No Tour Next Year for Kenny Chesney
posted September 15th, 2009 at 5:42 pm | No Comments » |
| by Josh | Tweet |
In a letter to fans sent out today, Kenny Chesney says that he’s not going to do his usual big tour next year. He’ll put out an album in April and do a few gigs here and there, but no “great big rock & roll tour”:
It has been an amazing summer… and I can’t believe it’s almost over. So much has happened – whether it was watching all of you hang in there with us during that horrible storm in Dallas, and coming back the next week to finish what we started, having Key West close down Duval Street for our Keg in the Closet at Sloppy Joe’s, the almost too intense to describe stadium shows in Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Columbus, San Francisco, Louisville, Seattle, kicking off No Shoes Radio live in Orange Beach, Alabama with everybody going out all over the world via the internet – and sitting here on my bus, it kind
of leaves me speechless.You know, every year, I think it can’t get any better.
Every year, you guys bring a real passion for this music and enjoy the night with us. Me and the guys talk about that more than you’d ever guess: how great the audiences are, the way you sound singing our songs back to us, the smiles we see from the stage.
Because we see you. We REALLY see you… And none of that is taken lightly.
You guys are the best fans any entertainer could hope to have, You rock us, push us and make us better. I sometimes think you guys truly drive and inspire us to be the most we can.
And that’s just it. You guys deserve the absolutely best and most.
I start working on our next year’s tour almost a year before. It’s about what more, how can, where do… and in all of that, you can find yourself so lost in beating the year before that you miss the moments that make what we – you, me, the band and crew – so special.
Since we hit the road as headliners with the palm trees lit by a full moon in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2002, you guys have been there and been there and been there. And after eight years, it’s time for a little break… to exhale, to think about what next, to create something that’s truly different.
That all takes time. It should never be fit in amongst everything else.
I’ve said we’re like a baseball team: six months on, six months off. But honestly, we work straight through: both on making the music and creating the shows. With a record coming next April and a couple other projects that we’ll be telling you about soon, you’re gonna have more than plenty of me next year – but what you won’t have is a great big rock & roll tour.
Will I show up here and there? Absolutely. But I want to take that moment to really think about what next, to make my record and really get inside it, to create a show that’s something else… because you deserve no less.
It’s why I’m writing this letter…
It’s why I’m willing to have a summer where I don’t get to hear your cheers, hit the parking lot on stadium Saturdays, to listen to you sing these songs that are so much a part of my life back to me.
I’m gonna hate it and miss it, but I know when I hit the stage again, it’s gonna be even better, even more. Because I know you guys. You’re as good as they get, and we’re gonna get even better during the time we’re taking off…
So, this isn’t good-bye, it’s just we’re taking a break. And you’re still gonna see me… way more than you’d probably expect. But I always want you to hear it from me… that way it’s not rumors and speculation, it’s the real of how it is. And right now, the real is: I can’t wait to hit the stage in Bloomington, Illinois and Indianapolis this weekend – and I can’t wait for you to hear the new music.
Until then, I remain your biggest fan in the whole world. Absolutely.
- Kenny
Entertainment Weekly has more in an interview with Chesney:
Entertainment Weekly: So you’re quitting, eh?
Kenny Chesney: I’m not quitting! I’m not quitting. It’s just a short pause. It would be easy to keep doing it, because it’s fun, and the fans are unbelievable. But I don’t know — then you realize that at some point you’re missing a part of your life. My life has been a lot about parking lots. I need to recharge creatively, and get off the clock of having to be somewhere just because, and having to keep juggling all these things. And people needing answers. I just felt like this year it finally hit me that I need to get reconnected with my family. I wanna do some things that I’ve never gotten to do, like see other parts of the world, write some more songs. Do some shows that are completely different for me. I might wanna go do an acoustic show at Red Rocks or something. Something to feed my soul. I’ve given a big part of my soul for this for so long, and nothing has really been filling that up. It seems like in the last couple of years, I’ve been on an empty tank. And that’s gotta change.
Was there a precipitating incident this summer that really put it over the top for you?
Not really. It’s just something that’s been building. I think I’m really blessed to have a run like we’ve had. I don’t take it for granted. You realize what it means for the fans to be there, too. I don’t take that lightly. As a performer you don’t want to let go of that connection, but you also know as an artist you want to give them even more. And I realized this year that means just taking a deep breath, cause I want to give them more later on, too. I’ve thought about this a lot. To me, Bruce Springsteen has pretty much defined the live communion with the audience. He has defined the passion and the connection to the fans. And one night when we were playing in New Jersey, Bruce sat on my bus with me and we talked for a couple hours, and he told me something that hit me really hard, and it’s stuck with me ever since. He said, “Kenny, you can write half a song on a piece of paper, and you can put that piece of paper away in a drawer for five years, and you can go back to it, and that song will still be there. But life isn’t like that. And whatever you’re doing, don’t miss your life, too.” And I thought about that all year. I’ve been giving to one thing for so long that I just realized that had to change.
Read the full interview here for more insight into Kenny’s decision.
Share your thoughts on this announcement on our forum.
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