAnally join him for covers of various songs, such as Alabama's "Dixieland Delight." After thanking everyone onstage for helping out with the encore, Kenny found himself alone on stage singing something that I couldn't quite understand, and when he finished, he simply said, "Goodbye" with teary eyes.

(NOTE: I had no idea what the ending was all about until the next day when I heard from a co-worker that Kenny isn't going to be touring next year; he is taking the year off.)