January 20, 2025 • 11 mins
Day ago, Kenny Chensey broke details about his Vegas residency @ the iconic, Sphere. It's a venue that challenges and artist and their team to put on a show bigger and more immersive than ever before. Kenny shares all the details that went into it getting locked down and how it brings a breath of fresh air to his career.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's been a minute, but Kenny Chesney is back in Nashville.
How are things for you? Brothers?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Are fantastic. I gotta say, I like you, I care
about you.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
But I want to say this is two times that
we've caught up and the weather has been horrible, was
about to get horrible. Yeah, so just zoom from the
island next time. I think I think that would be
much better.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
The last time we talked to you, take everybody down, yeah,
you know, even better. We'll talk about that later.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
No, but so the last time we caught up, it
was like crazy rain and it was storming down here,
and like, I hope you got a thick jacket, man, because.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It's going to be hell tomorrow. I'm all right, I
got pretty tough skin.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
There you go. Yeah, I got to tell you it
has been cool to watch your career grow. You were
really one of the first artists to stadiums have been done,
but you were the first to be like, stadiums is
all we're going to do, and we're going to do
it at a high level. Obviously, the news by the
time this aired, the news will have just come out
(01:00):
about the sphere, which again is a groundbreaking thing. That
you're doing first with the residency. I'm going to ask
as as out there as I can, how do you
have the balls to keep saying we'll do it first?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well? I just think for me it was it was
less about doing it first and more just about having
something a new way to present my life's work up
to this point in a new way doing it. Being
the first country act to do it is is is
is wonderful, right, But scary too, though? What's that scary too?
(01:39):
Though a little scary? I mean, look, we're not the
first one to do the sphere, so we've we know
that the sound work, as we know the video works,
you know. But so there's a lot that goes into that.
But I was. I was last April. I was in
at the Hollywood Bow at a tribute show for Jimmy Buffett,
and I was in my dressing room with Irving as
Off and everything goes You're there, You're You're the guy.
(02:00):
You're the first country gat that needs to play the sphere.
You know. It's like I hadn't even thought about it, honestly,
And and then I and then I was thinking, Okay,
what am I going to do in twenty twenty five,
you know, because we were getting ready at that moment
to start when the Sun goes down tour in twenty
twenty four, and so we've been planning this for a minute,
(02:21):
right That's where the seed was sown, was last April
and ever since then. Well, right after that, I went
to the sphere to just to put my feet in
it and my soul in it, to see, you know,
what it was all about. And and they showed me
what was possible, you know, the the limitless possibilities that
what we can do in there, as far as the
(02:42):
video world, as far as the sound, and and I
looked at my my rown family and my crew that
was with me, and I said, there's no way we're
not doing this, you know. So it was it was
it wasn't about necessarily being first, which I'm honestly I'm
going to say, I'm I'm happy that we are, But
it was more about taking my brain and the audience
(03:04):
in a down a different journey. And that's what this is.
It's a it's a completely different I keep saying this,
but it's almost as if it's a it's such a
shared moment and it's it's really immersive and It's almost
as if me and the audience together are in a
completely different state of consciousness. And that's the thing that
(03:28):
I'm excited about is for people that have been coming
to our shows forever, you know, and have experienced our
show in a stadium or an arena or an amphitheater,
if they're going to see this in a completely different way.
And that's the thing that I'm really excited about. Yeah,
it feels good to be the first country act to
(03:49):
play this fear, it does, but it feels better to
know that we're taking these songs and this music and
presenting it way that we've never been able to do.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
You use the word experience a little while ago, and
it's crazy because there's so many artists that make music
and you listen to the music and you're enjoying the music.
You have done a great job in your entire career.
Your music is an experience, Your shows are an experience.
This is going to be an experience that will be
unlike anything else. So knowing that it seems like you
always focus on experience over just like a concert, knowing
(04:27):
what the sphere was right away where you like, I'm in, We're.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
In, well, I had to see it first, you know,
And but as soon as I got there and saw everything,
I mean it was empty. We saw what was possible
with all the video and how you're just it's just
a completely different thing, you know. So I was completely
in when I saw it. Now getting to where we're
going to be on stage that first night, there's a
(04:50):
lot of work, you know, because I've had years of
content that we've created for our shows over the years,
you know, and some of what we reuse, some of
it we repurposed of what we go and do it
all over again. But we can't use a frame of
any of that stuff because it's just a different format.
So we have to reshoot everything. And so every song
(05:10):
now is completely different, The whole show is completely different,
and that feeds me as an artist, it feeds us
as a band. And I think for if, like I said,
if you've been coming to our shows and you're wondering
what's going to be different about it, everything is going
to be different about it, and that excites me.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Knowing what that sphere building is capable of. I mean,
it's for anybody that's not aware you go to a show,
the stage is the biggest thing in the room, regardless
of where you are. Even you'd play a massive stadium,
the stage is massive, massive the sphere. It's like the
stage is the third biggest thing in the room, yes,
which brings the screen and brings So when you as
(05:53):
a guy who's got your hands in all you do,
i'd imagine you're having to almost it's like planning your
first so all over again.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It is like when I leave you. Today is our
fifth rehearsal. The thing that excites me also is that
we're it's affording us to do music that we haven't
done ever, you know, songs that we haven't done ever
in our show. Because I've always been a big believer,
especially in the stadium setting or an arena setting, that
people come to hear the familiar stuff, you know, we
(06:23):
hit them really hard. We next thing, you know, we've
been on stage fifty minutes and we don't even it
doesn't seem like we've been up there no time. Right. Well,
for this it's a completely different It's more it's an experience.
So we have to think of it that way and
build it that way, and so creatively that's been really interesting.
It's given me a little bit of anxiety, you know,
(06:46):
But I'm on the phone. I got a lot of
really smart people around me that are creating all the
content and I'm a part of that and it's been
good for me mentally, has been good for me creatively
to go down a different road. And we know what
the music is going to be. You know, my band,
we got a great band. We're in there rehearsing the music,
but we're also mentally preparing for Okay, what's what's How's
(07:08):
this different? I mean, what are we going to give
the fans you know that's coming to Vegas to see us.
It's going to be different, and that starts with the music.
It also starts with the things around us. But you're right.
I mean, like when people come and they walk into
this place before the show starts, they know it's different,
you know. And the stage, our stage is not that big,
(07:30):
you know. It's it's it's it's it's a Usually I'm
up there running around and I've got space to do that.
I do because I can't set still when I'm up there.
But it's different in this setting it I will have
my space to do that. But but I mean, for
the first time in a long time, I'm really in
the band, you know what I mean, I'm back there
(07:54):
with against the drums. I mean, the band was making
a joke the other day, Oh, you're back in the band.
You know, it was great, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, I could tell by your energy and the look
in your face talking about this, were you in a
spot where creatively you needed to be challenged a little more,
to like, because I'd imagine it's like album tour, album tour,
album too, Like does this kind of renew where you're at?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Course, I mean like I think that you can get
in a mundane place, right, Yeah, And not that it
was mundane going on tour, because this summer was one
of the best summers we've ever had, you know it was.
But creatively, I mean, I'm not gonna lie to you.
I was going, Okay, what's what are we going to
do in twenty twenty five? And I was thinking possibly
I was going to take the year off. I was
(08:43):
going to just write songs and create my record, and
I was gonna just live a little, right. But when
this opportunity came, I knew it was a very unique opportunity,
and I knew it was a way for me to
I don't know, feed myself as an artist and to
uh and for the band, to feed ourselves as a
band and a road and a road family, and just
(09:06):
to have a different experience that the It's just a
different neural pathway for us, you know what I mean.
And I think that's always good when you're when you're
a bunch of creative people and looking for new ways
to express yourself. And this is definitely an unbelievable way
to express yourself. And we've we've been working really hard
(09:26):
on all of it, and it's it's it's coming. I mean,
like here we are talking about it. And last year,
I mean, it was always in the back of our mind.
We were on tour where the Sun Goes Down tour. Okay,
we know we're doing the Sphere next year. We're shooting
certain things for that, but it was always down the
road right well, now here we are and so creatively,
(09:47):
it's it's stunning what we're coming up with. It's going
to be a really fun experience for me and everyone,
I think. And I think, like I said, I keep
going back to this, but the people that have been
coming to our shows for a while, I think that
it's going to be the people that truly care about
these songs and this music. I think they're going to
(10:08):
hear it completely different when they see when they're immersed
in this this shared space and experience. You know, it's
it's it's like I said, it's it's like you're in
a completely different state of consciousness in there. It's going
to be unreal.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
With the amount of success you've had throughout your career,
the massive shows you've done, I'd imagine this isn't the
first Las Vegas residency that is knocked on your door, though,
is it.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Not the first? But it's close, you know. I I
I was always just too busy, you know. We were
like I was there, There were there were there were
there have been a couple of years where we took off,
you know that called my brain and soul needed it.
But I was always really busy within that year of
making a sports film for ESPN or you know, I
(10:54):
was never really off.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I haven't been off my whole adult life, you know,
but but there have been a few things to come
up that we just I just didn't feel like I
was ready for or didn't you know, want to take
the time. And but this was just in the nature
of how we present this thing. The show and the
music made me really excited about it. And and like
(11:18):
I said, I mean, it means a lot to be
the first country act to be asked by the sphere
of people and everybody involved that they felt confident enough
and uh saying, cared enough about what we're doing to be,
you know, in the first country act to be asked
to play. And it means a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
It's gonna be so good man, can't wait. Appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Can you come see the party?
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I mean I literally come for the show.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
H Yeah again?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, thanks man, I appreciate it.
It's been a minute, but Kenny Chesney is back in Nashville.
How are things for you? Brothers?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Are fantastic. I gotta say, I like you, I care
about you.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
But I want to say this is two times that
we've caught up and the weather has been horrible, was
about to get horrible. Yeah, so just zoom from the
island next time. I think I think that would be
much better.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
The last time we talked to you, take everybody down, yeah,
you know, even better. We'll talk about that later.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
No, but so the last time we caught up, it
was like crazy rain and it was storming down here,
and like, I hope you got a thick jacket, man, because.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It's going to be hell tomorrow. I'm all right, I
got pretty tough skin.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
There you go. Yeah, I got to tell you it
has been cool to watch your career grow. You were
really one of the first artists to stadiums have been done,
but you were the first to be like, stadiums is
all we're going to do, and we're going to do
it at a high level. Obviously, the news by the
time this aired, the news will have just come out
(01:00):
about the sphere, which again is a groundbreaking thing. That
you're doing first with the residency. I'm going to ask
as as out there as I can, how do you
have the balls to keep saying we'll do it first?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well? I just think for me it was it was
less about doing it first and more just about having
something a new way to present my life's work up
to this point in a new way doing it. Being
the first country act to do it is is is
is wonderful, right, But scary too, though? What's that scary too?
(01:39):
Though a little scary? I mean, look, we're not the
first one to do the sphere, so we've we know
that the sound work, as we know the video works,
you know. But so there's a lot that goes into that.
But I was. I was last April. I was in
at the Hollywood Bow at a tribute show for Jimmy Buffett,
and I was in my dressing room with Irving as
Off and everything goes You're there, You're You're the guy.
(02:00):
You're the first country gat that needs to play the sphere.
You know. It's like I hadn't even thought about it, honestly,
And and then I and then I was thinking, Okay,
what am I going to do in twenty twenty five,
you know, because we were getting ready at that moment
to start when the Sun goes down tour in twenty
twenty four, and so we've been planning this for a minute,
(02:21):
right That's where the seed was sown, was last April
and ever since then. Well, right after that, I went
to the sphere to just to put my feet in
it and my soul in it, to see, you know,
what it was all about. And and they showed me
what was possible, you know, the the limitless possibilities that
what we can do in there, as far as the
(02:42):
video world, as far as the sound, and and I
looked at my my rown family and my crew that
was with me, and I said, there's no way we're
not doing this, you know. So it was it was
it wasn't about necessarily being first, which I'm honestly I'm
going to say, I'm I'm happy that we are, But
it was more about taking my brain and the audience
(03:04):
in a down a different journey. And that's what this is.
It's a it's a completely different I keep saying this,
but it's almost as if it's a it's such a
shared moment and it's it's really immersive and It's almost
as if me and the audience together are in a
completely different state of consciousness. And that's the thing that
(03:28):
I'm excited about is for people that have been coming
to our shows forever, you know, and have experienced our
show in a stadium or an arena or an amphitheater,
if they're going to see this in a completely different way.
And that's the thing that I'm really excited about. Yeah,
it feels good to be the first country act to
(03:49):
play this fear, it does, but it feels better to
know that we're taking these songs and this music and
presenting it way that we've never been able to do.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
You use the word experience a little while ago, and
it's crazy because there's so many artists that make music
and you listen to the music and you're enjoying the music.
You have done a great job in your entire career.
Your music is an experience, Your shows are an experience.
This is going to be an experience that will be
unlike anything else. So knowing that it seems like you
always focus on experience over just like a concert, knowing
(04:27):
what the sphere was right away where you like, I'm in, We're.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
In, well, I had to see it first, you know,
And but as soon as I got there and saw everything,
I mean it was empty. We saw what was possible
with all the video and how you're just it's just
a completely different thing, you know. So I was completely
in when I saw it. Now getting to where we're
going to be on stage that first night, there's a
(04:50):
lot of work, you know, because I've had years of
content that we've created for our shows over the years,
you know, and some of what we reuse, some of
it we repurposed of what we go and do it
all over again. But we can't use a frame of
any of that stuff because it's just a different format.
So we have to reshoot everything. And so every song
(05:10):
now is completely different, The whole show is completely different,
and that feeds me as an artist, it feeds us
as a band. And I think for if, like I said,
if you've been coming to our shows and you're wondering
what's going to be different about it, everything is going
to be different about it, and that excites me.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Knowing what that sphere building is capable of. I mean,
it's for anybody that's not aware you go to a show,
the stage is the biggest thing in the room, regardless
of where you are. Even you'd play a massive stadium,
the stage is massive, massive the sphere. It's like the
stage is the third biggest thing in the room, yes,
which brings the screen and brings So when you as
(05:53):
a guy who's got your hands in all you do,
i'd imagine you're having to almost it's like planning your
first so all over again.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It is like when I leave you. Today is our
fifth rehearsal. The thing that excites me also is that
we're it's affording us to do music that we haven't
done ever, you know, songs that we haven't done ever
in our show. Because I've always been a big believer,
especially in the stadium setting or an arena setting, that
people come to hear the familiar stuff, you know, we
(06:23):
hit them really hard. We next thing, you know, we've
been on stage fifty minutes and we don't even it
doesn't seem like we've been up there no time. Right. Well,
for this it's a completely different It's more it's an experience.
So we have to think of it that way and
build it that way, and so creatively that's been really interesting.
It's given me a little bit of anxiety, you know,
(06:46):
But I'm on the phone. I got a lot of
really smart people around me that are creating all the
content and I'm a part of that and it's been
good for me mentally, has been good for me creatively
to go down a different road. And we know what
the music is going to be. You know, my band,
we got a great band. We're in there rehearsing the music,
but we're also mentally preparing for Okay, what's what's How's
(07:08):
this different? I mean, what are we going to give
the fans you know that's coming to Vegas to see us.
It's going to be different, and that starts with the music.
It also starts with the things around us. But you're right.
I mean, like when people come and they walk into
this place before the show starts, they know it's different,
you know. And the stage, our stage is not that big,
(07:30):
you know. It's it's it's it's it's a Usually I'm
up there running around and I've got space to do that.
I do because I can't set still when I'm up there.
But it's different in this setting it I will have
my space to do that. But but I mean, for
the first time in a long time, I'm really in
the band, you know what I mean, I'm back there
(07:54):
with against the drums. I mean, the band was making
a joke the other day, Oh, you're back in the band.
You know, it was great, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, I could tell by your energy and the look
in your face talking about this, were you in a
spot where creatively you needed to be challenged a little more,
to like, because I'd imagine it's like album tour, album tour,
album too, Like does this kind of renew where you're at?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Course, I mean like I think that you can get
in a mundane place, right, Yeah, And not that it
was mundane going on tour, because this summer was one
of the best summers we've ever had, you know it was.
But creatively, I mean, I'm not gonna lie to you.
I was going, Okay, what's what are we going to
do in twenty twenty five? And I was thinking possibly
I was going to take the year off. I was
(08:43):
going to just write songs and create my record, and
I was gonna just live a little, right. But when
this opportunity came, I knew it was a very unique opportunity,
and I knew it was a way for me to
I don't know, feed myself as an artist and to
uh and for the band, to feed ourselves as a
band and a road and a road family, and just
(09:06):
to have a different experience that the It's just a
different neural pathway for us, you know what I mean.
And I think that's always good when you're when you're
a bunch of creative people and looking for new ways
to express yourself. And this is definitely an unbelievable way
to express yourself. And we've we've been working really hard
(09:26):
on all of it, and it's it's it's coming. I mean,
like here we are talking about it. And last year,
I mean, it was always in the back of our mind.
We were on tour where the Sun Goes Down tour. Okay,
we know we're doing the Sphere next year. We're shooting
certain things for that, but it was always down the
road right well, now here we are and so creatively,
(09:47):
it's it's stunning what we're coming up with. It's going
to be a really fun experience for me and everyone,
I think. And I think, like I said, I keep
going back to this, but the people that have been
coming to our shows for a while, I think that
it's going to be the people that truly care about
these songs and this music. I think they're going to
(10:08):
hear it completely different when they see when they're immersed
in this this shared space and experience. You know, it's
it's it's like I said, it's it's like you're in
a completely different state of consciousness in there. It's going
to be unreal.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
With the amount of success you've had throughout your career,
the massive shows you've done, I'd imagine this isn't the
first Las Vegas residency that is knocked on your door, though,
is it.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Not the first? But it's close, you know. I I
I was always just too busy, you know. We were
like I was there, There were there were there were
there have been a couple of years where we took off,
you know that called my brain and soul needed it.
But I was always really busy within that year of
making a sports film for ESPN or you know, I
(10:54):
was never really off.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I haven't been off my whole adult life, you know,
but but there have been a few things to come
up that we just I just didn't feel like I
was ready for or didn't you know, want to take
the time. And but this was just in the nature
of how we present this thing. The show and the
music made me really excited about it. And and like
(11:18):
I said, I mean, it means a lot to be
the first country act to be asked by the sphere
of people and everybody involved that they felt confident enough
and uh saying, cared enough about what we're doing to be,
you know, in the first country act to be asked
to play. And it means a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
It's gonna be so good man, can't wait. Appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Can you come see the party?
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I mean I literally come for the show.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
H Yeah again?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, thanks man, I appreciate it.
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