Kenny Chesney is opening up about his Las Vegas residency. The East Tennessee native just announced that he is headlining his own Live at Sphere Las Vegas residency. The shows kick off on May 22, marking the first country act to headline the venue.
Chesney announced the news on the Today Show, after teasing something big earlier in the week.
“This has been a hard secret to keep,” Chesney says. “We’ve shot footage for these shows since the tour started last year. I kept thinking the news would break. But, I wanted to share it somewhere special and give it the moment it deserved. Following Rock & Roll Hall of Famers U2, the Eagles and Dead + Co, plus Phish into Sphere is a massive honor – Carson [Daly] and Craig [Melvin] totally got it.”
The 56-year-old also spoke on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In between, he got out of the car in New York City, and took photos of him in Times Square, in front of the electronic images announcing the news.
“If you’re going to make history, show up and honor the moment,” Chesney says. “You’re only going to announce something this groundbreaking once, and if you’re rolling by this amount of your name or face up in lights, pull over and document the moment.”
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Like everything else he does, Chesney is planning his Live at Sphere Las Vegas residency with his No Shoes Nation fans in mind.
“As we’ve been rehearsing and thinking about how to present these songs in such an immersive way, the band and I have seen even more than we already know is in the music,” Chesney shares. “We’re not reinventing all these songs, but for No Shoes Nation, I think there’s a whole new dimension to experience. Or as someone said, ‘No one consumes music like No Shoes Nation, and now the Nation’s going to be consumed by the music.'”
On the Today Show, the country music superstar first shared the big news, revealing he has been quietly working on the residency since last spring.
“We’ve decided that this year, we’re not going to go out on the road. We’re going to play Sphere in Vegas,” he says. “It’s something that we’ve been working toward since last May. And it’s an exciting time for us. You know, me, my band, my crew, my road family, but not just us, but the audience. And the reason that this was exciting for me to do is because it’s such a different road for us to go down. I get to take my audience into this really immersive space, if you will.
“For the first time, it’s going to be such a shared experience for us,” Chesney adds. “And it’s as if almost we’re just in a completely different state of consciousness in a way because usually it’s us onstage and it’s the audience out there, and I try really hard for it to be a really great shared moment. But this is, it’s just so unique.”
Chesney has, over and over again, already proved himself as one of the hardest-working artists, of any genre. But it’s his Live at Sphere residency that is pushing even him to new limits.
“We’ve been prepping a lot,” Chesney says. “We gotta create all new content. We’ve had years of content that we sometimes repurpose and sometimes make new over the year. But this is such an original thing for us. We have to go reshoot everything, and that’s what’s exciting about it for me, is the newness of it. Taking our fans, it’s just a different narrow pathway, if you will, and a way of doing a show. We’re thrilled. We’re really excited.”
Still, no one knows more than Chesney that his hard work will pay off, the second he takes the stage for his first Vegas show.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” promises Chesney. “It really is. We’re really looking forward to it. The preparation for it is a lot. I’m not gonna lie. But when we’re done preparing for it, it’s going to be a really unique thing. I’m excited for our audience to come to Vegas, and I’m excited to go. I’ve never done a residency, but this is such a unique thing that it made me really want to do it.”
See all of Chesney’s Vegas dates below. Tickets for Live at Sphere will go on sale on January 31 at KennyChesney.com.
Kenny Chesney Live at Sphere Las Vegas Residency Dates
Thursday, May 22
Saturday, May 24
Sunday, May 25
Wednesday, May 28
Friday, May 30
Saturday, May 31
Wednesday, June 4
Friday, June 6
Saturday, June 7
Wednesday, June 11
Friday, June 13
Saturday, June 14