Entertainment
Kenny Chesney To Kick Off His 2023 ‘I Go Back’ Tour With Kelsea Ballerini
(CTN NEWS) – Kenny Chesney’s ‘I Go Back’ Tour that launches in 2023 will take him back to some of the cities that shaped his early career.
The tour kicks off on March 25 at State College, Pennsylvania’s Bryce Jordan Center, the first of 21 stops that will traverse the country, including Lexington, Kentucky; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Lincoln, Nebraska.
He has recorded more than 20 albums, had numerous top-ten singles, and won numerous awards, including CMA entertainer of the year.
Among his hits are “The Good Stuff,” “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems,” and “Don’t Blink.”
During Kenny Chesney’s “Here and Now” tour in 2022, he performed in 21 NFL stadiums in front of more than 1.3 million people. Upon completing the tour.
He wanted to “focus on those cities that established what has become the soundtrack of coming of age in the 21st Century.”
“The magic of 2022 can’t be recaptured when a year is so hot and alive as it was in 2022. Maybe it’s me,” Kenny Chesney said in a statement.
“My head is still filled with the sounds of diesel engines and No Shoes Nation – and that made me wonder, ‘What else could I do?'”
His website has 21 dates scheduled for the tour.
Besides giving No Shoes Nation another reason to believe, what else could I do? What can we do to reach those who might not come to stadium shows, who live a little off the beaten path, but still love this music just as much…
That’s when I realized: ‘I Go Back.’ The song is about holding onto all those things that moulded you, recognizing their importance, and preserving them.
Instead of repeating what we did, I decided to take this band and these songs too many cities we played! The tour should be called I Go Back – and we should do just that.”
Kenny Chesney will be joined by fellow Knoxville, Tennessee, native Kelsea Ballerini. In 2021, Ballerini and Chesney achieved a No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hit with “half of my hometown,” which also won video and musical event awards at the CMAs.
In his statement, Kenny Chesney said, “Kelsea understands where I come from because she’s from there, too.” “She understands how hard it is to leave, how much you miss all those things that make you who you are… but also the only way to chase the kind of dream she has is to do it.”
After she texted me to sing on the song she’d written with our friends, I said, ‘Let me hear it,’ knowing she knew everything about me. From the moment I heard the first verse, I was hooked.
Since then, I have become Kelsea’s biggest fan. A writer, a singer from the heart who isn’t afraid to honor where she comes from, she’s a writer. In my opinion, there was no other choice for this tour.”
“Music has brought me to so many incredible places,” Ballerini said. “
I’ve sung with some of my heroes in pop, alternative and contemporary music worldwide, but singing with Kenny is like going home. When he comes in, it’s like hitting the Knoxville city limits.
He’s the only voice I heard on ‘half of my hometown.’ Being able to go to cities like the one he and I grew up in with an artist who has achieved what he has is like going home.”
Below are the dates for the ‘I Go Back’ Tour:
- Bryce Jordan Center, State College, PA, March 25
- Wichita, KS @ INTRUST Bank Arena, March 30
- Oklahoma City, OK @ Paycom Center, April 1
- Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT, April 6
- Wilkes-Barre Township, PA at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, April 8
- Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at BJCC, April 12
- Jacksonville, FL @ Daily’s Place Amphitheater, April 14
- Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Tortuga*, April 16
- Lexington, KY @ Rupp Arena, April 25
- Greenville, SC at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, April 27
- Greensboro, NC @ Greensboro Coliseum, April 29
- The Mark, Vibrant Arena, Moline, IL, May 4
- Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI, May 6
- The Alerus Center, Grand Forks, ND, May 9
- Denny Sanford Premier Center, Sioux Falls, SD, May 11
- Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena, May 13
- Fort Wayne, IN @ Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, May 18
- Evansville, IN at Ford Center, May 20
- Charleston, SC @ Credit One Stadium, May 25
- The Wharf, Orange Beach, AL, May 27
- Des Moines, IA @ Hy-Vee Indy Race, July 22
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