by Joni De Groot for Country Music Pride
We Went Out Last Night is the best way to describe the vibe at the Denny Sanford Premiere Center in Sioux Falls, SD. The Midwest had a treat with Kenny Chesney’s tour bus rolling into town on a hot June day.
Opening for Chesney was Chase Rice who is an incredible entertainer, full of energy getting the crowd pumped and primed for the main event. Rice, who is newer on the country music scene, is opening for Kenny Chesney on his Big Revival Tour. He had a nice mix of his songs included Ready Set Roll, Ride, and Beer with the Boys.
Rice ended his set with a bang when he reminded the crowd that he is first and foremost a song writer. He made a nice nod to a “song ya’ll might recognize” and belted out Cruise, which you usually associated with his friends Florida Georgia line. At this point the crowd erupted and were all on their feet.
As Rice ran back stage a HUGE curtain drops with a picture of the bus from Chesney’s latest album “The Big Revival”. You can feel anticipation filling the air. The Denny Sanford Premiere Center is a brand new facility in Sioux Falls that just opened this past fall. Having Chesney pull into town with his 25 trucks of production equipment and 17 busses this crowd knew it was in for something really special.
When this curtain rose you were almost blinded by all of the lights that were over the stag. You could hardly see Chesney as he ran on to the stag and grab the microphone. Again the crowd is on its feet and Chesney starts with his hit song Reality. The entire crowd is singing along and it doesn’t stop all night.
Chesney is a professional country performer who had a large scale set with an LCD screen overhead that was the length of the stag and stage to ceiling monitors on each side. No matter where you were in the Denny Sanford Premiere Center you could see and feel Chesney’s presence in the room. You could see that The Big Revival tour is actually a stadium tour and setting this stag indoors made it seem even bigger and more impressive.
Even with all of the lights and the huge stage you can tell the Chesney is more old school than other country artists on tour at this time. For the next 2 hours Chesney ran around the stage with a microphone and his guitar. There were no fancy features or props. He was just there singing his heart out and that was the best kind of entertainment.
Chesney’s set list was also jam packed with his hits. There wasn’t a song you couldn’t sing along to and these fan in the Premiere Center never quit. At one point Chesney quit singing all together and had a huge smile on his face hearing his song sung back to him. Chesney’s set list ebbed and flowed with the best of them. The crowd rocked out to Keg in the Closet (with their glasses in the air), Til it’s Gone, No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems and then moved on to a few heart felt ballads, Anything But Mine, You and Tequila and he even threw in some cult classics like How Forever Feels and Never Wanted Nothing More.
Leaving the Denny Sanford Premiere Center you felt exhilarated and complete ready to tackle your summer! The epitome of what Kenny Chesney’s music makes you feel. When Chesney says “You want out last night” he really meant it and you better believe you will still be feeling it tomorrow.
