Kenny Chesney repeats himself at Glendale Arena
By THOMAS BOND
Get Out
June 9, 2004

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Newly minted country superstar Kenny Chesney offered a packed Glendale Arena crowd a show nearly identical to his previous stop in the Valley, at Cricket Pavilion on June 13 of last year.
The Tennessee singer may have a new album out, “When the Sun Goes Down,” but you'd hardly know it as he performed only three of its songs. As last time around, the initial focus of the concert was on his breakthrough disc, 2002's “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems.” It provided the night's first four tunes and is the album which he firmly established his Caribbean cowboy persona.

“I love that about him,” said Jill Stouffer, 42, of Scottsdale. “He makes me wish I was on the beach.”

As if to cement the island connection, the Mayor of “Margaritaville” himself, Jimmy Buffett, appeared in the show's video intro which preceded Chesney being lowered to the stage aboard a small platform belting out “Young.”

After “Big Star” and the laid-back groove of the “No Shoes” title track, Chesney — dressed, as he was last year, in tight faded jeans, sleeveless T-shirt and black cowboy hat — sang his new album's touching “There Goes My Life” and “I Go Back.” The latter tune, one of the few Chesney has penned himself, showed his songwriting promise standing proud with his hits written by others.

His climb to the A-list of country artists has been a long one as Chesney labored in near-obscurity throughout the ’90s. When it came time to touch on that era of his career, he acknowledged the Valley saying, “Phoenix radio played my records long before anybody else did.” We heard the same testimonial last year and just as he did then, Chesney performed a medley of truncated takes on “She's Got It All,” “Fall In Love,” “I Lost It” and “Back Where I Come From.”
With the energy of the show flagging somewhat, the singer returned to “No Shoes” for “The Good Stuff” and then finished strong with the rousing oldie “How Forever Feels.” Closing his initial set, he sang Buffett's “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” a cover song holdover from last year's tour.

Show opener Uncle Kracker accompanied Chesney and his seven-piece band onstage for the encore which began with their hit duet, “When the Sun Goes Down.”
“That was cool; their voices go really well together,” said Jennifer Murphy, 18, of Mesa.

The pair continued vocalizing together on Kid Rock's “Cowboy” and Kracker's remake of Dobie Gray's “Drift Away,” a double-dip from his own set.

Kracker departed for “She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy,” but returned along with fellow openers Rascal Flatts for a run through John Mellencamp's “Jack and Diane,” yet another cover song reprised from the last tour.

It's one thing to play your own hits in concert — that's to be expected, but it seems remarkably lazy to repeat not just one, but two cover songs from your preceding tour. Beyond that it's simply unforgivable to use them as the closing songs for your main set and encore. Chesney should know better than that and an enthusiastic crowd of approximately 16,000 certainly deserved better.

Set list:
Young
Live Those Songs
Big Star
No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems
There Goes My Life
I Go Back
What I Need to Do
She's Got It All
Fall in Love
Me and You
I Lost It
Back Where I Come From
Lay You Down
The Good Stuff
Don't Happen Twice
How Forever Feels
Cheeseburger in Paradise (Jimmy Buffett cover)

Encore:
When the Sun Goes — Down with Uncle Kracker
Cowboy (Kid Rock cover) — with Uncle Kracker
Drift Away (Dobie Gray cover) — with Uncle Kracker
She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy
Jack and Diane (John Mellencamp cover) — with Rascal Flatts and Uncle Kracker