Parade Magazine has an excellent interview with Kenny Chesney covering a wide range of topics, from football to marriage, having kids, playing at the Super Bowl, how he stays grounded, his new single, and much more.

Here are a couple excerpts:

Last fall, something inside Chesney changed.

“I was standing onstage last year, and I felt like I wanted to be somewhere else. No matter how many people were out there, it all just felt like a blank sheet of paper. You’d think I’d have been happiest in my life playing music in front of 50,000 people at Gillette Stadium. But let me tell you, it’s an odd feeling to feel alone in the spotlight.”

Today, dating is a whole new ballgame.

“The world is a different place now. I mean, if I go out with a girl, there is a possibility that she’s going to get up from the dinner table and go to the bathroom and use Twitter to tell everybody what she’s doing. And the next thing you know, everybody’s got a play-by-play of what you’re having for dinner. That would make anybody uncomfortable.”

The other misconception about Chesney is that he’s not comfortable without his hat.

“When I was 17 or 18, I’d take my helmet off on the field, and I’d see hair in it and go, ‘Good God! What’s going on?.’ It did bother me in college a little bit–going bald–but it doesn’t at all now. What’s ironic about it is that friends of mine in their 30s and 40s are just starting to lose their hair and are freaking out. I went through all that in high school.”

Read more excerpts from the interview here and here.

There is also an accompanying photo shoot that you can view here.

Look for the full interview with Kenny in the Sunday, August 8th issue of Parade, available in your Sunday newspaper.

CMT has posted some photos of Kenny at the ESPY Awards:

The Las Vegas Sun has a review of Kenny Chesney’s show in Las Vegas on Friday night: “Unrehearsed Kenny Chesney still at top of his game at The Joint”

Country superstar Kenny Chesney told the audience last night at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel that his band and he hadn’t rehearsed and performed together since last September as part of their break this year from arena touring, but neither Chesney nor his fans missed a beat in an energetic two-hour and 30-song performance that include a small catwalk, giving fans on the floor an up-close-and-personal, hand-shaking and high-fiving experience.

From the opening “Ain’t Back Yet,” Chesney’s latest and gazillionth hit, to his final song, John Mellencamp’s “Hurts So Good,” an especially tan Chesney, in his requisite muscle T, tight faded blue jeans and (white) cowboy hat, had the audience dancing, singing and partying the entire time. Chesney is widely known for his stamina and endurance onstage, performing his big catalog of hits before launching into covers of other artists’ songs, and last night was no different.

Read the entire review here.

Did you attend Saturday night’s show? Please e-mail us the set list!

For those of you that are on Facebook or Twitter, you’ve probably already seen this picture.

It was posted on Kenny’s Twitter account earlier this evening and on the No Shoes Radio Facebook page with the caption “Kenny and friends enjoying the sunset tonight (12/29/09) somewhere south. Magic.”

Kenny Chesney finished out the 2009 Sun City Carnival Tour on Saturday night at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The show was bittersweet for Kenny, as it was the final show of the year coupled with the fact that he is taking next year off from major touring. He had to fight back tears while singing “Better As A Memory” for the show closer.

The Indianapolis Star has a review of the show:

Familiar songs were easy to follow. Thankfully, Chesney has no shortage of hits.

Most rolled out in recursive loops of lyrics focused on nostalgia, tropical fun and landlocked fun.

Yet amid “Live Those Songs,” “When the Sun Goes Down,” “Summertime,” “I Go Back,” “Beer in Mexico” and “Keg in the Closet,” Chesney carved out a serious streak with love/parenthood songs “Anything But Mine,” “Down the Road,” “Me and You” and “There Goes My Life.”

Chesney’s most personal moment arrived with show-closer “Better As a Memory,” an emotional challenge he nearly lost — perhaps because he’s announced there will be no blockbuster summer tour in 2010.

Read the full review here. The article also has a Photo Gallery with some great pics of Kenny during the show.

We’re still looking for the set list from the show. If you have it, please email it to us.

Did you attend the show? Share your experience on our discussion board!

Photo by Matt Kryger / The Star.

Last week Kenny Chesney launched his Blue Chair Bay clothing line at the Magic Fashion Show in Las Vegas. That night he played a private show at the Hard Rock Hotel. VegasNews.com has some photos from the show.

Click here to view them

We reported back in June that the official Twitter account for Kenny Chesney had been set up. At first it was @chesneyofficial but a week ago Chesney acquired his full name – @KennyChesney. And now the first tweet has been sent out:

The twitpic link takes you to a really cool shot of Kenny sitting next to Terry Francona in the Red Sox dugout.

If you aren’t yet on Twitter, join now! And then be sure to follow us at twitter.com/ChesneyWorld.

Update – Also be sure to follow No Shoes Radio at @NoShoesRadio.

Kenny Chesney played his second show in Canada last night, this time at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, Albert. There are a couple of reviews of the show, one in the Calgary Herald and another by the Calgary Sun.

Kenny Chesney likes himself a party.

And lucky for him, there were 13,000 people who wanted to come along for the ride last night.

The 41-year-old country superstar brought his Sun City Carnival tour to the Saddledome as part of the Stampede concert series.

And compared to fellow- Stampede headliners Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire and George Strait, Chesney is probably the one who best captures the Wild West spirit of the city’s annual 10-day event.

Like the Duke brothers, Chesney’s just a good ol’ boy, never meanin’ no harm.

You get the impression that, as much he revels in the spotlight, he would just as soon be cracking a cold one at a backyard barbecue.

This laid-back demeanour is a big part of Chesney’s appeal to country music fans.

After a video introduction from several bikini-clad babes welcoming us to the Carnival, Chesney appeared on screen — against the backdrop of a tropical beach, naturally — to offer his own greeting.

A few minutes later, he casually strolled onto the ‘Dome stage as if he had not a care in the world — and nothing to prove.

He plays what he wants and you’re welcome to join the party, and if you don’t like it, well, there’s the exit.

Read the full Herald review here and the Sun review here.

View photos from this show in our Photo Gallery.

Did you attend this show? Share your experience on our forum. Also, please help us out by providing the set list.

The Sun City Carnival Tour continues Saturday night with a show at the Merritt Mountain Music Festival in British Columbia.

Kenny Chesney performed at Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Friday night and there are a couple of reviews out with some photos from the show:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Most of the great music festivals are specialized events. Coachella is a modern rock festival. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is exactly what the name says. But Summerfest does not play genre favorites.

With one exception: If there were a musical genre called “fun,” that’s where Summerfest would live. Which brings us to Kenny Chesney and his Sun City Carnival Tour on Friday night at the Marcus Amphitheater.

Perhaps nobody in contemporary music has mastered the art of fun more completely than Chesney. This was big-budget, lavishly produced fun with giant-screen beach parties, a big, first-class band (Jim Horn is one of several horn players) and a bulging songbook of hits built around kicking back on the beach.

Continue reading this review here.

Also OnMilwaukee.com has a review:

Kenny Chesney’s fans waited two long years for his return to Summerfest. On Friday night, as the Marcus Amphitheater headliner, the veteran performer didn’t disappoint.

Full of energy from the get-go, Chesney clearly gave definition to his “Entertainer of the Year” status on the Milwaukee stop on his “Sun City Carnival Tour.” Chesney’s following in recent years has brought on a Jimmy Buffet-like party persona, so much so that many of his shows are billed in part with a pre-concert tailgate.

There was no tailgating Friday in Milwaukee, a city in which the tradition has become an art form, but the party was no less enthusiastic.

Chesney, himself, may have said it best when he told the crowd — with a beer in hand: “This is where it’s officially not a concert, but a party!”

Continue reading this review here.

View a photo gallery from the show here.

Did you attend the show? We’d love for you to share your experience on our discussion board!