Never mind the rain. Kenny Chesney came to MetLife to play, and play hard. The home of the NY Giants and Jets was packed to a level that blew out Chesney’s previous best of 59,999 in 2022 by over a thousand tickets. But even more than the numbers, it was the heart, the hoist and the heft of No Shoes Nation who cranked into a raving a cappella chorus of “American Kids,” swayed side-to-side and raised their lights into the sky to tour rarity “Knowing You” and got swept up in a particularly sultry “Somewhere With You.”
“We could tell even before we walked out onstage, MetLife was ready for this show,” Chesney raved after the show. “No Shoes Nation always shows up hard when we play New York, but this crowd, even before they could see us, they made sure we felt all that passion. It was incredible – and then when we walked out, it didn’t let up, not even in the ballads.”
For Chesney, making his eighth appearance at MetLife, it’s been a summer of breaking personal records across the country. Whether selling SRO tickets in Tampa, moving the stage all the way back in several cities, or figuring out how to create less obstructed views, the songwriter-superstar from East Tennessee has been committed to having No Shoes Nation in the house.
“I never take the faces, or the songs for granted,” the man the Wall Street Journal called “The King of the Road” explained. “For lots of people these songs are their life, and I want to give that every bit of who I am. It’s an honor to mark someone’s moments and memories; you can tell by the way they sing, how intensely they feel what you’re doing.”
It was also a celebration of the spirit of friendship. Beyond revisiting his 6-week No. 1 “When The Sun Goes Down” with Uncle Kracker, as well as sharing Kracker’s redux of Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away,” he had Megan Moroney bounce onstage for a spirited “All The Pretty Girls” and a funky, extended “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” But it was during the encore of “Don’t Happen Twice,” that one of the two little girls who came onstage to receive a football helmet reached onto her wrist – and handed the 8-time Entertainer of the Year her bracelet.
“There’s no amount of money that’s more precious than that,” he said of the gesture. “You could feel all that love. It was all that love that had pouring over us all night long. To be on that stage, singing these songs for No Shoes Nation in a place like MetLife? What could be more perfect?”
Whether the life-affirming “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” the surging lookback of “Young” and “I Go Back’ or the wistful encore “Anything But Mine,” No Shoes Nation was in the zone – moving in stereo with the sweat-soaked musician who never stopped. With over 200 stadium shows to date, he’s not only growing No Shoes Nation, he’s the only country artist in the MetLife/Meadowlands Top 10, as well as being the #2 ticket-seller at MetLife.
Sun Goes Down 2024 Tour, including next weekend’s unprecedented three nights at Gillette Stadium is presented by Blue Chair Bay® Rum. Celebrating new friends and old, memories in the making and songs that have defined coming of age across the heartland this century, it’s been one crazy, awesome summer.
“...because everything gets hotter when the sun goes down...”
Photo Credit Allister Ann
Kenny Chesney’s Sun Goes Down 2024 Tour Remaining Dates
with Zac Brown Band, Megan Moroney & Uncle Kracker
Aug. 23 Foxborough, Mass. || Gillette Stadium
Aug. 24 Foxborough, Mass. || Gillette Stadium
Aug. 25 Foxborough, Mass. || Gillette Stadium